00:01:00.320 - 00:01:21.890

Sonoma County, a diverse county of over one million acres is famed for its agriculture industry and recreation boasting a booming economy and a unique lifestyle for its citizens described by the theme Luther Burbank as the chosen spot of all the earth. Sonoma County is the place

00:01:21.890 - 00:01:39.680

to live, work and play as we move into the 21st century. Led by the forward looking philosophy of its governing bodies. Sonoma County's 340,000 residents are a harmonious, successful blend of ethnic and economic backgrounds. We invite you to take a closer look at Sonoma County in

00:01:39.680 - 00:01:59.170

the nineties with your host Rich McGlinchey, How you doing everybody welcome to this edition of Sonoma County in the 90s on this particular program, we're gonna be talking to Tressa Kempner. She's the Sonoma County Superior Court Administrator. Its position, she's been in for the past few

00:01:59.170 - 00:02:13.580

years and trees. It's nice to have you here. You were visited once before I remember and we talked about Superior Court, but there's a lot of things that have happened and a lot more people did not see the program would like to know more about it.

00:02:13.580 - 00:02:31.830

So now is the time for us to lay it on them, so to speak. Um, I guess the first thing we ought to ask is can you describe the function of Superior Court basically. Okay, The Superior Court handles both civil and criminal cases. We handle felony,

00:02:31.830 - 00:02:54.940

criminal cases which are cases, major crimes for civil cases. We handle all family law cases anything involved with juvenile court, personal injury cases, motor vehicle cases, environmental crimes, all major civil cases where damages would be more than $25,000. Is this maybe this might be the best

00:02:54.940 - 00:03:08.090

time. People know we have a municipal court system, so to speak in a superior court system, I guess you'd call it a system. Uh maybe this would be a good time for you to describe. What's the difference in municipal court, so to speak, in superior court.

00:03:08.260 - 00:03:30.810

What do they handle municipal court handles? Has handles all traffic cases. They handle civil cases where the damages are less than $25,000. They handle small claims. They handle all misdemeanor, which would be so called lesser crimes. They handle the first part of felony cases. The initial

00:03:30.810 - 00:03:49.500

process for felony cases, they sometimes start there and then it has to be transferred to your correct. Okay, now you kind of describe the function of Superior Court. How many judges do we have at superior courts? Okay. We have nine judges and one commissioner. Nine. Just

00:03:49.500 - 00:04:12.600

so we have nine different superior courts. Actually we have 10. Because the commissioner sits in juvenile court. What does the commissioner do? Commissioner is empowered, appointed by the judges as opposed to being elected and has somewhat less authority than judges. The biggest difference is that authority

00:04:12.600 - 00:04:31.130

and also that that the commissioner is appointed by the judges rather than elected by the the so called duties of municipal court. Would you describe Superior Court Commissioner all spelled out? I presume at the state level, aren't they? I mean you know what your qualifications required

00:04:31.130 - 00:04:45.310

to be each one of these. Let's talk about you for a minute. We didn't do that. Start with here. How about trust? Where do you come from? Where were you educated? And what did you do before you? How long you've been on this job? Okay then.

00:04:45.310 - 00:04:59.440

What did you do before you came here first of all, where are you from? I was basically born and raised in California, lived a few years outside of California when I was real small. But basically I'm a native California. I went to high school in southern

00:04:59.440 - 00:05:20.970

California. My college uh was at the University of California from undergraduate degree and a graduate degree from the state university at Northridge, also in southern California. After graduating from college, I went to work in ventura County, was there for seven years in a variety of capacities

00:05:21.830 - 00:05:38.680

And then I left there and became the director of the child support division in the district Attorney's office in santa clara County where I stayed until I came here three years ago. And you've been with a Superior Court administrative position here in some county was created

00:05:38.690 - 00:06:01.270

for you when you took it. Yeah, so it's uh where are the actual locations where superior court cases are heard. Okay. The majority of our cases are heard at the Hall of Justice. We have seven Superior Court departments there we have two civil courtrooms currently located

00:06:01.270 - 00:06:21.980

at 30 33 Cleveland avenue and they will be moving in about four months close to Cotton town. And the final location is juvenile court which is at loss Gillick gross. Okay, now is the person that is that the Commissioner? Yes Commissioner. I was gonna ask you

00:06:21.980 - 00:06:40.450

a couple of things about your position as such. The Superior Court Administrator. What do you do? Okay. I'm, in addition to being the Superior Court Administrator, I'm also the Jury Commissioner. So I'm that's one facet of what I do is manage the staff that handle all

