CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – The Montgomery County Commission has approved establishing the creation of a fifth General Sessions and Juvenile Court judge. However, the resolution didn’t pass without debate.

After County Mayor Wes Golden introduced the resolution on Monday, Commissioner Joshua Beal quickly spoke out against it. “Those of us that were on the commission five years ago, you’ll recall a resolution that was brought to us and asked us to increase the pay for judges,” Beal said.

“At the time, they said that they wanted a pay raise because their workload was too much. They promised that if we approved their pay raise, they would not ask for another judge for 10 years. It’s on video, I asked Mayor (Jim) Durrett at the time for confirmation of that.”

Beal said that Durrett confirmed his question at the time, and he told his fellow commissioners that he holds people to their word. “The excuse of, ‘Oh well our population is growing,’ doesn’t fly with me because everybody knows how fast we’re growing,” he said.

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“Judges especially should know how fast we’re growing, because I get it, they’re seeing it in their caseloads, but my problem is we were told if we approve their pay raise, which was a significant pay raise, that they would not ask for another judge for 10 years. And here we are not even five years later.”

Beal asked the commission to reject the proposal.

Prichard: You can’t impede progress, only try to keep up

Commissioner Lisa Prichard said that you cannot impede progress, and it’s going to travel at its own rate. “All we can do is hope to keep up,” Prichard said. “So, you can’t hold this body to that five-year, 10-year progression that they thought that they could hold it to. You can’t do it; it’s impossible.

“Yes, it is five years, and yes we do need to get funds available for income and for more judges and courtrooms, because this city demands it, this county demands it, and we have to follow.”

Golden said, “I will say that we did ask the state to pass this for us, and they did, so I think that we would look silly if we turned it down now.”

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Commissioner Joe Smith added that when the judges asked for the raise five years ago, the trend of growth in Montgomery County was at a pretty steady pace.

“What we’ve seen from 2020-25 is more than double that,” Smith said. “So, while they may have said that they would wait 10 years to ask for another judge, if your population is growing at double the normal rate, don’t you think splitting that in half to five years would be normal math? So, we’re at the five-year mark now, and it seems to me that this would benefit our judges, speed along court cases, and it would create more efficiency.”

Shelton: Juvenile Court needs careful attention

Commissioner David Shelton said every single case a juvenile judge hears, is on a case-by-case basis.

“These judges need options; they need to be empowered to be able to find the right solution for that child to get them back on track. That’s what Juvenile Court has always been about,” he said. “By simply forcing these judges to take on more cases than they can handle, the kids lose out, and the families lose out.”

Beal brought up the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System’s 10-year plan for school growth as a point of reference. “Everybody knows how fast we’re growing, but if the judges misspoke, just say that and that would be OK. But again, I hold people to their word.”

The County Commission needed two-thirds approval for the resolution to pass, and it did 15-2. Voting no were Commissioners Walker Woodruff and Beal.

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About Montgomery County Courts

Montgomery County and Robertson County make up the 19th Judicial District. The Circuit Court for that district has six judges. They are Katy Olita, William R. Goodman, Robert Bateman, Joel Wallace Jr., Adrienne Fry and Ashleigh Travis.

Montgomery County’s General Sessions and Juvenile Court currently has four judges. They are Ken Goble Jr., Reid Poland, Sharon Massey Grimes and Tim Barnes. Montgomery County is now seeking applications for a fifth judge.

Chancellor Ben Dean presides over Chancery Court.

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