BRISTOL, Tenn. – The City Council declined to pick a new Bristol Juvenile Court judge Tuesday, citing a missing councilman as the reason.
Council members said they preferred waiting until their absent fifth member, Councilman James Messimer, was present before voting to appoint one of three finalists to replace former Juvenile Court Judge Paul Wohlford, who died in January.
Messimer was ill and did not attend Tuesday’s meeting.
The three candidates vying to replace Wohlford are Washington County, Tenn., assistant district attorney Erin McArdle and two Bristol lawyers, Randy Kennedy and Sonya Slaughter Helm.
“I’d rather have a clean, decisive vote with all five of us than a possible split vote with just four of us,” said Councilman David Shumaker.
The council might decide on Wohlford’s replacement by holding a special vote March 16. Or, council members could wait until April 6, the date of their next official meeting.
Shumaker said he was concerned that if Tuesday’s vote had taken place, the four present council members might have evenly split votes among two finalists he said “had stood out a little bit from the other.”
But Shumaker and other council members declined to name the two apparent favorites.
Both Kennedy and Helm attended Tuesday’s meeting.
The eventual appointee will sit as Juvenile Court judge until May 17, the date of Bristol’s next municipal election. The winner of that election serves until June 2015.
The juvenile court judge position is part-time and pays $30,000 a year.
Wohlford died Jan. 13, having served 30 years as a Bristol juvenile court judge.
In other council activity Tuesday, members:
* Approved a proposal allowing businesses to keep signs on residential lawns for a maximum seven days, up from the previous two-day limit.
The proposal was opposed by City Manager Jeffrey Broughton, who said raising the sign limit to seven days would hurt Bristol’s efforts to beautify the city.
But council members said they saw no problem allowing lawn signs to stay up a few extra days, because it would help small businesses promote their work in a poor economy.
*Approved a proposal to have two sections of Volunteer Parkway classified as redevelopment districts, which will allow Bristol to offer future tax breaks to companies willing to invest and settle in those areas.
The two areas are the 25.2-acre Volunteer Plaza and a section of Melrose Street and Volunteer Parkway that has 4.4 acres. City officials said both areas have been struggling for some time to attract new industry.
rbrown@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2512
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