Macon County Judicial Commission Changes: Wallace Resigns, Thomas Elected
By Misty Green
During the August 19, 2024 gathering of the Macon County governing body, Teresa Thomas was elected as the newest Judicial Commissioner, after it was announced that the previous Judicial Commissioner William Wallace had resigned.
Mr. Wallace was hired for the part-time J.C. position on February 20, 2024. By August 5th, during the public comment section of the meeting, Mr. Wallace shared his concerns with the County and asked them for a raise.
He stated, “I make $97.00 per day while being on call for a 24-hour period… Which means I can’t leave town and have to be available to Red Boiling Springs, Macon County, and Lafayette Police Departments when they need me and I have to get there as quickly as possible so that the officers can get back on the road as fast as possible… We came up here on March 23 (budget meeting), I believe it was, and I had already contacted many surrounding counties that are populated around our size to see what they were making, and they were around $140.00 per day… Based on an 8-hour day for $16.61 per hour… Well, we do not work an 8-hour day, we work 16-hour and 24-hour shifts when we are on call… It’s not 8 hours… We respond in to sign warrants, but it’s not just warrants that we do, because we also have to sign for inmates to get blood drawn, because EMS will no longer go out to the police stations… We have to sign the warrant for blood, then wait for them to go get blood drawn, and that process could take 15 minutes or it could take 45 minutes, and we have to sit there and wait for them to come back, so that I can sign again, so there’s a lot of cards moving that people may not understand and I wanted to let you all know that is why we are asking for raises.”
Fast forward to the August 19th meeting.
“There is some confusion on what took place,” Macon County Mayor Steve Jones said, “I don’t know… During budget meetings… Dayle Gann came to you and had a budget request that we pay them on a $140 type schedule payment… Am I saying this correctly Dayle?… If you want to come up here just a minute… Those budget committees always tell everybody that these are tentatively set, and that they may change later when it comes to the full budget and what is passed and everything… After it was passed, you made a motion to give everyone that wasn’t clerical a $1 an hour raise, so we changed that, but I know they don’t really work that way and Mr. Wallace works some really odd hours and Dayle, would you explain how you work on that.”
She replied, “We work 16-hour shifts, Monday through Friday.” William Wallace was on-call for the weekend.
“So, I know Mr. Wallace is/was concerned about us not doing him fair on that,” Mayor Jones said, continuing, “That we didn’t notify him of that, but we don’t typically ever go back and notify anybody when you change it… It is when the budget is set, is when it is changed on that so, you know, that’s unfortunate on that, but I guess what I want to ask is what was the intent… Was it to keep it at what the budget committee presented?”
“$1 would be a reduction to what you were asking for,” District 4 Commissioner Justin Dyer asked.
“It would be… $2,” Dayle replied, adding, “I was making $15.85 and I asked for $18.85.”
“So, it’s $2 an hour less,” Mayor Jones clarified.
“You get $15.85 just to be on call,” District 2 Commissioner Keith Newberry asked, “Or are you there?”
“I’m on call,” Dayle replied, “Not there.”
“Most on-call places I deal with, you don’t get anything unless you are called in,” Newberry stated, “And then you get paid for a certain amount of hours being there, but that’s my industry, not this one.”
“We get paid if we go in or not,” Dayle replied.
“But my question to you,” Mayor Jones continued, “If we go with $140, then we will have to bring it back and make a budget amendment on that.”
“On salary changes, I thought we finally settled on $1 per hour,” District 1 Commissioner Phillip Snow stated.
“You did,” Mayor Jones replied, “That’s what Michelle put in on the budget.”
“Here’s my question,” Commissioner Snow added, “ I’m not against this, I’m just saying what’s going to happen next week when we are going to have everybody else back up here wanting theirs changed too.”
“We got into this last year,” District 7 Commissioner Jeff Hughes agreed.
“On a 16-hour day, what’s the average times that they are called in,” District 6 Commissioner Michael Slayton asked, “Because I am just trying to wrap my head around a 16-hour for on-call.”
“That’s going to vary,” Mayor Jones replied, “They are very busy.”