00:06:40.450 - 00:06:59.830

the jury's for both municipal and Superior Court. The Superior Court Administrator is responsible for all the administrative functions of the court handle the budget. I'm involved with legislation. I act as a liaison with the county administrative office. I am responsible for staff that do all the

00:06:59.970 - 00:07:21.570

facilities issues. Um jeez budget, everything that happens outside of the courtroom is to some extent or another involved with me. Yeah. So in other words, just exactly as it says Superior Court Administrator. But in addition to that, the Jury Commissioner. Now that means you're responsible for

00:07:21.570 - 00:07:36.165

supervising the group that notify all the people bringing in all these jurors and then actually line them up for what? Just Superior Court. No, both courts for both courts. That's quite a task that there's quite a bit of management involved in the jury's and making sure

00:07:36.165 - 00:07:55.950

that we don't bring in. people that don't need to be here trying to limit the amount of time the public has to come in, making sure that judges have enough people available to to create a jury panel. Quite a task. Alright. Um 1992 93 has been

00:07:55.950 - 00:08:14.840

a Some people would say disastrous year fiscally for the state of California, United States County of Sonoma. One of the significant challenges the court will face in 1993 and I think maybe the first thing you ought to talk about is budget and budget constraints. Well, the

00:08:14.840 - 00:08:37.860

court receives funding from both the state and the county. So we are impacted by both revenues shortfalls at the county level and revenue shortfalls at the state level. So we anticipate rather substantial shortfalls in trial court funding revenues and the other revenues that are used to

00:08:37.870 - 00:08:59.410

operate the courts. We don't know the whole picture yet because the state budget is so fluid at this point. Go ahead. I was trying to think as I asked you that question, how in blazes can you cut the courts? I mean, your courts have to be

00:08:59.520 - 00:09:17.970

so many superior courts are required by basically population. I guess it is, we have nine. As you said, you can't reduce the number, you're obligated by state law to have that number. You can't reduce the judges. You can't reduce the people that have to take the

00:09:17.970 - 00:09:36.710

notes in the court or or or I guess the secretaries would have to take that? Where do you cut? Well, we started about three years ago under a state mandate on on what is called trial court coordination to combine or coordinate the activities of both courts,

00:09:36.710 - 00:09:55.680

Both the judicial officers and the non judicial support staff. To look at ways that we could save money by consolidating functions. Both courts and the um the clerk's offices have a number of positions that have been left vacant in anticipation of that activity. We pretty close

00:09:55.680 - 00:10:14.810

to the limit on what we can do without substantially impacting the operations of the court. And we're still investigating how much further we can go without completely making it impossible for the courts to function well. And there, you know, for instance, this may not be exactly

00:10:14.810 - 00:10:29.050

the same. But let me make a allegation here about something that happened in the past A few years ago. Our jail was not big enough for the people we were incarcerated. So a federal judge says you've got to have a bigger jail. And as a result,

00:10:29.050 - 00:10:49.730

we had to spend $43 million superior court, we're going to be faced with an even more drastic fact. Somebody's gonna say, Hey, you've got this many people, you have to have this many courts, you have to have this kind of people to maintain them. I don't

00:10:49.730 - 00:11:05.290

see that you've got much of an area. Is there any way they could reduce a court? Do they ever do that sort of thing? I couldn't think they could eliminate one population. The state Legislature is trying to find out how, Yeah, that's what I'm wondering. You

00:11:05.290 - 00:11:22.120

know, how can you, you know, you're in one of those unique situations where you're all, everything you do is required by law. So you can't, we're looking at everything we do. The court judges of both courts recognize that both the state and the county is facing

00:11:22.600 - 00:11:39.380

very rough financial times. So the court is looking at everything we do top to bottom to see what changes we can make and still provide the level of service that is required. We have worked staff have worked very hard over the last couple of years in

00:11:39.380 - 00:11:55.840

a multitude of areas. One of the things that we're doing is over the next three years, we will be totally consolidating the administrative functions of the court instead of Right now, we have a Superior Court Clerk's Office, which is part of the County Clerk's Office. We

00:11:55.840 - 00:12:13.290

have a Superior Court Administrative office, which is my office and we have Municipal Court administration in Clerk's office and within the, in the next two years, the Superior Court Clerk's Office will move from the county clerk to the Superior Court Administrative Office and be combined in

