Monday, November 21, 2011
Here Come da Judge
As a consequence of Richard Koweek's celebrated victory over Beth Cozzolino for Columbia County Court judge, come January 1, Hudson City Court will be without a judge. It has been determined that the city charter assigns the responsibility of appointing a new judge to the Common Council. The person appointed will serve as interim judge until a special election can be held in 2012. Tonight the process of determining candidates for the position and making a final decision will be a major topic of discussion at the Common Council Legal Committee meeting, which takes place at 6:45 p.m. at City Hall.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Carole,
ReplyDeleteJust for clarification:
Unlike every other elected position in the City of Hudson, the City Judge's term is 6 years (it is two tears for every other elected position in the City). The current term for City Judge ends 12/31/14. It is therefore my understanding that the Common Council will appoint someone to fill the vacancy left by Judge Koweek's election to County Court Judge. An election for the remainder of the current term will be held in the Fall of 2012. There will then be an election for the full 6 year term. That election will take place in the Fall of 2014.
The section of the Charter which governs appointments to vacancies states "Vacancies occurring in any manner, in any elective office, shall be filled by appointment by the Common Council. Such appointments, (...) shall be made not less than 10 days nor more than 20 days after the occurrence of such vacancy at any meeting of the Common Council. Such officers so appointed to fill vacancies shall serve until and including the 31st day of December next following such appointment, and in case such term of office shall not expire on the 31st day of December next following such appointment, there shall be elected at the general election in the year in which such appointment shall be made a person who shall take office on the first day of January next following such appointment who shall hold office for the remainder of the unexpired term. In case the appointment by the Common Council to fill a vacancy as herein provided shall not be made until after the expiration of the time in which the name of the candidate for election to fill the unexpired term of the office in question can be placed upon the ballots to be voted at the general election in the year in which such appointment shall be made, then and in that event the person so appointed shall hold office from the date of such appointment to and including the 31st day of December in the next year; and in case such term of office shall not expire on the 31st day of December in the year next following such appointment, there shall be elected at the general election in the year next following the year in which such appointment shall have been made a person who shall take office on the first day of January next following such election and who shall hold office for the remainder of the unexpired term".