Judge Amy Jorgensen and Mayor Tom McDermott
Hammond mayor, city court judge agree on transition plan
Contributed By:The 411 News
No one will be sued and court gets longer life
Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott, City Clerk Robert Golec, and the Hammond City Council won’t have to defend their offices from a lawsuit by Hammond City Court Judge Amy Jorgensen. On his morning WJOB radio show last week, Mayor McDermott announced the city officials have come to terms and they are now working together to wind down the court.
“Judge Jorgensen is a really pleasant person,” Mayor McDermott said about the judge Friday morning. After Jorgenson was appointed by Governor Pence in November 2016 to fulfill the term of the late Judge Jeff Harkin, he commented, “She won’t get any respect from me.”
The mayor now says, “The judge had been put in an unfortunate situation and I didn’t know her.”
Recent meetings with clerk Golec, city council president Janet Venecz and council member Tom Woerpel produced agreements to work with Judge Jorgensen to wind down the court. Following Jorgensen’s appointment, the Hammond City Council approved Ordinance 9363 in January 2017, authored by Woerpel, to abolish the court and making its last day December 31, 2018.
Judge Jorgensen threatened a lawsuit against her fellow officials when cases were transferred from her courtroom to Crown Point. She argued the mayor and clerk didn’t have the authority to make those transfers without her permission.
The ordinance will be revised, the mayor said, to continue the court’s life until the end of Judge Jorgensen’s term, December 31, 2019.
Immediately on the ordinance’s approval, new Hammond criminal case filings were sent to Lake Superior Court in Crown Point. Beginning July 1, 2017, the ordinance directed the transfer of infractions and ordinance violations to Crown Point.
“An August 1st snapshot showed a 25% reduction in court filings this year,” Mayor McDermott said, that Judge Jorgensen agreed to continue for 2018. Clerk Golec also agreed to the 25% reduction for next year.
The abolishment of the court and reduction of filings in the clerk’s offices will help stem shortfalls in the city’s budget, the mayor said. “Looking forward to the year 2020, our property tax collections will fall between $4-$5 million a year. Lake County will begin following Indiana’s 1-2-3% property tax caps law.”
Currently, Lake and St. Joseph counties have a 10-year exemption from the tax caps, collecting a 1.5-2.5-3.5% property tax rate that ends in 2020.
Story Posted:08/23/2017
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