With the closure of Mercer Island City Hall in April of 2023, the city’s municipal court was on the move.

The court staff operated out of the Kirkland Municipal Justice Center and the MI Fire Station 91 training room before finally settling into its temporary abode at Newcastle City Hall in the early months of 2024.

As the court rolled with the location changes, it stood strong in maintaining its paramount principles of accountability, transparency and reliability, according to presiding judge Jeff Gregory during his state of the court presentation at the July 2 Mercer Island City Council meeting.

Presently, the staff resides in a third-floor office while hearings occur in the second-floor council chambers, said Gregory, who also handles the Newcastle case docket once a month. Criminal misdemeanor cases are heard and non-criminal traffic citations and parking citations are processed at the court, which is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday-Thursday.

It was by no means an easy move, but the staffers rebounded from the tough loss of city hall while circumnavigating some logistical concerns and growing pains to arrive at their temporary home, Gregory said. Creating a court in a room that was not designed for that purpose — and sharing it with a council chambers to boot — was an unprecedented endeavor as far as he knows. They persevered and achieved their goal.

“All at the same time (trying) to figure out where we were gonna have the next court hearing, how we were gonna protect constitutional rights and expectations as well as victims’ rights and expectations,” he said of the entire moving process.

Gregory said the staff misses conducting business on the Island, but it’s excited to keep the wheels of justice rolling about seven miles away in Newcastle.

“I still have a lot on my to-do list to bring this court up to the excellent standards that I would expect and I think you would expect,” he told city councilmembers. He noted that more Zoom hearings would be a plus to relieve some of the participants’ travel expenditures, along with making the courtroom a place to house jury trials. Gregory hopes the court can hold its first jury trial this month.

During his robust legal career, Gregory has worked as a King County deputy and senior deputy prosecuting attorney and public defender, provided criminal defense and family law services with his own firm and served as a pro tem judge before taking the Island judge’s seat on Jan. 1, 2022. He’s just the second presiding judge to ever serve on the Island and succeeded Judge Wayne Stewart, who held his position for 17 years.

In a previous Reporter story, Gregory noted about his job: “It is a responsibility that is a massive burden when you take that on, when you put on the robe,” and he ultimately aspires to help steer people on a good path while moving forward with their lives. Cases of assault, domestic violence, property crimes and more are placed in front of him during his court days.

At the July 2 meeting, Island Mayor Salim Nice sung the praises of Gregory and his staff for being flexible and resourceful — and thriving — amidst all the changes propelled their way.

On the reliability front of the court’s three-pronged ethos, Gregory noted: “I want everybody to understand that we take that extremely seriously. I want everybody here to know, as well as the citizens of our Island, that if there is a new law going forward, if there’s a new form, if there’s a new ideals within our community — the court is on it.”

For more court information, visit: https://www.mercerisland.gov/municipalcourt

Courtesy of the city of Mercer Island