Neil Roach has resigned as Topeka Municipal Court administrative judge effective Friday.
The resignation comes almost a month after Shawnee County District Attorney Robert Hecht filed a civil lawsuit against Roach, Topeka and its Municipal Court asking a Shawnee County District Court judge to oust him from office, alleging that for 2 1/2 years he failed to comply with a state law that requires him to report Topeka's court traffic records to the state's central depository.
"I was appointed to serve as a judge and am proud of my record," Roach wrote in his resignation letter. "I was not appointed to solve computer problems, and the documents gathered in response to the pending litigation reflect the many attempts my staff and I made to get technical assistance."

City attorney Brenden Long said Mayor Butch Felker has accepted Roach's resignation.

Roach delivered a copy of his resignation letter to The Topeka Capital-Journal on Wednesday. He wrote that the change in computer software in 1999 "was a disaster." Municipal Court was "reluctant to change computer systems in the first place" because the court system worked with more than 600,000 files. But he, along with other Municipal Court officials, were told the change was necessary to be Y2K compliant.

"For the last two and one-half years we have struggled to overcome myriad problems. Many have been solved; many remain. My first priority was to protect innocent citizens from being adversely affected by inaccurate computer data," Roach wrote.

In a written statement, Hecht said that many of the issued involved in the lawsuit have become "moot" as a result of Roach's resignation.

"Because of my great respect for the judicial system, bringing this case was personally very difficult for me," Hecht said. "However, I could not overlook my responsibilities and obligation to the community and the consequences that have resulted."

In the ouster lawsuit, Hecht requested that the city pay for an investigation his office conducted of Municipal Court records not being forwarded to the state and for lost time his office experienced in researching cases that should have been sent to the state. On Wednesday, Hecht didn't address whether he planned to continue pursuing compensation for lost time and for the investigation.

Felker called it "a frustrating situation," but said he understood Roach's decision to step down.

The mayor said he would have to move quickly to replace Roach because the court's case load continues to grow. Felker said judge pro tems might be used until a successor to Roach is in place.

He hopes to have a succession plan to present to the Topeka City Council for next Tuesday night's meeting.

"I've got a couple of people in mind and some interviews to go through," he said.

Felker also is working to ensure that the problem of transferring records to the state has been resolved. He plans to meet with the court staff early next week to discuss data entry procedures to make sure they understand what needs to be done to meet the state's needs.

"It doesn't do us any good to send records over if they're not proper and correct and that's one of the concerns we have heard lately," Felker said.

Hecht said he looks forward to a "fresh start for the Municipal Court."

Roach said earlier this month that he planned to fight Hecht's attempt to force him from office.

City Councilwoman Betty Dunn, who serves as deputy mayor, said council members were informed that Roach decided to resign because "he wanted to save his reputation and this lawsuit wouldn't have looked good."

Dunn contends that Roach was losing the support of the city's administration. When asked if she thought Roach had the council's support, she said "no."

"I don't like how this happened at all. I think it's unfair," she said. "I've always found Judge Roach to be very nice, helpful and honest. He never got his day before the council or his day in court."

City Councilman Harold Lane said he hoped the city would launch an investigation of Municipal Court because he believes not all of the blame can be laid on Roach.

"With him being the administrative judge, he should have to take some of the heat on this," Lane said. "But if others are involved, they need to be held accountable."

Hecht contends Roach failed to report to the state as many as 10,000 "major offenses," such as convictions for driving under the influence, reckless driving and driving on a suspended license.

State law requires all Municipal Court judges to keep records of every case where a person is charged with violating state or local laws regulating the operation of motor vehicles. Each judge then must forward records to the Kansas Driver's License Control Bureau for cases where there is a conviction or a forfeiture of bail or bond.

Roach said the driver's license control bureau had been "patient and extremely helpful."

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-- Anonymous, June 27, 2002