00:12:13.290 - 00:12:35.060

one year following that we will be combining the administrations of the two courts so that we anticipate at least avoiding cost increases or staffing increases by doing that. The judges have also are also looking at everything they do in the way that they handle both both

00:12:35.060 - 00:12:51.420

criminal and civil cases. And if there's ways to facilitate the way they move through the, through the process, we're looking at paperwork, see if we can reduce the amount of paper that flows through the courts and trying to do our part to contribute to the savings

00:12:51.420 - 00:13:09.650

that have to be made over the next few years. I don't envy you your I don't envy you your job at all. Um How about the changes to court funding maybe involving the state more? Is that in advance? Over the past several years, the state, both

00:13:09.650 - 00:13:29.220

the Legislature and the State Judicial Council have got more and more involved in telling individual judges or at least trying to tell individual judges how courts should be run. And I would anticipate that that's going that that is going to get greater in in the future.

00:13:30.950 - 00:13:53.850

Um There's a judicial council, how does it function in the operation of local courts? The State Judicial Council is headed by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California and it sets the California rules of court which mandate or at least set forth how the

00:13:53.850 - 00:14:15.990

courts should run within the state. They also provide a lot of administrative support. They interface with the state legislature. And although judges are independent in their own office, the judicial council does set forth procedures and policy and now will be more involved in how funding is

00:14:16.000 - 00:14:39.350

allocated to the courts and how courts function, how they're administratively structured and that sort of thing. Um The courts have always, I found them always found them fascinating and certainly sitting and watching them in action is fascination. Um how does one get to be a Superior

00:14:39.350 - 00:14:58.340

Court judge? It's an elective process. Right? How often do they run for election every six years, Six years? Right. So like the Senate does, is this in your opinion, not asking you to make an opinion rather than a fact. Is that a good idea? Or should

00:14:58.350 - 00:15:12.745

I've always thought that a lot of functions in local government in this case is I'm thinking of judges. Maybe a few others might be well advised they weren't appointed. I mean, you had to be a certain level of intelligence and skill and background in your field

00:15:12.925 - 00:15:28.905

and you were appointed and you served for a lengthy period of time. Is it a good process to re elect judges regularly? Well, it's, it's a different, you're talking about different branches of government. You have the executive branch of government, you have the judiciary and you

00:15:28.905 - 00:15:49.590

have the legislative branch, if someone started appointing judges from one of the other branches, it would be difficult to maintain the independence of the judiciary because suddenly you would have the appointment. Someone who wants to be a judge would would be beholden to another branch of

00:15:49.590 - 00:16:06.230

government for their position. Well, let me, let me I don't want to be contradictory. But look at the Supreme Court of the United States, you're appointed and you stay there. I mean, until such time as you either resign or you're ill or after or something like

00:16:06.230 - 00:16:20.610

that, would that system not work at Home Superior Court, do you think? I get, you know, I guess you could have that kind of process. But it was it seems to me that on the state at the state level and at the local level, your judges

00:16:20.610 - 00:16:36.520

need to be responsive to some degree to local citizenry, you don't want that running for election every two years, so that every time they make a decision, they're they're thinking about whether they're gonna be reelected, reelected. But on the other hand, there needs to be a

00:16:36.520 - 00:16:54.510

process by which they can be responsive to the local electorate. Okay, I don't mind me because I often make a statement, you know, that's a political feeling of mine alone and I take full credit for or full responsibility for for instance, I think that the electing

00:16:54.510 - 00:17:06.660

the House of Representatives for two years is ridiculous because the minute you're in office, the first thing that you got to figure out is how to get re elected and that is what of course now they put the terms on limitation on terms I believe it's

00:17:06.660 - 00:17:22.640

12 years or six years or something like that. This will make a difference. But on the other hand, um it seems to me that serving any less than four years, an individual would have no chance to put his priorities into effect. That's just my personal opinion.

