The Nebraska Judicial Resources Commission has decided the Panhandle needs five county judges, and voted 10-5 Tuesday morning to move forward on filling the vacancy created by the retirement at the end of last year of Judge Charles Plantz of Rushville.

The judge will be based in Alliance.

The commission had considered the vacancy in a hearing this summer, but chose to put off a decision until now to experiment with a plan proposed by the state Supreme Court to move the judgeship to Omaha, and Sheridan and Grant counties for the 12th Judicial District to the 8th District…where they’d be handled by a judge from Valentine.

The commission took testimony and debated the issue for two hours in a telehearing from Lincoln, Omaha, and Scottsbluff.

Supreme Court Justice Michael McCormack, chairman of the resources commission, pushed the panel to make no decision and give it over to the legislature…saying it would give him a “chip” in fighting for a new juvenile judgeship in Omaha and for pay raises for judges and court personnel.

Most of the commission members, though, told McCormack that politics had no role in their decision-making process, and that their job was to determine the best way to spread Nebraska’s judicial resources to serve its people.

Longtime Scottsbluff attorney Howard Olsen, who helped convince a Nebraska Bar Association committee last Friday to reverse its position and support keeping the judgeship in the northern Panhandle, was pleased that the Judicial Resources Commission kept politics out of its decision.

Several commission members also seemed swayed by the testimony of several county commissioners, judges, and attorneys that the experiment of Valentine Judge James Orr traveling over 200 miles to hold court in Sheridan County every week for 4 months was not working.

Scottsbluff attorney Mike Javaronock said filling the vacancy would not only assist Judge Orr with his duties in Valentine, but would also put less stress on County Judge Russ Harford in Chadron, who has had health issues while trying to cover the entire northern Panhandle by himself while still helping out elsewhere as needed.

The Judicial Resources Commission has 16 members, but Steven Mattoon of Sidney is the only one from the Panhandle and Brian Phares of North Platte is the only other member from west of the Kearney area. Six are from the Omaha area and 3 are from Lincoln…not counting Justice McCormick.