OKTIBBEHA COUNTY — Oktibbeha County will soon have a county court.
Because of the increase in population in Oktibbeha County, it must establish a county court because it now exceeds 50,000 residents, according to the 2020 Census. County courts can hear both civil and criminal cases.
County court can hear civil cases that exceed a jurisdiction of $3,500, the maximum for justice court, but do not exceed $75,000 — essentially a middle ground between justice court and circuit court. It is also an appellate court from municipal and justice courts.
Oktibbeha County Circuit Clerk Tony Rook said he knew the county would eventually need this kind of court, and it will help take the workload off of circuit court.
“If you want to sue someone in justice court, you could sue them for up to $3,500,” Rook said. “Anything greater than that was going to circuit court, so they’ve been just swamped with civil cases. You’re now going to have a lot of civil cases that are disposed of at county court instead of circuit court.”
Up until this census, Lowndes County has been the only one in the Golden Triangle with a county court.
Just like justice and circuit judges, county court judges must be elected, and they must be licensed attorneys. Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors attorney Rob Roberson said county court will only need one judge, but the county must also hire a court administrator, court reporter and potentially two deputy clerks — one civil and one criminal — for county court.
The next election date for circuit judges is November 2022, and Roberson said he would like to see the county judge elected during that same election cycle. Judge candidates must qualify by January 2022, so Roberson said he wants the county to establish a county court as soon as possible.
Rook said that justice and circuit court judges who might not want to listen to cases within their courts can pass cases along to county court as long as it falls within proper jurisdiction.
“This will give more alternatives to attorneys, and it will reduce the case load in circuit court,” Rook said. “The judge can determine what cases they want to hear. They can transfer cases from circuit court to county court, as long as it doesn’t exceed the $75,000 jurisdiction.”
Roberson said he believes a county court will cost the county around $200,000 to $250,000. The board of supervisors must budget for the court for next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
“Hopefully, once we get this thing established, the court will be able to run itself through its fees and that will balance some of that out,” Roberson said.
Gov. Tate Reeves must approve moving forward with county court and electing judges, so Roberson said he is going to discuss the matter with the board of supervisors at its regular meeting Monday.
“I’m going to be bringing this up at the next board meeting to allow me to request the governor to go ahead and set them,” Roberson said. “This is something that is important, so we need to set this up.”
From the outset, Roberson said, county court will share space with both circuit and chancery courts until it can get a location of its own. County and circuit courts typically are not in session at the same time, he said, but if their schedules do not align at times, they will possibly have to find other areas to utilize.
Rook, who will manage both county and circuit courts through his position, said circuit court is already crowded in his building and is worried about how the extra personnel will fit.
“We’re out of space here,” Rook said. “We need space for the clerks. We need more space for the public defenders. We need space for the (district attorney’s) office.”
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