Meigs judge resigns

Published 4:27 pm Wednesday, April 6, 2016

The judge for Meigs Municipal Court resigned abruptly last week. In a March 31 letter obtained by the Times-Enterprise, Judge Richard T. Kent chided Meigs’ interim City Administrator Al Bryan for not consulting with the judge before canceling court this month. He quoted an email sent to him by Bryan which said, “Meigs will not be conducting a Court session this coming Tuesday, April 5, due to a lack of citations to be presented.” Kent responded, “It appears to me that someone without consulting with me as the Judge decided to cancel Court. I was not around, but I am told that the previous Judge also resigned when someone canceled and changed the Court dates without consulting with him.” He continued, “As I am sure that you are aware, there are essentially three branches of Government, Judicial, Executive and Legislative. The Judicial branch must act independently for it to be considered a neutral party to decide cases.” Kent concluded, “I can’t continue to serve as Judge under these circumstances. Therefore, effective immediately I do hereby resign as Municipal Court Judge for the City of Meigs.” Kent could not be reached for comment. Bryan said, “I canceled the Court because the Chief (Meigs Police Chief Gary Price) informed me that we had a limited number of citations. I canceled back in March.” He went on to say, “Let me be clear, I canceled based on the information I had. The chief did not cancel the meeting; he only provided me an input. I am the only one responsible for the meeting being canceled.” When asked if he thought he had authority to cancel court, Bryan responded, “I made a business decision in the best interest of the citizens of Meigs. I did not ‘talk’ with the judge.” Meigs has not had a full session of court or a court clerk since November 2015. In January, Kent held a brief session of court in which he dismissed the cases against those in attendance due because there was no court clerk. Meigs’ former court clerk, Bailey Palmer, resigned as in October 2015. By a vote of the city council, she was to remain as court clerk. Later, she was told by Councilwoman Stephanie Battle that her services were not needed. Bryan said applications are being taken to fill the vacancy.