00:17:22.650 - 00:17:38.650

Alright, listen, we're gonna pause right here for a moment. The station bring the audience a public service announcement, after which Tressa Kettner Superior Court Administrator and I will come back. We'll talk more about Supreme Court First this message, I'm a counselor and I've worked with teenagers

00:17:38.650 - 00:17:54.960

for 12 years along with their friends. They're making tough choices every day like whether to drink or smoke or experiment with sex. I've learned that for them, the key to dealing with peer pressure is self confidence. Parents can do more than anyone else to build that

00:17:54.960 - 00:18:12.600

confidence and make sure they don't smoke here are some of the ways you can help show interest in their activities, complement their achievements. Whether they're on the first team or the third respect their individuality. Their need for independence helped them set realistic goals. And when things

00:18:12.600 - 00:18:28.350

go wrong, avoid personal criticism, focus on the problem. Instead, show your teenagers you love and respect them. It's one important way you can strengthen them to help make the right decisions. Everybody needs help talking to their kids. Sometimes call for your free booklet on how parents

00:18:28.350 - 00:18:43.930

can talk to their teenagers about smoking and other tough issues. The family course consortium believes smoking shouldn't be a part of growing up. Welcome back to this edition of Solomon County in the 90s, were talking with Tressa Kettner, the Superior Court administrator for Sonoma County. And

00:18:43.930 - 00:19:00.920

we've been talking about the courts themselves, the location, the number of judges we incidentally have nine superior courts. She told us where they hold sway. We've talked about funding. Uh one of the things we were talking about when we dropped off a moment ago, what are

00:19:00.920 - 00:19:23.450

the significant challenges the court faces in 93? And another factor I want to ask you about is what about court coordination or administrative consolidation. As I mentioned earlier, the judges have voted or decided to consolidate administrations of the Superior Court Clerk, Superior Court administration and the

00:19:23.550 - 00:19:38.550

court into one over the next three years. One of the purposes of this will be to try and save money and how the administrative functions of the courts operate. But I think maybe a more important thing that we're going to try and accomplish out of this

00:19:38.580 - 00:19:57.860

is making the courts more accessible to the public, making it easier for people that have to come in and use the Court Clerk's Office either be a Municipal Court or Superior Court easier for them to come in and access the courts and use the courts right

00:19:57.860 - 00:20:16.150

now. It's very confusing. We believe two people that come in. So we'll be looking at the way cases move through the process to try and make it more straightforward. As I said earlier 92 93 has been a real grocery. As far as the fiscal constraints are

00:20:16.150 - 00:20:35.260

concerned, what will be the impact of the proposed county reorganization on the Superior Court? We are about two years ahead. We think of where the county is on reorganization because we've been working on our coordination plan for the last couple of years, but we are participating

00:20:35.260 - 00:20:52.210

in the county's plan, particularly as it as it impacts the criminal justice, the area of criminal justice. So what changes the county makes in terms of how criminal justice agencies relate to each other as well as the interaction we might have with say health and human

00:20:52.210 - 00:21:10.170

services agencies will be something for the courts to monitor and watch and make sure that that we don't impact them negatively or they or likewise they impact us negatively. Well, the whole judicial system there at the county clerk's office, that presence that has some Superior court

00:21:10.180 - 00:21:28.910

functions, the municipal court, the probation jail or sheriff, I should say all of these are very closely involved in Superior Court, aren't they? So anything you do that has really drastic ramifications is going to affect all of them. The system is very unrelated. For example, if

00:21:28.920 - 00:21:46.470

santa rosa Police department were suddenly to, to double their police force and have twice as many police officers out on the streets making arrests. That would impact the district attorney's office. That would impact the jail. That would impact the court's likewise, if the court suddenly hired

00:21:46.680 - 00:22:07.130

10 more judges, that would have an impact on everybody that has to present court cases in the court. We also impact the private bar. Yeah, sure do. And how um let's look at some of the possible long term developments or ones that you might expect to

00:22:07.130 - 00:22:32.650

see now, there's a possible constitutional amendment eliminating the distinctions between superior and municipal courts. Talk about that for a moment. Senator locker has introduced Senate constitutional amendment number three, which would create district courts throughout the state of California. Whereas now each county has one superior court

00:22:32.660 - 00:22:49.750

and one or more municipal courts. The district court concept would have one district court for approximately one county. That's not quite the same in some of the smaller northern counties or in Los Angeles County. So there would no longer be the distinction and I believe justice

00:22:49.750 - 00:23:07.160

courts would also be enveloped into that. Our Justice court's still in existence. Yes. Since some of the smaller, can we have any, No, we didn't. We have one municipal court for our entire county, but I believe they have Justice courts in Mendocino County and I know

00:23:07.160 - 00:23:23.460

they have justice courts in humboldt County. Now, is it just the years ago justice courts did not require the person to have a law degree, but that's that every person does. Is that necessary now? I believe so. Yes, I think so. Yeah, I think that was

