Judge/Executive Stan Humphries administers the same oath of office taken by the Trigg County Fiscal Court to ex-officio Magistrates Matt Ledford and A.J. Bridges. Ledford and Bridges won election to their posts in a Trigg County High School event. Magistrate Lacy Bush (seated) listens to the oath.
The raise was introduced by former Magistrate Kelly P’Pool in lieu of a Christmas Bonus, paying every hired county employee $100 for six months, beginning in January.
“I asked Mike Foster, the Christian County Attorney, and one of the best county attorneys around to review the statutes and some opinions of the Office of the Attorney General,” said Quinn. After discussion, Quinn added “It is my opinion on how the law is interpreted that the action taken by the fiscal court on the 19th should be set aside.”
Magistrate Doug Taylor observed that the raise would constitute a two percent raise for some employees and as much as a 12 percent raise for others. “Based on the opinions of the attorney general and our county attorney, and the discrepancy in the percentage of the raise among county employees, I make a motion we rescind the pay raise.”
After the motion was seconded by Magistrate Lacy Bush, who originally voted to approve the pay raise, the court voted six in favor and two against to rescind the pay raise. Judge/Executive Stan Humphries joined five other magistrates to rescind, while Magistrates Donnie Tyler and Larry Lawrence voted against. Tyler and Lawrence sat on the court in the last term and voted in favor of the pay raise.
At the opening of the meeting, Humphries administered an oath of office to Deputy Coroner John Vinson. Vinson served as county coroner for 42 years, which the court recognized as the longest serving officer in his position. Vinson’s son John Mark Vinson succeeded his father as coroner, and appointed the elder Vinson to his former role as deputy coroner.
Appointed as ex-officio magistrates were Trigg County High School Students A.J. Bridges and Matt Ledford. Humphries said that Bridges and Ledford won class elections last fall. “These ex-officio magistrates will be assigned to committees and serve as magistrates without a vote,” said Humphries, who administered the same oath of office taken by popularly elected magistrates. Both Ledford and Bridges attested that neither had fought an armed duel.
The court passed a Continuity in Government plan that designated a line of succession should Humphries be unable to fulfill his duties as county judge/executive. The resolution designated Magistrate Lacy Bush first, Donnie Tyler second, and Larry Lawrence third based on the length of their tenure on the court.
“Magistrate Barry Littlejohn will be the fourth on the list if the other three magistrates are unable to serve,” said Humphries. Littlejohn joined three other new magistrates on the Fiscal Court, and is the only Republican on the Continuity of Government hierarchy.
For the rest of this story, read this week's Cadiz Record.
