(Photo: Google images)

Posted by The Huron Hub on Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019 

The city of Romulus announced last week that it has reached an agreement to reaffirm the city as home to the 34th District Court, and outline agreed-upon terms. The agreement, reached with the support of the Michigan State Court Administrators Office, replaces the 1998 Agreement between Romulus, the Township of Sumpter, the Charter Township of Van Buren, the Charter Township of Huron and Belleville.

The 2019 agreement settles misinterpretations of the prior agreement’s wording with regard to disbursement of funds, protects the communities against future misreading, and affirms the court will continue to be located in Romulus.

Meanwhile, construction continues on the new court building funded through fees assessed through the users of the 34th District Court, located at the city’s municipal campus on Wayne Road. The grand opening is slated for early 2020.

“The city of Romulus is proud to have brought our neighboring communities together to review this important issue, maintain good faith and to continue to host the 34th District Court,” Mayor LeRoy Burcroff said. “Having long understood and honored the spirit of the agreement, we are grateful to have cemented its intent in an official contract approved by all the neighboring communities. We are pleased with this agreement. This agreement puts to rest any question raised that the City of Romulus acted inappropriately and puts into writing changes implemented by the court, and how such court fees will continue to be administered and disbursed to the communities.”

Prior to reaching the new agreement, the city of Romulus conducted all financial transactions in accordance with the 1998 agreement. The city also received the highest, unqualified audit opinion in an outside audit conducted by Plante Moran in 2018.

“The recent signing of the updated 34th District Court Funding Unit Agreement is the latest example of how the five communities that make up this unit continue to work together for a common purpose,” said David A. Glaab, Huron Charter Township Supervisor. “Building on their positive relationships based on mutual trust and respect, the judges, mayors and township supervisors maintained open lines of communication and forged an agreement that will benefit the communities and their court well into the future. This agreement demonstrates what effective leadership and political subdivisions working together as an equal partnership can achieve.”