I appreciate your recent editorial calling for better communication regarding a new Cuyahoga County Jail and Justice Center (”Revive the steering committee for transparency in planning new county jail,” Oct. 23). What was not noted is that a Memorandum of Understanding was drafted creating the Justice Center Executive Steering Committee in January 2019 by the County Executive and myself as the then-Administrative/Presiding judge and signed by all 12 members of that Committee. While it was dissolved due to disagreements, the framework of that Memorandum still exists. I hope that stakeholders will reconstitute the Executive Steering Committee so that all have a voice in this taxpayer-funded operation.
Additionally, stakeholders in Cuyahoga County’s criminal justice system established a working group in 2018, the Criminal Justice Council (CJC), to make a positive difference. This platform could also be reestablished to reopen the lines of communication to discuss these projects.
To successfully design a new County Jail and new Justice Center will take discussions, agreements, and diplomacy. We should not build or design a new County Jail or Justice Center without communication and consensus. All ideas should be shared with other stakeholders who will be impacted by these investments of county funds.
John J. Russo,
Cleveland
Judge John J. Russo of the Court of Common Pleas in Cuyahoga County was former administrative and presiding judge of the court.