SHELBY – Newcomer Jonathon Elgin will compete against current Shelby Municipal Court Judge Sheree Studer in a nonpartisan race Nov. 7.
The term up-for-grabs will commence Jan. 1, 2024 and conclude Dec. 31, 2029.
The Shelby Municipal Court serves the City of Shelby, as well as Sharon, Jackson, Cass, Plymouth, Butler (except Sections 35, 36, 32 and 31) and Blooming Grove townships in Richland County, according to the court’s website.
Both Elgin and Studer shared their backgrounds, addressed areas of concern, and some of their future goals if elected with Richland Source.
Sheree Studer
Sheree Studer, 45, resides at 2327 Holtz Road in Shelby.
After graduating from Pioneer Career and Technology Center and Buckeye Central High School in 1996, Studer attended North Central State to obtain her paralegal degree.
She also earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Ashland University and graduated from law school at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law at Cleveland State University.
When asked why she’s seeking re-election, Studer said she’s enjoyed her time on the bench and is dedicated to keeping her community safe.
Experience in the community
“I am the only candidate with experience,” she said. “We will use that experience to provide stability to the court.”
She’s spent her entire legal career in the Shelby community, and has worked at Benham and Ream in different capacities since 2004.
Currently in her sixth year on the bench, Studer was elected to her first term in 2017 replacing Jon Schaefer, who served 30 years as judge in Shelby.
Prior to her appointment as acting judge, she was the magistrate of the Shelby Municipal Court since July 2014.
First-term accomplishments
“During my term I’ve obtained four separate grants on the court’s behalf,” she said. “They were to update our case management software, we updated laptops, we did a metal detector and we did a camera system.”
Additionally, Studer said she’s proud of her work to advance the court’s online public access, which she said was virtually non-existent prior to her term.
At the end of last year, she said the court was also successful in its effort to obtain recertification of its drug court program.
The program allows participants arrested on drug-related charges to seek additional avenues to recovery, she said.
“It’s important that we have a fair and impartial judge that’s going to apply the law,” she said. “So I treat everybody that comes through the court with dignity and respect, and I want to continue to do that.”
Addressing state audit findings
The municipal court has periodically been at the center of passionate Shelby City Council discussions for more than a year due to repetitive state audit findings.
During an October council meeting, Councilmember Garland Gates reported to council significant deficiencies were found in the municipal court’s monthly bank reconciliations, a recurring issue that dates back to 2017.
Studer responded to the situation and said the court has been working to correct the issue.
“If you look at the state audit online, they found that there were no material weaknesses in our audit,” she said. “We actually inherited the audit findings from 2017 and we have been working on them.”
Since receiving the initial audit results in December of 2018, Studer said the court has remained balanced to those same numbers.
“Once we obtained that first audit, we have hired our programmer Henschen and we also hired an independent CPA,” she said. “We’ve also gone through and reviewed the records ourselves and we’ve balanced to the same figure now from December of 2018 until now.”
She said the court is dedicated to resolving this issue and expects it to be finalized in next year’s audit.
Jonathon Elgin
Jonathon Elgin, 35, resides at 19 Seneca Drive in Shelby.
After graduating from Shelby High School in 2006, Elgin attended the Ohio State University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in English.
Furthermore, he obtained a master’s degree in IT Management from Regis University and his law degree from Ohio Northern University.
Judicial interest led Elgin back home
When asked why he’s seeking election, Elgin said a judicial path is something he’s always envisioned for himself, even prior to attending law school.
Elgin said several factors coalesced to his run this year, with particular concerns regarding issues taking place at the court over the last six years.
“I’m from Shelby, I’ve set up my business here and I live here,” he said. “This was an opportunity to both fulfill that judicial interest and apply my background with technology and business into resolving some of these issues that have come up.”
Upon passing the Ohio Bar Examination in 2017, Elgin set up his private practice in Shelby, dealing with juvenile and criminal law, as well as family and civil cases.
Resignation from Richland County Prosecutors Office
In June of 2018, he began work as an assistant county prosecutor in the civil division at the Richland County Prosecutor’s Office in Mansfield.
Elgin left the prosecutors office in December 2020 and returned to private practice full-time.
Toward the end of his time at the prosecutors office, Elgin said former Prosecutor Gary Bishop had some concerns about his performance, as well as concerns about interactions with criminal defendants.
“Instead of pursuing that process, or participating in any discipline that he (Bishop) wanted to do, I went ahead and just left,” he said. “It was just time to take my return to private practice.”
Elgin added that following his resignation, the matter was referred to the Ohio Supreme Court, who he said found nothing unethical regarding his conduct and found no violation of professional conduct.
“I think the folks that want to make a bigger deal of it are trying to make it much more adversarial than it was,” he said. “It was simply a long time in the making and I returned back to private practice.”
Return to private practice
Following his return, Elgin said his practice has shifted its focus to probate, bankruptcy, and civil litigation.
If elected by Shelby voters in November, he said the judgeship will not impact his ability to continue his private practice.
The Shelby Municipal Court judgeship is a part-time position and Elgin said his main areas of concentration as a private attorney won’t overlap in any way that could create a conflict.
“I no longer do any family law or criminal law work,” he said. “That’s just kind of the model that attorneys are taking nowadays. It’s very difficult to be an attorney that does everything.”
Court’s reconciliation issue a top priority if elected
Elgin said if elected, recurring reconciliation issues within the court must be addressed and acted upon.
“The court and the clerk have had clear direction on what needs to be changed and addressed,” he said. “I think it really was not taken as a serious issue.”
As far as rectifying the issue, Elgin said if elected, he plans to replace the current Clerk Shannon Small, close the court’s existing accounts and then open new ones.
“That (opening new accounts) would allow us still to pursue the historical inaccuracies, but to start with a level playing field,” he said. “I think that would not only help resolve the historical issues, but also demonstrate that the new clerk is on the right track.”
Reconnecting the court with the community
Should he be elected, Elgin said other areas of importance to him include continued success with the drug court program, as well as examining the city’s probation procedures and staffing.
Living in Shelby for more than 30 years, Elgin said he feels there’s a strong disconnect between the community and the court and he’d like to help reintegrate the two.
“Having a strong and efficient court is strengthening Shelby and northern Richland County as a whole,” he said. “Getting the court back into the community is a huge priority of mine.”
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