This week Richland Source shared our interviews with local candidates, speaking with them about their goals for three offices on the Nov. 4 ballot. Team members spoke with Don Bryant, Marilyn John, Phil Naumoff, Brent Robinson, Mark Romanchuk, and Phillip Scott. Today is the third in the series introducing their video interviews, introducing the candidates for Richland Common Pleas Court judge.
Judge Brent Robinson is completing the term of James Henson following Henson’s retirement from Common Pleas Court. Phil Naumoff, who is currently a magistrate for Mansfield Municipal Court, is also running for the Common Pleas seat.
Magistrate Naumoff told reporter Emily Dech that the most common cases addressed in Common Pleas Court are civil including breach of contracts and personal injury. “It’s never talked about,” he said, “because those aren’t what make the headlines…I’ve had vast experience in that area with over 16 and a half years or so in private practice. I did a lot of civil work. In the last four and a half years in Mansfield Municipal Court, I handled the entire civil docket, so I’ve got that background.”
“The other problem,” he continued, “is the opiate epidemic that is going on in this community. For 17 years, Richland County Common Pleas Court has had a drug court program, but they’ve run it the same way for the last 17 years. It’s not working.”
Naumhoff feels that there are treatments that the court has not explored, including medically assisted treatment.
“Medically assisted treatment programs are not being used right now at all in Richland County Common Pleas Court,” he stated. He said that Municipal Court has started using them and has made “good headway.” Naumoff also said that a large percentage of offenders that are incarcerated are jailed because of drugs and he explained that addiction is a medical illness.
“Incarcerating them,” said Naumoff, “is not addressing the problem.”
Judge Robinson spoke with Dech as well, and one of the questions she asked him was whether during his time as judge he had addressed any cases that posed social issues that he has or plans to address.
Robinson began with an explanation, “I deal with felony offenses. Felony offenses are offenses where you can be sent to prison. I only deal with misdemeanors if they’re attached to a felony….The other kind of cases I deal with are disputes over $15,000. So we’re dealing with car accidents or cases where people are suing each other over large amounts of money.”
He added, “We also deal with foreclosure cases and we have a foreclosure program where we try to keep people in their houses if they can afford to stay. If they can’t afford to stay in their house, we try to get them out of the house, and we try to get the house sold before someone breaks in and vandalizes the house…but if we can keep the person in the house, that’s a benefit to the bank and to the person.”
Robinson noted that some of the programs the court runs include the drug court and a re-entry court that helps prisoners after release to readjust, get employment, or get treatment for mental health issues. He cited approximately an 80 percent success rate getting people readjusted to life after prison.
“Judge Henson started a drug court. It’s a nationally recognized drug court, and we have almost a 70 percent graduation rate. I’m looking to improve that. I’ve looked into medically assisted treatment options with getting physicians involved, but that’s just one component. We’re taking a cautious approach. We have to have a person seen by a physician and the physician has to make recommendations whether or not medication would be incorporated. We are open to that and we are going that route if the physician is okay with that.”
Interviews with local candidates were conducted at Tog Loft studio on Fourth St., Mansfield and filmed by DRM Productions Inc.
