Phil Naumoff, magistrate for Mansfield Municipal Court, has been selected as a candidate for Richland County Common Pleas Judge on the November ballot.
Naumoff will run against Judge Brent Robinson, who was appointed by Gov. John Kasich to replace Judge James Henson after his retirement in February. The winner between Naumoff and Robinson will serve the remainder of Henson’s term, which runs through Jan. 1, 2017.
After serving as magistrate for Mansfield Municipal Court for four years, Naumoff said he is ready to take the next step in his career. Prior to becoming a magistrate, Naumoff worked in private practice for 16 years with his brother and sister-in-law.
“A lot of people have been asking when I’m going to do this, and I just thought the timing was right,” said Naumoff. “I enjoy what I do now, I’d just like to take the next step.”
Born in Toronto, Canada in 1961, Naumoff was a little more than a year old when he first moved to Mansfield. He remembers his dad saying when you come to the United States you either become a doctor or a lawyer, so Naumoff chose the latter after attending Miami University in Oxford for his undergraduate education.
“My folks wanted to see us get an education and assimilate ourselves into the culture,” he said. “My dad washed dishes and swept floors and my mom was a seamstress, and through that they were still able to raise three boys. They paid for all of our college and law school. We can never repay them for that.”
The sacrifices of his family have motivated Naumoff to give back to the community of Mansfield. He said he’s always had aspirations of becoming a judge, and becoming magistrate was a natural fit.
“It’s a great experience, you sit on the bench, and it’s kind of like a judge position,” said Naumoff. “We make decisions every day, we hear cases, and I thought it was a good training background.”
With experience as both a magistrate and a defense attorney, Naumoff said his knowledge of both sides of the bench lends itself to preparing for a judgeship. He hopes to pay back the community by doing right by the people behind the bench.
“That courtroom doesn’t belong to a judge or a magistrate; it literally is the people’s court,” said Naumoff. “It’s their courtroom, you’ve just been entrusted to oversee that everything is being done right for that community.”
After being officially selected as a candidate for the judge position, Naumoff said his next step is organizing a campaign. One of his main focuses he said is addressing the issue of opiate addiction in Richland County.
“It is not just somebody else’s problem; it has become everybody’s problem, whether you have been affected by a family member that is using or know someone that is using or maybe becoming a victim of the crime itself. Everybody is being affected,” he said. “We have to address it, we have to be more proactive on that, and I think we have to look at every possible alternative.”
One solution Naumoff hopes to bring to Richland County comes in the form of the drug Vivitrol (naltrexone), which blocks the effects of narcotic medicines and alcohol and is used to help treat opiate or alcohol dependence.
“It attacks the sensation in the brain that makes you want the substance,” explained Naumoff. “At that point, because their head is a little clearer, it allows counseling to actually make sense to an addict where they can get something out of it. Otherwise, they don’t hear what you’re telling them.”
According to Naumoff, Logan, Crawford and Marion County have applied and received grant money for the use of the medication, which is expensive. With fourth and fifth degree felonies limited in prison time, Naumoff said using the drug is about public safety.
“If we’re going to monitor these people and put them back out in society, we need to get aggressive with their treatment,” he said. “We have to do everything we can to ensure the public’s safety but also theirs.”
More than anything, Naumoff hopes to use his position as judge to make the community a better place for future generations.
“It’s the hope that when you get in, you’re able to administer justice, do the right thing and make this a better community to live in,” he said. “I love this place. I have a granddaughter, I want her, when she grows up, to say Mansfield and Richland County is a great place.”
“It’s the hope that when you get in, you’re able to administer justice, do the right thing and make this a better community to live in,” said Phillip Naumhoff.
