District court closures approved

Candidate names to be removed from election ballot

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has approved the request by Bucks County President Judge Jeffrey Finley that the district courts in Perkasie and Lower Southampton be closed.

The request was made because of a 12 percent drop in the number of cases filed in Bucks County district courts in the past five years, along with the expectation that the 2020 census counts would lead to the state reducing the number of district courts in the county, court officials said.

Municipal governments and residents in the affected towns, along with an online petition, opposed the move, saying local police officers will have to spend more time outside the coverage area and that residents will be inconvenienced.

The Supreme Court issued its decision April 21, effective Jan. 1, 2018.

The decision said the Perkasie court cases

will go to the Quakertown and New Britain district courts, with East Rockhill and West Rockhill going to the Quakertown court and Perkasie, Sellersville and the Bucks County portion of Telford cases going to New Britain. The Quakertown court also covers Quakertown, Richlandtown and part of Trumbauersville boroughs and Milford and Richland townships, the Supreme Court said. The New Britain court also covers Chalfont, New Britain and Silverdale boroughs and Hilltown and New Britain townships, the court said.

The Lower Southampton cases will go to the Penndel district court that also covers Hulmeville, Langhorne, Langhorne Manor and Penndel boroughs, the decision said.

The county will try to find jobs for existing staff members at the two courts, either in other court positions or other county openings, Bucks County Court Administrator Stephen Heckman has previously said. The judge position at the courts will be eliminated.

Elections for magisterial district judge for both the Perkasie and Lower Southampton courts were scheduled for this year.

The primary election ballots are already prepared, so the candidates’ names will still be on the ballot, but a notice is expected to be placed in voting booths and with absentee ballots for the primary elections saying the magisterial district is being eliminated and the votes will not be counted, Deena Dean, director of the Bucks County Board of Elections, said.

“This is what we’ve done in similar cases,” she said.

The notification had not been finalized as of April 24, however, and she was still working on it with the county solicitor, she said.

There will not be any candidates on the November ballot for the two courts that are being eliminated, she said. There will also not be an election this year for the New Britain or Penndel district courts, she said. The Quakertown magisterial district judge seat is up for election this year, however, she said. That election will be on the ballot in November in East Rockhill and West Rockhill, as well as the towns previously covered by the Quakertown court, she said.

There are two candidates on the primary election ballot — Lisa Gaier and Robert C. Heitz, Sr. — for the Quakertown magisterial district judge. District magisterial judges may cross-file as both Democratic and Republican, which both candidates have done.

Ottsville District Court

In a separate district court election, Dean said Wayne Rickert’s name is being removed from the primary election ballot for the Ottsville magisterial district judge seat following a court decision that he did not have enough valid signatures on his nominating petition. Incumbent Gary Gambardella will now be the only candidate on the ballot.