“Is it 20 times, is it 40, is it two,” Commissioner Slayton asked again.
“You never know,” the Mayor replied.
“It doesn’t matter how many times, if there is an arrest,” District 8 Commissioner Kyle Petty asserted, “After the 4 p.m. timeframe, if there are ten arrests, then there’s ten, if there’s two arrests, then there are two,” Commissioner Petty added.
“You’re lucky to have what you have got,” Mayor Jones said, adding, “Because this comes up every few years that we have had to hire judicial commissioners… It’s a job that I don’t think any of us would want… They are up all hours of the night having to deal with people who are intoxicated and so forth.”
“I do it all the time,” District 1 Commissioner Phillip Snow shared, “Just a different source.”
“Yeah, been there and done that,” Mayor Jones agreed.
“My question is, how many of us sitting here would, on what she is making right now,” District 10 Commissioner Larry West stated, adding, “She makes around $5.85 per hour to have to sit at home and wait to be called… How many of us would do that.”
“You can’t leave over the weekend if you are on call,” District 5 Commissioner Dan Hill stated, “These people are specialized in what they do.”
“I’m confused, you got Larry saying $5.85 and I thought she was saying $15.85 per hour,” District 2 Commissioner Keith Newberry stated.
“What she is making right now,” Commissioner Larry West clarified, “It breaks down to what she is making on a 24-hour day.”
“And Mr. Wallace is making less than that,” Mayor Jones added.
“They pay me on an 8-hour day,” Dayle explained, “Salary.”
“So what was the amount that you received,” Commissioner Newberry asked.
“I’m receiving $15.85 for 8-hours a day, and I asked for in the first budget amendment for $18.85,” Dayle replied.
“So, how many other county employees do we have on call,” Commissioner Slayton asked.
“I have no idea,” Mayor Jones replied.
“Well, I am just wondering how many more are going to come and want more money,” Commissioner Slayton added, “Because, if that’s the case, then we need to back up and re-punt it.”
“What I am asking you is,” Mayor Jones reiterated, “Which one would you have been with… What they presented and what the budget committee has approved tentatively or did you cut it and give just a $1 per hour raise.” Silence filled the room.
“I’d like to entertain a motion on what you want us to do,” Mayor Jones pleaded, “Do you want to keep it as it is with the $1 per hour raise, or go with what the budget committee said.”
“We have done passed the budget,” Commissioner Newberry stated.
“Right,” Mayor Jones replied, “You would have to do a budget amendment out of fund balance.”
“How much money are we talking here per year,” Commissioner Newberry asked.
“Full-time $18.85 and part-time $140 per day totaling $58,000 yearly,” Mayor Jones stated.
“Can we pass this on to the next meeting, so we can get more information about it,” one commissioner asked.
“Sure,” Mayor Jones replied.
“I just want to say that I am grateful for the job at $15.85,” Dayle said, “Because of this job, I can stay home with my daughter.”
“I think we are mostly looking at the words on-call,” District 8 Commissioner Kyle Petty said, explaining, “That’s her full-time job… Yes, she is on call, but it’s not a true on-call status… Her on-call status is her job.”
“I’ll make a motion that we get all our figures together and make a better decision with it,” Commissioner Keith Newberry stated, and a second was heard, to bring back the exact figures of what it would cost, and the motion was approved.
Moving down through the the August 19th Legislative Session, Macon County Mayor Steve Jones said, “First off we have advertised for a part-time/full-time judicial commissioner and we have had two applicants. First, we need to make a decision on if it is going to be a full-time or part-time position… It is going to add $27,000 to the budget… There’s a lot of problems with this, $27,537 to be exact, but she is having problems with full-time people, and Mr. William Wallace is no longer there… He chose to leave… This is a hard position to fill and it’s a hard job, because you may come in one night one time, and then ten or 15 times the next.”
“Teresa Thomas is one of the applicants,” Dayle said, “And she is here tonight and she has done it with me before,” she added.
“When they decide on what they want to do, then we will put both applicants on the board to vote on who you want,” Mayor Jones said.
