WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — Last week, we told you the state Judicial Qualification Commission issued an opinion saying Fred Graham should not also be working as both the city attorney and a municipal court judge.
Director Chuck Boring called it a conflict of interest.
At Monday night's city council meeting, Larry Curtis, Kevin Lashley, and Charlie Bibb were sworn in.
"I, obviously, want to start the year off following the letter of the law, and this is something we do need to look into in detail and discuss with Fred about which role he wants to be in," said Kevin Lashley.
Lashley was sworn in as the Post 4 representative.
"He either has to be a municipal judge or he has to be the city attorney, and I think it's well within our right to ask him to choose one or the other and resign from either post."
Post 2 representative Charlie Bibb said he needs to look into the law before he says what Graham should do.
"I really can't tell you what side I stand on right now because I haven't looked at the law, and, again, I've just been elected, so I want to lean on some of the senior people here and figure out what we need to do," said Bibb.
Post 6's Larry Curtis said when they appointed Graham as the city attorney in September, he didn't think there was anything legally wrong with it.
"I never thought it was unlawful. I was under the impression that we were gonna get a new judge to replace him down at the municipal court, so I didn't think it was unlawful," said Curtis.
Graham told 13WMAZ that he doesn't plan on challenging the opinion from Boring, but he also hasn't said if he plans to resign from either job.
According to court dockets, Graham has been on the bench as a judge since he took over as city attorney.
He makes $80,000 per year as the city attorney and $300 per session as a municipal court judge.
In Boring's opinion, he references Georgia Code 15-8-2 which says, "it is illegal for the judge of any city court to also hold any municipal office or appointment in the city where the court is held."
Graham says it's also important to look at the 1993 statute 15-1-8 that says, "In all cases in which a part-time judge has a conflict because such judge or his or her partner or associate represents a governmental agency or entity, a subdivision of government, or any other client, the judge will recuse himself or herself or, with the permission of the parties, transfer the case to the state or superior court, but such judge will not otherwise be disqualified or prohibited from serving as attorney for such governmental entities."
Boring says his statement is just an opinion and not legally-binding.
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