ANTRIM COUNTY — Changes are coming to the 86th District Court that covers Antrim, Grand Traverse and Leelanau counties.
Grand Traverse County commissioners voted April 2nd in favor of allowing Antrim County to continue with the process of forming their own district court. That would leave Grand Traverse County to handle about 90% of the case load in the 86th District and Leelanau County to handle the remaining 10%.
The move would cost Grand Traverse County an additional $153,000 per year and Leelanau County an additional $5,600.
“They want to call it the 99th district in the proposed legislation,” says Judge Robert Cooney with the 86th District Court. “In 2000, when Antrim asked to be added to our district, the state court administrator’s office also added a third judge in 2015. They took that third judge away. It’s put a strain on our dockets and being able to handle all of the matters that come before the court in an efficient manner in all three counties. And certainly are not able to be in Antrim County as much as we used to back when we had three judges.”
The move will mean four full time jobs will be cut as well as one part time position.