00:23:23.460 - 00:23:52.090

all changed. Um, will there be a continued increase in the complexity of civil cases? You, you look at what we do, we're impacted by medical complexity in terms of cases that involved, injuries were impacted by scientific technology and how um, crimes are investigated or impacted by

00:23:52.100 - 00:24:10.520

gangs. If there's more gangs and there may be more parties in a, in a criminal case, which makes it more difficult. So anything that makes society more complex, makes the courts more complex. Do you expect? We're talking about gangs a moment ago, I don't know how

00:24:10.530 - 00:24:28.200

extensive that is county, but do you feel that there will be a definite increase in the juvenile case load in the last year? In the last year, the fiscal year we're in right now and the one just preceding this, the increase in general cases has been

00:24:28.200 - 00:24:48.170

greater. The percentage increase in juvenile cases has been greater than the increase in felonies which are the more serious adult crimes? I know you folks are not, this is not particularly your bag. I understand that. But do you think that the advent of these gangs is,

00:24:48.180 - 00:25:02.390

isn't, I mean, we know that there are problems in the southern part of the state or the or is the advent of more gangs in Sonoma County increasing the load on the criminal justice system? It seems to be one of the influences city of santa rosa?

00:25:02.390 - 00:25:20.610

Seems to feel its impact. All right, we're down to about three minutes I think. And what approximately or do you have this figure in mind the number of cases that superior court sees in a year having a general idea. I know we see it about 1000

00:25:20.610 - 00:25:44.320

felony criminal cases a year, civil cases, 1000 felonies. We see several 1000 family law cases and I and I'm I'm blanking out on the exact number but I wanna say three or 4000 family law cases. The number of general civil cases probably several 100 a month.

00:25:45.470 - 00:26:05.780

So there's quite a number. Boy, is it ever, how about conciliation court? Is that still in existence? That's part of your function now. How does that operate? And do they see hundreds of people, they get involved in custody disputes and trying to resolve child custody disputes

00:26:05.780 - 00:26:22.900

before they get to court so that when the parents go into court they are presenting an option to the judge rather than the judge making the decision as to where what the relationship with child custody should be. Well when we talk about the, I've had more

00:26:22.910 - 00:26:39.240

than a few years ago um courts conciliator, they do not have the authority to make make legal decisions so much as as they sit down and discuss and reason and try to find all the answers to the problem and then come up with a recommendation for

00:26:39.240 - 00:26:53.020

the court and then of course the judge has to. How bout the presiding judge? How do they determine who's the presiding judge in superior courts by election? By election? The judges elect a presiding judge. But they have a they have a pattern that they follow. It's

00:26:53.030 - 00:27:19.560

it's there's not a great deal of their nine of them. I can, you know, I live forever. I can remember back when we had to, I think one municipal court judge, juvenile law is uh is interesting and it's it's kind of tragic and it seems to

00:27:19.560 - 00:27:34.690

be more and more cases and it seems to be more and more violence. More so at least as far as I can determine its years past. This is once again not your available, you're not a psychiatrist. But are you are you seeing more violent crimes do

00:27:34.690 - 00:27:53.000

you think? I I really don't track that, but I think people within the system will say yes, comments that I've heard at criminal justice meetings and that kind of thing. Yes, but I don't really have any okay, personal knowledge about about a minute left to us.

00:27:53.010 - 00:28:13.030

What what other thoughts have you got about Superior Court and its place in Sonoma County? Well, I think that the courts, both courts are working very hard to main remain responsive to the citizens in Sonoma County and we we feel we've done an excellent job up

00:28:13.030 - 00:28:23.840

to now. We continue. hope to continue doing that in the future. Well you know the reason I asked you to make a comment there like that and I know I know we have got good courts and we've got good judges and I have worked in and

00:28:23.840 - 00:28:38.820

out of that court system as a public information coordinator for many, many years. I personally am proud of the justice system we have in common but a lot of people like to hear this because people fear their judicial system, you know, they really don't understand it

00:28:38.820 - 00:28:51.580

well enough and they go to court, they're all a tremble, so thanks a million for being with us. I really appreciate you coming down. Ladies and gentlemen, our guest on this edition of Sonoma County in the nineties has been Tressa Kettner, the Sonoma County Superior Court

00:28:51.590 - 00:29:05.050

Administrator has been with us for three years up here is doing a splendid job and they are having their problems budget wise too as we all be back next week with another member of the county government family are related agency until then. Good night, good luck

00:29:05.060 - 00:29:07.240

and good health to each and every one of them