The Island’s new representative on Beacon Hill is calling for the state to devote more resources to the courthouse in Edgartown as the number of criminal cases on the Island grows.  

In a trio of bills filed earlier this year, State Rep. Thomas Moakley requested more staff for the Edgartown District Court, a year-long study into the staffing levels and the condition of the 1858 courthouse, and better access to the state’s housing court for the Vineyard and Nantucket. 

Mr. Moakley, who filed the bills along with state Sen. Julian Cyr, is a familiar face at the court in Edgartown, having previously served as the Vineyard’s assistant district attorney with the Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office. The Vineyard doesn’t have enough clerks, interpreters and other staff members to keep up with the demanding caseload, he said. 

“Our region has been vastly underserved in this area, even if you compare it to other places in the state that have similar year-round populations,” said Mr. Moakley, a Democrat from Falmouth. 

The courthouse is one of only two in the state that doesn't have an assistant clerk. — Ray Ewing

Staff in Edgartown have been calling for the state to add positions to get the court in line with the rest of Massachusetts. Edgartown District Court is one of two district courts in the state that doesn’t have at least one assistant clerk position, according to Liza Williamson, the Edgartown clerk magistrate.

Despite the lack of staff, Edgartown has several times more criminal cases than some courts that do have the position. In 2023, the Edgartown District Court handled 1,020 criminal cases. For comparison, Ipswich District Court had only 346 cases, but still had an assistant clerk. 

One of Mr. Moakley’s bills would allow Dukes and Nantucket to have the assistant clerk positions, aiding the court with the 24-7 calls to approve search warrants and handle hearings for people in custody. In a letter advocating for Mr. Moakley’s bill, Ms. Williamson noted that the Vineyard population has grown to about 20,000 year-round residents and the number of people on the Island can surge to several times that in the summer. This has led to more cases landing in the vaulted-ceiling courtroom on Main street.

“​​The number of criminal cases are growing, and the types of crimes are changing, trending toward more violent and serious offenses,” she wrote. 

In a second bill, Mr. Moakley is also seeking a holistic study of the Dukes County court, along with Nantucket and Barnstable counties.  

“It’s particularly important to have adequate staffing at the geographically isolated courts,” Mr. Moakley said.

The study would need to be done within a year, and a report would be given to the legislature with recommendations for changes. 

Owned by Dukes County, the courthouse building is expected to need about $2.8 million in repairs in the next seven years. Repairs to the brick and stone walls, and work to make the courthouse more accessible to people in wheelchairs are some of the big ticket items, according to a recent facilities report.

Mr. Moakley’s third bill would require at least one sitting of the state’s housing court in Dukes and Nantucket counties each week. The housing court has special judges who handle eviction cases, code enforcement, small claims and contract cases. 

The court was created to help deal with these specialized cases, but the closest housing courts are in Barnstable or Plymouth. 

“The clerk’s offices have templates in order to help people, like tenants, for example, who may not have access to attorneys to represent them, in order to maneuver their way through the process themselves,” Mr. Moakley said. “They have a capacity for helping people on an individual basis that the district courts, who do have concurrent jurisdiction on those things, don’t have the bandwidth for because of all the other things that they’re dealing with.”

Senator Cyr, a Democrat from Truro, said he hoped the legislature would make progress on the long-simmering issue, and expected Mr. Moakley’s background in the field could help the Island.

“I know it’s been hard for Islanders to access state resources within the judiciary,” Mr. Cyr said last month. “I think we can do better, and I’m really grateful to have Thomas’s expertise in an area of state government. This is going to be very helpful for us.”