The court shall provide a court reporter for all criminal and traffic hearings, except traffic arraignments, and upon the motion of any party or counsel, the court may provide a court reporter for any civil litigation to be heard before a judge or magistrate of the court.  A court reporter shall also be provided in any civil litigation upon the request of a magistrate.

Any civil litigant, or his or her representative counsel, may retain the services of a private court reporter to keep a verbatim record of any scheduled hearing.  Pursuant to the authority granted to it by Ohio Revised Code Section 1901.32(6)(B), in conjunction with Ohio Revised Code Sections 2301.18 through 2301.26, the court hereby establishes that the costs to be charged for the services of its court reporters in civil hearings shall be the same as those charged by the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas.

Court reporters provided by the court pursuant to this rule shall be available during the regularly scheduled hours of the court and at such other times and hours as may be prescribed by any of the associate judges or magistrates to meet special situations or conditions.

The chief court reporter and court reporters are assigned on a permanent monthly rotation schedule.  The chief court reporter shall be responsible for the daily courtroom assignments of court reporters and their general supervision.

The chief court reporter is also responsible for testing, training, reviewing transcripts, all other administrative functions for court reporters, and ensuring that all courtrooms are covered in the event of illness or vacations.

When necessity dictates, the chief court reporter shall secure the temporary services of such private court reporters as may be required to ensure that all scheduled criminal hearings may be recorded.  The chief court reporter shall engage such services on a daily basis, when necessary, in consultation with the presiding judge.  The presiding judge shall have final authority regarding fees to be paid and the duration of the services to be rendered.

The primary function of the court reporter is to take verbatim notes of proceedings and to transcribe those notes upon request. The cost of requested transcripts shall be approved by the Court and listed in the Schedule of Transcript Rates, and said costs shall be reviewed periodically to ensure parity.

Payment for the production of a transcript shall be made directly to the court reporter who produces it. No court reporter shall be required to prepare any transcript for any party or any party's representative counsel until satisfactory arrangements for payment have been made.

For transcripts ordered by a judge or magistrate, the court reporters will be reimbursed at a rate consistent with that of the Schedule of Transcript Rates.

SCHEDULE OF TRANSCRIPT RATES PER PAGE , CONSISTING OF 25 LINES AND PROPER INDENTATION EFFECTIVE OCTOBER 28, 2013

Each court reporter shall retain the verbatim notes of all the proceedings which he or she records.  Notes of all proceedings upon misdemeanor charges and civil proceedings shall be retained for a period of five (5) years from the date on which the hearing was held.  Pursuant to Sup. R. 26.03(D) (5), and Ohio Revised Code Section 2301.20(A) (B), notes of all proceedings upon felony charges shall kept for a period of no less than 12 years from the date on which the hearing was held.  The chief court reporter shall supervise the periodic review of all retained notes and the disposal of all such notes which have been retained in excess of the period specified by this rule.

Any exhibit admitted into evidence at any proceeding before any judge or magistrate of this court shall be retained by the court reporter, unless otherwise ordered by the court.  If no court reporter is in attendance at the proceeding, the court may retain the exhibits or make such other order regarding their safekeeping as may be deemed appropriate.

In those instances where such exhibits are not claimed at the conclusion of the proceedings, and no subsequent appeal is taken from the decision of the court, the exhibits shall be retained by the court reporter for a period of five (5) years from the date on which the hearing was had.

The chief court reporter shall supervise the periodic review of all retained exhibits and the disposal of any exhibits which have been retained in excess of the period specified by this rule.  A record shall be prepared regarding all exhibits disposed of pursuant to this rule.  The record shall include:

1. the caption and number of the case where the exhibit was entered into evidence
2. the judge or magistrate who heard the case
3. the date of the hearing
4. the date and the manner in which the exhibit was disposed

A copy of the record of each disposed exhibit shall be given to the court administrator.

All proceedings heard before this court may be recorded by any means and media approved by the Administrative Judge. Use or placement by the court of any type of recording in any location in the courthouse shall be deemed to be in compliance with the rule and approved by the Administrative Judge.  The chief court reporter shall be the custodian of all recording media. Transcription of the recording media shall be at the expense of the requesting party.  Recording media of any type and description shall be stored for a time period as required by law, unless by request for a longer period.