Chelsea Municipal Court team complete

All members of the Chelsea Municipal Court team are now in place. 

During the June 20 Chelsea City Council meeting, the council passed resolutions to appoint City Clerk Becky Landers as municipal court clerk and magistrate, to appoint Kim Mims as court magistrate, to appoint Mark Boardman and Grant Howard as prosecutors and to appoint Andrea Graham as public defender.

"Our Chelsea Municipal Court team is now complete," said Mayor Tony Picklesimer following the swearing in ceremonies. "... It has been a journey to find these people, but I am so proud of each and every one of them."

Also during the meeting, Jeff Hester was sworn in as municipal court judge, and Landers and Mims were sworn into their positions. Hester was previously appointed as judge during the May 16 city council meeting. 

"Before you take on anything like a municipal court, you have to have the team in place, and we're excited about it," Picklesimer said.

Now that everyone has been appointed and sworn in, Picklesimer said the next step is getting paperwork for the court in order. This includes court designations, court numbers and other paperwork. The goal is to have the first court session to be held in September.

Also during the meeting, the council approved an ordinance to establish the Municipal Court Corrections Fund. Because the ordinance was first introduced at the June 20 meeting, the council voted to suspend the rules to immediately hear and vote on the ordinance. Support for the ordinance was unanimous. The ordinance also set up the monthly date and time for the court, which will be the third Monday of the month starting at 4 p.m. 

Other items on tonight's agenda included a restaurant retail liquor, wine and beer license for Johnny Ray's and the payment of the city's bills. Both items were approved.

During the pre-council meeting, Picklesimer went over a few recent bills for the city, which included fixing issues with the Chelsea Community Center's air conditioner, fixing a generator at city hall, purchasing a new computer system and server for the municipal court and purchasing light controls links for Chelsea's three sports field. The purchase of this equipment, which cost $21,700, was previously approved by the council in February.

The next Chelsea City Council meeting will be held July 6, on a Thursday instead of Tuesday due to the July 4 holiday. City hall will be closed on July 4.