2,456 Case Touch Points Reported in 2021 by Ron Bane

(Morgantown, W.Va.) Monongalia County’s Division 1 Magistrate, Ron Bane, averaged more than nine cases touch points per day in 2021. With a total of 2,456 case touch points for the year, Bane exceeded his annual caseload estimate by 2.47%; this equaled two more cases per day, on average, than initially anticipated.

Bane credited the higher than expected number in part to the work of his magistrate assistant, Amy White, and Kandy McCauley, Monongalia County Magistrate Clerk. “Thanks to a collaboration between magistrate court staff as well as the Honorable Cindy Scott, Seventeenth Judicial Circuit Judge, we were able to extend technical capacities into all courtrooms, which allowed us to more easily schedule and use multiple courtrooms at the same time whenever needed,” said Bane.

Communications outreach efforts for Monongalia County’s Division 1 Magistrate saw 2,673 unique page views and a total of 3,814 page views served via RonBane.com. Social media reach had 4,352 Facebook impressions for the same period. Bane was grateful for media support, “Considering the reach of our local newspaper and area radio and television outlets, our team was able to significantly exceed citizen outreach this year, and that’s helpful considering what we want to achieve going forward.”

Outside the courtroom and beyond the community and civic boards on which he serves, Magistrate Bane is focused on working to secure an additional magistrate judge for Monongalia County to accommodate the county’s growth. Bane noted, “Monongalia County routinely reports a higher than average caseload to the Supreme Court of West Virginia. With the census complete and Monongalia County showing continued growth, our citizens deserve at least one more magistrate to ensure justice is efficiently, effectively served.”

Bane and his team have researched magistrate apportionment in West Virginia dating to 1976 when the current magistrate system was instituted to show changes over time, and have developed a rubric based on updated averages to show where disparities exist. Bane is prepared to work with his Vote Bane campaign team to seek support in the upcoming 2022 legislative term.

Bane expressed cautious optimism amid the coming election year saying, “We plan to solicit key legislators with a clean bill to strategically add a few magistrates where they’re most critically needed, and we welcome the opportunity to work with interested parties toward the goal of creating a more equitable apportionment method, locally and statewide, both now and in the future.”