Jon Johnson File Photo/Gila Herald: Magistrate Courts 1 and 2 will be co-located in Graham County Courthouse prior to consolidation due to staff shortages. The courts will continue to operate separately until they are merged on January 1, 2023.
John Johnson
john johnson news@gmail.com
Safford – Due to staffing shortages, the Courts for Magistrates First and Second Districts will be located in the Graham County Courthouse from August 1st. District 2 previously operated from the Pima location.
Both courts utilize the same location at 800 W. Main St. but will remain separate until they are merged next year.
The Graham County Board of Supervisors previously voted in February to consolidate the courts in Safford, where the judges of the First District of the Peace are currently residing. The Pima Magistrates Court 2 will be closed and the facility will be returned to the town of Pima who owns the building.
The courts will be officially merged into one court on January 1, 2023. Judge Gary Griffith of JP1 is retiring and Judge Wyatt Palmer of JP2 will run as the remaining magistrates. Lance Lines is also running for Justice of the Peace, and the winner of the Aug. 2 primary will take over his court on Jan. 1, 2023.
Consolidating the courts would save about $120,000 a year, according to an earlier news release from Graham County Manager Dustin Welker. The release also states that the decision was based on cost-cutting measures and was made to maximize the county’s workforce efficiency.However, the release also states that JP1’s five full-time employees and his JP2 ‘s two full-time employees have all said they will remain in the new Consolidated Court.
In December 2017, the three municipalities of Safford, Thatcher and Pima agreed to consolidate their various district courts into one Gila Valley Consolidated Court in Safford, in a similar cost-saving move.
Welker said the workload of both courts at JP is sufficiently low that consolidation into one court would leave the workload “well below the statutory maximum of 1,200 credits.”
