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Judges
Continued from Page 1
to hire an outside attorney for the job
at a cost of $70,000 a year ($5,834 per
month).
Morgan, a former deputy mag
istrate for 23 years, was appointed
chief judge last year when Magistrate
Judge Wallace Harrell retired.
Speaking at the BOC meeting on
Tuesday, Morgan updated the BOC on
the Magistrate judges duties, which
include:
• first appearance hearings on
Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sun
day mornings; this is when the judges
see newly arrested individuals;
• they sign arrest and search war
rants, which can also happen on
Sundays;
• on Mondays they hear evictions;
he noted that currently evictions in
Glynn are “through the roof’;
• Tuesday mornings are prelimi
nary probable cause hearings, with the
bond calendar Tuesday afternoons;
• Wednesdays are civil cases or
county ordinance violations; currently
they hear ordinance violations once a
month, but they are increasing so the
court will be hearing those twice a
month starting in January;
• Thursdays the court hears war
rant applications, good behavior war
rants and restraining orders; that is a
full calendar every Thursday;
• Fridays are for garnishments and
other civil cases.
Last year Magistrate Court re
corded over 6,000 open cases, accord
ing to Morgan, which does not include
search or arrest warrants.
Last year the judges signed 5,600
arrest warrants and are expecting to
go over 6,000 this year.
They average signing 500 to 1,000
search warrants a year.
Every single warrant has to be
signed by a Magistrate Judge with
arrest warrants having to be signed
within 48 hours of the arrest.
“So there has to be a magistrate
available at all times of day and night
to sign those warrants,” said Morgan.
Morgan started as a part time mag
istrate judge in January of 2001.
“I was a young lawyer at the time
and didn’t ask what the job paid,” said
Morgan, “When I got my first pay-
check in February, 2001, it was $493.”
He said he thought it was a little
low so he checked to make sure the
amount was correct and was told that
‘you don’t become a magistrate for
the money, you do it because it is an
honor.’
“And it was an honor, I was happy
to do it,” he said.
He stayed at that pay rate for about
15 years. Then in 2016 Alex Atwood
became Chief Magistrate Judge, who
was also a former part time judge. At
wood asked for and got the part timers
about $800 a month.
Judge Harrell took over in 2019 and
eliminated one of the part time judge
positions, so there are now four judges
doing what was previously done by
five and pay went up to about $1,100 a
month by spliting up the pay from the
eliminated position.
Morgan said the part time judges
now make about $1,500 a month,
about $18,000 a year gross.
He said when he became Chief
Magistrate he looked into what other
employees in the county legal system
made.
The part time Juvenile Court judge
makes $77,600 a year, about $59,000
more than a part time magistrate
judge, he said.
The part time probate judge makes
$41,600 a year, $23,000 a year more
than the magistrate judges.
The part time state court prosecu
tor makes $79,200 a year.
He said he just learned that morn
ing that the part time juvenile court
prosecutor makes $70,000 a year.
“All those people are well paid and
they deserve it,” said Morgan, “I’m
not here to take anything away from
them, but we have part time magis
trates that are serving the busiest
court in this county, who are the only
ones who are on call, who are the only
ones who have police officers coming
to their house at all times of day and
night to sign warrants and I think
they need to be properly compensated.
I’m here to request that their pay be
October 21,2024, The Islander, Page 9
raised to what the part time juvenile
court judge gets. The judge in a court
room maldng important decisions that
affects people’s lives should not be the
lowest paid person in the room. So I’m
asking for an increase.”
He also noted that the part time
magistrate judges are all practicing
attorneys whose time is limited for
their law practice. They also can’t ap
ply for other part time legal positions
due to a conflict of interest.
“They all applied to be part time
magistrates, and I want to keep
them,” said Morgan.
BOC chairman Wayne Neal (Dist.
3) said he had not had a chance to look
at all of Morgan’s documentation and
asked how many hours a month did
the part time judges work.
Morgan said it varies and that each
judge is on the bench four to five times
a month and sometimes the calender
can go for hours or last half a day.
Each judge is on call one day a week
and works one weekend a month. He
said sometimes they get a lot of calls
on the weekend and sometimes not
as many. “But they are putting in, I
think, more time than any other part
time judges,” he said.
When Neal asked on what was their
current salary based, Morgan said, “In
my 23 years as judge, I have no idea.
I’ve been told what we get paid, but it’s
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Judges
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