By By MARY-ALLISON LANCASTER – Managing editor
With municipal court being reinstated June 1, Brewton City Councilmen have been working on establishing a time the court will convene but have yet to select a public defender.
In a May City Council meeting, council members voted to reinstate the Municipal Court. It has been two years since the Municipal Court was abolished, in part, because the court department felt the city would save nearly $50,000 of the general fund. However, as the years progressed, county clerks began to feel pressure and warrants were piling up.
By reinstating the Municipal Court, it will allow the city to serve its own warrants in a timely manner and alleviate time constraints for the county clerks.
Municipal Court will meet the first and third Tuesday of each month at 4 p.m. Councilman Henry Uptagrafft said Tuesday evening that his committee has narrowed the names of a public defender down to a short list and will have the selected name of the public defender by the next meeting.
In other city news,
o Pete Diurno has requested that Alabama Power look to see if there's an ordinance that would enforce the proper use of a generator.
One death was reported in Escambia County during this past year's hurricane season. A lineman who worked for Pike Electric was killed. It is alleged that a generator hooked up improperly caused the death of the lineman. Diurno said that the ordinance would enforce people to use generators the way they're intended.