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Magistrate judge asks to keep part-time constable as ARPA funds end; commissioners defer to budget cycle
Summary
Judge Rita Cavanaugh asked the board to allow a part-time constable paid by ARPA to remain funded through June while the county transitions funding decisions into the regular budget process; commissioners agreed the personnel decision will be resolved during the budget cycle.
Magistrate Judge Rita Cavanaugh told the Spalding County Board of Commissioners on Jan. 6 that the part-time constable paid with American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds has been essential to the court's operations and that the county would lose ARPA support when the grant ends.
The judge said the part-time constable, Stevie Dukes, serves as many as 30 civil papers per day and works about 29 hours a week; the magistrate court reported nearly 10,000 civil filings this year. "If we lose him and those 30 papers a day have to be split among the other 2 constables, that's going to result in a lot of overtime because those papers have to be served," Judge Cavanaugh said.
County staff noted ARPA funding for the position will end and that personnel decisions should be handled during the normal budget cycle. Commissioners directed Judge Cavanaugh to continue paying the part-time constable from her office budget until the board addresses personnel matters in the fiscal-year budget process; the Dec–June cost for the position was described as about $32,000.
Board members also clarified that technology-fee funds cannot be used to pay personnel costs, and that any permanent funding decision for the position would be taken up during the budget process that begins later this month.
