The Baldwin County Board of Commissioners met Aug. 5 to recognize two organizations and hear several monetary requests.
State Court Judge Paul Hitchcock began the meeting by speaking on his duties and requesting his position be made a full-time position. He gave a judicial workload assessment, prepared by the executive director of the Council of State Court Judges, to each commissioner prior to his speech.
In 1875, the state court was created by local legislation. The state court judge and the solicitor were part-time until 1989 when both were made full-time, and then, in 1996, the judge position was made part-time.
“As far as I am aware, Baldwin County is the only county in the state to have a part-time judge and a full-time solicitor,” said Hitchcock. “The assessment analyzes Baldwin County cases based on the type of case and it generates a number that represents the amount of time a judge spends inside and outside of court on a particular case. For Baldwin County the number, in 2023, was 1.03 and in 2024 was 0.72, which averaged out to roughly 0.88. That means over the last two years that the state court judge should have spent about 88% of the work week working on state court matters. This leaves 12% of the work week to manage a private practice, which is not sustainable.”
According to Hitchcock, he currently has 301 open and active civil cases in the state court docket. Hitchcock also reported changes to tort reform legislation will cause jury trials to take longer.
“The overall result of the report is that it recommends an immediate full-time court judge to handle the current case load as well as where it is expected to go,” said Hitchcock. “I would also like to go full-time … to be able to do community outreach to introduce people to the judicial system in a relaxing and fun way.”
Assistant County Manager Dawn Hudson recommended it be discussed during the budget process on how it will look if the commission chooses to offer fulltime. The earliest it could go into effect would be July 2026.
Next, Chairman Andrew Strickland read a report on the Public Safety Dive Team that included what they offer, their certifications, and what they have achieved since creation two years ago.
Over the past two years, they have successfully recovered two bodies from Lake Sinclair and three bodies from the Oconee River. Strickland read each name of the individuals on the team to recognize them at the meeting and had them stand for a round of applause.
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for what they do,” said Strickland. “They take on extraordinary risk.”
River of Life was also recognized for its impact on the county. The organization began in Lincolnton in the early 1990s and for 27 years the local Methodist church has sponsored the program. This year it had 20 teams that completed community projects at 38 sites over the course of three days.
Moving into administrative and fiscal matters, commissioners authorized a Workforce and Opportunity Innovation Act Grant for the amount of $147,006 from July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2027 for the Adult Program. They also approved the same grant in the amount of $693,676 for the Youth Program.
The board of commissioners heard a presentation on a potential agreement with the Georgia Public Defender Council to provide council for indigent persons in Superior Court. According to Hudson, the Ocmulgee Circuit has a public defender’s office, and the cost for the court is split between the counties within its circuit. Georgia Public Defender Council requested an increase for the year of $42,237.
“The difference in budget for Baldwin County is that all of Claudia Mitcham’s salary is going to your state court. Because it is not a statutory obligation of the public defender’s office but a contractual obligation between Baldwin County and the public defender’s office, she, 100 percent of the time, serves your state court. Therefore, 100 percent of her salary was moved to Baldwin County,” said Ocmulgee Circuit Public Defender Kristin Waller. “My anticipation is that this is being submitted to be considered for your next budget year.”
Strickland motioned for the resolution to be tabled for further discussion and commissioners unanimously approved the motion.
Concluding the meeting, commissioners unanimously approved a change order with Pittman Construction to include repaving Lake Laurel Road. The change order is for $666,245 for 3.41 miles, which will pave the entire road. Part of the reason for requesting the change order is being able to withstand additional traffic once roundabout construction begins in 2027. All funds will come from TSPLOST and will not affect the paving of other roads.