HANCOCK COUNTY — In the hope of helping to get Hancock County Superior Court 1 up and running at full speed after several months of an elected judge being out on medical leave, county officials approved several thousand dollars for specialized audio equipment for Judge D.J. Davis in an effort to get him back on the bench.

Davis, who has been out of the office since April, told county officials he needed the hearing accommodations to assist him in order to be able to come back to work on a full-time basis. Davis told the Daily Reporter this week via email he has begun the transition process, taking it slowly after several months of being unable to work due to a couple of different medical issues.

Hancock County Commissioners approved, at most, $7,000 for ADA equipment in Hancock County Superior Court 1 at their meeting in November. That was followed by the Hancock County Council officially approving the funds during its recent November meeting. County Council President Bill Bolander said the council received the request and approved the money out of the county’s Food and Beverage Fund.

“That’s an easy budget for us to take that money out of because it doesn’t require a lot of advertising and so forth so we could get it done quickly,” Bolander said.

Davis noted in an email to the Daily Reporter on Monday evening that the equipment he needs was ordered after county officials approved the request. While originally the County IT Department was contacted about the possibility of getting the special equipment for Davis, the IT Department subcontractors were not able to facilitate the necessary accommodations to assist him in getting back to court, he said.

However, Davis said the new listening devices have been received, and he actually was able to start a slow transition back to the courthouse last week.

“The plan is to follow my doctors’ advice regarding my transition back to the bench,” Davis said. “This will allow me to adapt and make the appropriate adjustments to the listening devices for all the different types of hearings in my court.”

In the email, Davis went on to say he was thankful for the county officials providing what he called “accommodation listening devices” and the Indiana Supreme Court for allowing senior judges to assist him during the transition back to the bench.

An order from the Indiana Supreme Court expired in October that was supposed to provide a fill-in judge for 90 days while Davis recovered. Unfortunately, the judge assigned to fill-in for Davis only lasted a few weeks, leaving other county court officials and Davis to try to make sure cases were covered.
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