During Monday night’s monthly meeting of the DeKalb County Commission, two judicial commissioners were reappointed, with one new commissioner appointed. 

The commission voted to reappoint Tammy Ashburn and Joy Whitman to new one-year term, while Gerald Bailiff was appointed to fill the position of David Gash, who recently resigned after serving almost two years.

The County’s Judicial Committee met on November 22, and made the recommendations to the full commission that Ashburn, Whitman, and Bailiff be appointed. The county had advertised the vacant position seeking applicants, and three applied including Bailiff.

The county commission has the sole authority in appointing judicial commissioners and terms may be from one to four years according to state law. For several years the county has had a judicial committee to vet and recommend applicants for appointment to the county commission. The committee is made up of Sheriff Patrick Ray, County Mayor Matt Adcock, Circuit Court Clerk Susan Martin, General Sessions/Juvenile Court Judge Brandon Cox, and Assistant District Attorney General Greg Strong.

Duties of the Judicial Commissioners include processing the following: 

Criminal summons for the general public; Orders of protections; signing all arrest warrants for the Smithville, Alexandria, and DeKalb County Sheriff’s Departments, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Edgar Evins State Park Rangers, and TWRA Officers; signing search warrants and search warrants for blood draws; signing Mittimus; setting bonds; speaking with every person who has been arrested; answering any and all calls from the public; and attending certification classes three days each year with no pay for hours attended.

Judicial Commissioners are subject to call at all hours of the day and night when on duty. Only one judicial commissioner works at a time during a one-week period on call for 168 hours. They rotate their weeks one week on duty and two weeks off. Each judicial commissioner is paid $14,900 per year.