SIDNEY — “As I continue my first full term in office, I would like to thank the citizens of Shelby County for the support and trust bestowed upon me and my staff,” said Judge Duane A. Goettemoeller, Sidney Municipal Court.
His report continues:
In 2015 the Sidney Municipal Court applied for and received two grants from the state of Ohio. The first being provided by the Supreme Court of Ohio as part of their Technology Fund Grant and the second was an expansion of the already existing Community Corrections Act grant.
The Court received $48,420 to upgrade our security system and improve the quality of the cameras placed throughout the Court building. It also allowed us to install an intercom link in the two secure holding cells that are located in the building. Many thanks go to the Supreme Court for providing such grants to Courts throughout the State of Ohio.
The second grant that the Court received was from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitations and Corrections. Melissa Harmon, Director of the CCA grant, was able to apply for and receive additional permanent funding in the amount of $72,000. This more than doubles the funding that we had previously been receiving. It has allowed the Court to hire a part time employee to assist in conducting assessments, pre-sentence investigation reports, and internal auditing functions that are now required for compliance with the grant. It has also enabled the program to offer more counseling options for participants and will allow us to provide gender specific counseling plans. We will also now be providing domestic violence group counseling and Thinking for a Change groups. Thinking for a Change is a nationally recognized program that includes cognitive restructuring, social, and problem solving skills development for the purpose of reducing the number of people who re-offend and could require more intensive supervision.
We have also had some personnel changes in 2015. Long time Court employee Michael Martz resigned in September and Travis Piatt was hired as a probation officer. Cherita Marcus was hired as a part-time employee to work on the Mental Health program to replace Amy Swaney who resigned in November. Cherita begsn as a full time employee in January 2016 working on both the Mental Health program and to assist on the CCA grant. We wish the best of luck to our departing friends and look forward to working with our new ones in 2016.
During 2015, 332 individuals entered the License Intervention Program. The Court had a 60 percent successful completion rate which resulted in another 200 valid properly insured drivers on the roads.
In 2015, $2,490.821.12 was collected in receipts. In addition $28,473 in Community Service was provided by offenders through the Court’s Community Service Program.
The Court distributed $23,081.46 in restitution to victims of crime and distributed garnishment monies in the amount of $1,095,068.82 to creditors.
The Probation Department performed 343 drug tests, conducted 241 pre-sentence investigations and had 1,571 active probationers. The Bailiff’s served 1,217 papers, transported 1,118 prisoners and the Court held video arraignment for 32 prisoners. More than 3,695 jail days were served by 147 defendants. In place of jail 385 people were placed in counseling and treatment programs. The Home Arrest program had 4,020 days served and saved over $220,000 in incarceration costs.
The Justice and Mental Health program, also known as the JMHCP program, screened 21 people, admitted 15 to the program, had four successful completions, with six still active and five terminated unsuccessfully.
