Domestic Relations/Juvenile judges ask Supreme Court to force commissioners to approve their 2026 budget

Lorain County's Domestic Relations/Juvenile judges have asked the Ohio Supreme Court to force Lorain County commissioners to approve their 2026 budget request, and restore nearly $1 million in funding cuts that forced the closure of the Turning Point youth shelter. Ohio law gives common pleas courts and their divisions, including domestic relations and juvenile divisions, legal authority to order county commissioners to provide "reasonable and necessary" funding for court operations. Judges Frank Janik, Sherry Glass and Lisa Swenski alleged in their filing that commissioners Marty Gallagher, David Moore and Jeff Riddell failed to do that when they approved the court's 2026 budget without $977,000 needed to fund Turning Point. The commissioners are the budgetary authority in Lorain County. Judges are seeking a "writ of mandamus," a legal term for a court order forcing a government official to do their job. The writ asks the Ohio Supreme Court to force commissioners to comply with a Dec. 9 order for the courts' 2026 budget, which judges set at $14.2 million, according to a copy of that order. The $13.2 million in funding commissioners approved for Domestic Relations/Juvenile court for 2026 didn't include the funds to operate Turning Point, a 24-hour emergency, short-term shelter for youths ages 12-17 who have been abused or neglected, are victims of violence or human trafficking or are in mental health crisis. The judges said Turning Point is "critical" for families, schools, police, children services and mental health agencies. Turning Point, which opened in 1998, closed in March due to the loss of its funding. The judges said it helps keep youths out of the juvenile criminal justice system, making it a "reasonable and necessary expense" of their court. Commissioners said Turning Point is worthwhile and that they didn't want to defund it, but they had to cut the county budget and Turning Point wasn't mandatory. "It is an expensive program, but Turning Point is a desirable program," Commissioner Jeff Riddell said in February. Last-minute efforts to find alternative funding for the program didn't work out, county officials said. Commissioners "refused to appropriate the ordered funding" but "never demonstrated" what the judges requested and ordered "was unreasonable and unnecessary to the administration" of the Domestic Relations/Juvenile courts, according to the judges' filing Commissioners, therefore, "failed to establish that (Domestic Relations/Juvenile) courts abused their discretion" when they ordered their 2026 budget. That was a violation of the Ohio Constitution and an unlawful infringement on judicial authority, the judges argued. The judges "have established a clear legal right to the requested and ordered funds," which means commissioners have "a clear legal duty to appropriate said funds," according to the writ. The Domestic Relations/Juvenile judges are represented by the law firm Wickens Herzer Panza, which filed the writ of mandamus on April 28. Represented by the law firm Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone of Cleveland, commissioners have until June 5 to file a response after requesting and receiving a two-week extension, according to the state Supreme Court docket. A message seeking comment was left for an attorney representing the commissioners. Taxpayers will foot the bill for both private law firms and the legal battle. It wasn't clear Monday how much had already been spent in the fight. Swenski told commissioners in February that her court cut its budget back to 2025 levels, made adjustments and waited four weeks before ordering commissioners to accept the 2026 budget request. She said budget hearings late last year gave her and her fellow judges the impression they were getting the money and that they were shocked to learn about the cuts commissioners made. Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com.