Court merger debate to involve further exploration

A proposal to merge the Macon-Bibb County state and municipal courts held up Tuesday will likely soon generate more discussion.

The County Commission voted 5-4 Tuesday to table a resolution to have the State Court of Bibb County take over Municipal Court operations after objections about the process and questions about the benefits were raised. It will be up to commissioners to decide when to renew talks after getting more information, Macon-Bibb spokesman Chris Floore said.

“We’re sure it’ll come up again because it’s something that would be worth further exploration,” he said.

The proposal is to have the state legislature approve the consolidation of the courts, which some court officials say could bring better efficiencies. Municipal Court primarily handles minor traffic cases and ordinance violations. State Court handles civil cases, more serious traffic offenses such as DUI and many other misdemeanor cases like simple battery and shoplifting.

Municipal Court Judge Bobby Faulkner has said he is upset about how the merger was proposed, with other court officials not having him involved in the process early on. State Court Judge Bill Adams said Tuesday he has apologized to Faulkner about the way it was handled.

This story was originally published December 16, 2016 at 4:05 PM with the headline "Court merger debate to involve further exploration."