Mayor's proposal to outsource court is put on hold by LFP City Council

Update from LFP Deputy Mayor/Council Chair, Catherine Stanford:

Many thanks to all of those in our community who took the time to send e-mails to Council or provide public comments during the Council’s initial discussions regarding the Mayor’s proposal asking us to consider the pros and cons of contracting with King County for our Court services.

At our Council business meeting last week, I recommended to the Council that we discontinue our discussions on the matter at that meeting. Following are my comments to the rest of the Council:

“As you are all aware, we have significant work ahead of us that is timely, important for the future of our city, and follows our commitments in the Strategic Plan – relating to healthy creeks; transportation; parks; and community development. This is an ‘all hands-on deck’ time for our city.

"It would not be prudent for us to take up another matter at this time. The Mayor’s proposal represents a significant change in the way we do business at the city. It would require us to spend considerable time and resources in order to do the job needed to inform the public, obtain public input, and make a considered determination about our Court services that would ultimately serve in the best interests of our community.”

After discussion, the Council concurred with the recommendation. Councilmembers thanked the Mayor for bringing the matter to us. “I want to thank the Mayor for helping to create an environment for discussion of this important issue; periodic assessment of our city services is prudent”, said Tom French, Council Vice-Chair. Members also expressed their appreciation of Judge Portnoy.

If the Council were to take up the matter again, it would likely be during the 2019-20 Biennial Budget process late next year.