The city plans to have a new municipal court administrator in place no later than April 1.

Who that person will be is still an open question.

The city council is expected on Tuesday to extend Linder Erby’s tenure as part-time interim administrator until a new full-time person is in place. During a work session Monday at the Municipal Complex, Jammie Garrett, the city’s chief operations officer, told the council she does not expect Erby’s interim term to go “beyond the end of March.”

Erby, a longtime Lowndes County Justice Court administrator who retired in May 2022, was appointed interim court administrator for the city in July after Wendy Blunt took a job with Columbus Municipal School District. Erby’s appointment expires this month, so the council needs to renew it for her to continue in the role.

Garrett told the council eight had applied so far for the full-time vacancy. Only four of those have managerial or military experience, she said.

“None of them have court experience,” she said.

Garrett said she can begin scheduling interviews later this month or early February. She also wants more time to visit other municipalities.

“It’s recruitment efforts but also looking at processes and software the municipalities are using,” Garrett told The Dispatch.

Even if the new administrator comes in with no court experience, Garrett said Mississippi Municipal League offers training. She has also reached out to Starkville, Tupelo, Meridian Hattiesburg and even Lowndes County Justice Court, all of whom were open to helping train the new Columbus hire, if needed.

“I would like someone who has worked in a court in a managerial position, but I am open to it being someone with extensive managerial experience (outside of court),” Garrett said. “Because on the legal side of things, that part can be trained.”

Whomever takes on court administrator duties will inherit an office mired in issues related to inefficiency and record keeping.

The last two annual audits completed for the city – for Fiscal Years 2021 and 2022 – have dinged municipal court for things like not properly reconciling payments and failing to segregate collection duties. The FY 2020 audit also found issues with the court not paying in a timely manner other agencies entitled by state statute to portions of paid tickets.

Erby’s leadership, Garrett said, has already brought significant changes, though she did not offer specifics.

Mayor Stephen Jones said he would prefer finding someone with court management experience but is also open to looking beyond that.

“We’ve had so many issues with the court that we’ve been focused on straightening out,” he said. “We need to get those issues done. I would love to have someone with court experience come in, (but) my main thing is finding the right person. … We want to make sure (the court) is running efficiently and that the citizens are being served, making sure that the tickets that come in from the police department are being paid.”

New collections system

When Erby steps down as interim administrator, the plan is for her to transition to a part-time deputy clerk, overseeing collections.
Both Jones and Garrett said they support that plan, pending council approval.

Over the past two years, the court has accumulated roughly $71,000 in delinquent fines that still haven’t been collected, Erby told the council during a Dec. 30 work session. Garrett confirmed to The Dispatch that number reflects fines assessed on which not a single payment has been made.

Since 2011, the city has contracted with American Municipal Services for collecting delinquent fines, charging the defendant an additional 25% as its fee. But in 2025, AMS collected only $4,500 for the city, Erby told The Dispatch.

Erby instead convinced the council Dec. 30 to approve purchasing LexisNexis software for $200 a month that would bring collection services in-house.

With the software, Erby could take limited information on someone, like a name and last known address, and find the most current information.

For example, she told the council, a person might sometimes give the court the address for the apartment complex where they live. The software can find the specific apartment number.

Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.