Judge Melissa Byers-Emmerling announces her candidacy for Judge of the East Liverpool Municipal Court. She is currently completing her third term on the bench.
Judge Melissa Byers-Emmerling was one of the first Municipal Court Judges in Ohio to create an intensive supervised probation program. This program, which she established in 1996, has been fully funded through State grants totaling over $721,000, during the past 11 years. Her Court’s program has won awards for best program, and Director from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections. This program allows the Court to closely monitor defendants once they are released from jail and to immediately address any noncompliance. Defendants are monitored to ensure they complete required drug/alcohol, mental health or anger management counseling; provides for random drug testing, collects restitution for victims and conducts unannounced searches of the offenders residences for contraband. This program also permits the court to monitor individuals who are mentally ill to ensure that medications are taken and that they attend required counseling programs.
Judge Melissa Byers-Emmerling created a Community Service Program in 1990. Nonviolent defendants are ordered to perform work for nonprofit organizations such as Thompson Park and the Court’s Litter Patrol Program. The Litter Patrol Program has picked up over 2,250 bags of garbage and the Community Service program has provided over 100,000 hours of work to the benefit of our community.
Judge Melissa Byers-Emmerling also established in an electronically monitored house arrest program that has saved the county over one million dollars in jail fees since 2000. The defendants primarily pay the cost of the monitoring.
Judge Melissa Byers-Emmerling has saved over $125,000 in taxpayers’ money by scheduling criminal cases in the Courtroom rather than by mail. She has done so for over 17 years.
Judge Melissa Byers-Emmerling was the first Judge in Columbiana County to be elected President of a State Judicial Association. As President of the Ohio Municipal and County Court Judges Association, she presided over 255 members state- wide and was responsible for planning judicial seminars, reviewing proposed legislation addressing issues affecting the judicial system, meeting with the Chief Justice of the Ohio Supreme Court, as well as serving on the Ohio Judicial Conference Executive Board.
Judge Melissa Byers-Emmerling has been chosen by the Ohio Supreme Court to serve on commissions including the Futures Commission, which addressed a plan and strategy for meeting the needs of the judicial system for the next 25 years. She was selected to attend the National Judicial College on a State scholarship and has served as a legal instructor for courses presented to judges and attorneys. She is currently a Mentor Judge for new judges.
Judge Melissa Byers-Emmerling is a member of the Columbiana County Bar Association, Ohio State Bar Association, Calcutta Rotary Club and past president and current member of both Quota Club and Colloquium Club. She is a graduate of Wellsville High School, Miami University of Oxford, Ohio and the University of Akron School of Law. She is married to attorney Fred Emmerling and they have a son.