President’s Letter

Willie C. Weaver, Sr., President, CMuCJ Mercer University Law School. JD Mercer University Atlanta, BA Ten Year U. S. Army Veteran

It is truly an honor to be elected and serve as president of this body. Thank you all for the opportunity to lead this Council. Municipal Courts of Georgia continue to be the class of court that most citizens encounter, in comparison to the other classes of courts. In light of this heightened role, our mission remains to set clear standards and polices and provide information and education services to our courts, so that we can efficiently and effectively operate, administer justice and serve the public.

Obviously, I hit the ground running. The pandemic has truly changed our lives. We have or should be quickly transitioning from the old style of in-person court only to virtual court, smaller numbers per session with safety always first. It is important that we understand and conduct our courts as if it is a life and death matter. As we quickly learned, operating courts without following the Municipal Court Best Practices and Emergency Judicial Orders can lead to sickness and death. I am proud to share that in representing our Council, I was at the forefront of understanding the gravity of the pandemic and acted swiftly in meeting, organizing and providing information to our members. I am thankful for the members who stepped up to the challenge to ensure that we got it right. We did so well that other classes of courts used our guidelines to start to organize how to conduct courts during the pandemic.

Even with the pandemic, we still have work to be done. A few items that we will seek as a Council to address and accomplish are: Due process for judicial removal, create how-to/best practices, procedures and protocols for virtual court, formalize/mandate new judge mentoring training program and retain municipal courts throughout the State. We must continue to place professionalism at the front of our minds. Our citizens and all persons who come before us are dealing with scary and uncertain times. They must believe, based upon our conduct, that it is safe to enter courtrooms. We should continue to be open to new ideas and be innovative, to ensure that we continue to keep municipal courts operating as the best class of court in this State.

I am up to the task of leading the Council through this pandemic and beyond. Meetings and CJE processes are very different, missing the fellowship and comradery of old. We will schedule in-person meetings as soon as it is safe to do so. In the meantime, we must stay the course of excellence, with an added measure of safety. I am grateful to each of you for your past and continued contributions and support. I look forward to a productive year for the Council of Municipal Court Judges.