“How will it work with the hours then, having two full-time,” District 5 Commissioner Dan Hill asked.
“One would work four days, then the other would work four days the next week,” Gayle replied.
“I wanted to remind the commission,” Macon County Attorney Guy Holliman interjected, “About 12 to 13 years ago, we got sued over a judicial commissioner issue and the problem was, it was alleged that the job wasn’t being done right and the judicial commissioner was actually acting as an investigative agent for law enforcement, instead of as a neutral magistrate, so what that means is, if we don’t do the judicial commissioners job the right way, then every case that the Sheriff tries to make runs the risk of having that case reversed because the courts determined that the judicial commissioner did not act as a detached magistrate… So you need to take this situation very seriously, not just because of the liability issue, but we don’t want to get into the situation of a case being thrown out because it’s alleged the judicial commissioner didn’t act as an independent magistrate… I’m not suggesting full-time or part-time, I just want to remind you all of the history of the situation and how it can negatively affect us if we are having to cut corners or what have you.”
“You mentioned us getting sued,” Commissioner Keith Newberry said, “Do you remember the outcome on that.”
“It eventually got dismissed,” Mr. Holliman recalled, “Not because of the fact that we didn’t have liability involved in it, but we got it dismissed on a technicality.”
“I make a motion that we make it a full-time position,” Commissioner Newberry raised and the motion was approved.
Absent for the August 19th meeting: District 1 Commissioner Todd Gentry, District 3 Commissioner Benton Bartley, District 6 Commissioner Tony Wix, and District 10 Commissioner Helen Hesson.
“Michelle is placing the names on the board,” Mayor Jones said, “We have Teresa Thomas and Jason Bohanan… Both are willing to work full-time, and it takes eleven votes.”
Election results: Teresa Thomas with 12 votes and Jason Bohanan with two votes.
“Okay, Ms. Thomas,” Mayor Jones said, “You will hold the position and I’ll let you and Gayle work out the arrangements.”
Macon County Sheriff Joey Wilburn shared that the over-time cost for helping Sumner County cover the roads and jail for the funeral of their Sheriff Sonny Weatherford was an amount of $2,600. It was also noted construction has started on the jail today, and they have 540 days for it’s competition, around February 2026.
The donation of the sheriff department vehicle to the Red Boiling Springs Fire Department was approved.
Macon County Director of Schools Shawn Carter shared an update that they hope to break ground on the new elementary school in the Spring.
Commissioners approved to rescind the motion to extend Clearview Lane and approved the extension of McNabb Lane to the Macon County roads list. This change will not disturb anyone’s address.
The following were appointed to the Macon County Correctional Partnership Committee: Justin Dyer, Eric Hernandez, Dan Hill, Roger Jones, David Kempf, Mike Marshall, George McCrary, Michael Slayton, Phillip Snow, Rory Wallace, and Jarhea Wilmore.
Macon County Mayor Steve Jones shared that the construction of the new administration building is on schedule and hoping to be complete by Thanksgiving, also noting they were fixing to bid out the road going in. The design of the new health department is underway.
On June 16, 2023, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation announced 131 grants totaling $299,228,167 from the State’s American Rescue Plan (ARP) fund, part of which TDEC is administering in the form of drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructures grants.
Tennessee received $3.725 billion from the ARP, and the state’s financial stimulus accountability group dedicated $1.35 billion of those funds to TDEC to support water projects in communities throughout Tennessee.
Macon County was listed as being awarded $2,865,641 to develop an Asset Management Plan and address critical drinking water needs. Projects include GIS Mapping, the installation of over 50,000 linear feet of water line throughout the county, and water line extensions in order to provide potable drinking water to residents.
Macon County Mayor Steve Jones announced the following roads have been selected: Old Bottom Road, a portion of Addison Hollow Road, Tanyard Road (Lafayette and Red Boiling Springs sides), Sycamore Valley Road, and Hix Hollow Road.
The next Macon County Committee of the Whole is scheduled for TUESDAY, September 3 at 6:30 p.m. in the City of Lafayette Meeting Room. County government offices will be closed on Monday, September 2 in observance of Labor Day.
