![]() “All of those judges are Upper Darby people who know Upper Darby and their neighborhoods, and I think we would do well putting pressure on people drawing those maps,” Rongione said.Ĭouncilman Andrew Hayman pointed out that District Courts are drawn using the number of cases they have as part of the criteria. ![]() At present, there are six different districts in the township. Upper Darby Chief Operating Officer Vincent Rongione agreed, saying that District Courts are incredibly important on the local level. One of Burke’s concern was that police officers will need to spend more time traveling to distant District Courts, which will keep them off street patrol. I don’t think Springfield gets Upper Darby,” Burke said.” I don’t think it is fair to our residents.”īurke also noted that the Haverford District Court will be responsible for a different section of Upper Darby. So Springfield’s judge will be overseeing our residents in some parts of the first (council district). “Where I live…the people of that district will not be able to vote for district judge for six years because that judge just won in Springfield. “We are not the only place where this happened.”Īt the Upper Darby Council meeting in January, Brian Burke, councilman-at-large, brought up concerns that the changing District Justice seats will affect residents in the township. Unfortunately, this now breaks up municipalities that do have a community of interest internally,” Reuther said. “I knew we would lose the court that served Media, much of Nether and Swarthmore, because Judge Krull was elected to the Common Pleas Court. Reuther said with that split, incumbent Republican MDJs will not have to face a competitive race, absent major demographic shifts. Our school will be split between 4 MDJs which means there is no possibility of a workable youth aid panel.” It will force our police to drive a distance to the Middletown MDJ Court which makes no sense. Nether and Middletown are contiguous in a way that can best be described as technical. “There is no community of interest with Middletown, where the north wards now go for MDJ proceedings. “Our township and school district are broken up in ways that can only make sense if you assume a partisan gerrymander,” Reuther said. Three of the existing court positions are presently vacant – one in Upper Darby, one in Chester, and the one serving Swarthmore-Nether Providence-Media. ![]() The newly proposed map calls for a reduction of the number of district courts in Delaware County from 30 to 26. And while they don’t earn the $220,000 the President Judge is paid, the latest cost-of-living adjusted salary for a Magisterial District Judge in Pennsylvania is $98,565 a year. The MDJ position can be a stepping stone to higher office, as with newly elected Common Pleas Judge Deborah Krull, who was formerly Media’s District Justice. They also set bail and conduct preliminary hearings in misdemeanor and felony criminal cases to determine if the cases should be dismissed or transferred to the Court of Common Pleas for further proceedings. Though at the first level of the judicial system, District Judges have a fair amount of power handling all traffic cases, minor criminal cases and civil cases involving amounts up to $12,000. Kelly in charge.Īfter gathering data, working with existing district justices, and consulting other officials and law enforcement, Kelly has released a proposed map for county Magisterial District Judges positions who are elected to six-year terms. Superior Court puts the task to each county’s top judge and in Delco, it’s President Judge Kevin F. In Delaware County, that process is nearing its competition. Redistricting is a hot topic as the once-in-a-decade change in voting districts occurs not just for Congress and state government, but also at the local level with Magisterial District Judges.
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