District 8A Judicial Nominating Commission seeks to fill vacancy

The Bar and public are hereby notified that Governor Kim Reynolds hereby serves notice of a new District Associate Judge position created in Judicial Sub-District 8A.

The District 8A Judicial Nominating Commission, comprised of five elected attorneys and five Governor appointed citizens and the senior Judge in the District, who acts as Chairperson, will be interviewing candidates to fill this new position.

The Judicial Sub-District Nominating Commission for 8A met on Friday, Dec. 2, 2022 to outline procedures and timelines to fill the vacancy. Proper notice did not occur of the first timelines. Applications will be accepted from Monday, Dec. 19, 2022 until Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022 at 4 p.m. Any interested and eligible attorney (as defined by Sections 1 and 7 of 2022 Iowa Acts chapter 1033) is encouraged to apply.

The District Associate Judge will cover associate level juvenile cases and other work as assigned by the Chief Judge. On-call coverage is also part of the workload. Counties of coverage are anticipated to be Jefferson, Keokuk, Mahaska, Poweshiek and Washington.

The following are the commission members:

District Judge Joel Yates — Chairperson

Elected Attorneys: Commissioners appointed by the Governor:

Paul Gandy — Fairfield Steve Berger — Wellman

paul@aeronlifetech.comberger@netins.net

Bryan Goldsmith — Ottumwa James Box — Bloomfield

bjg@ottumwalaw.com boxandbox@boxandboxattorneys.com

Katie Mitchell — Washington Jennifer Main — Oskaloosa

Katie.mitchelllawoffice@gmail.com Jennifer.main@raymondjames.com

Joanne Reed — FairfieldMarla Ross

joanne@reedlawsupport.comMarlaross2533@gmail.com

VacantJason Summers — Albia

jason@summersins.net

The Judicial Nominating Commission has established procedures for filling the position of District Associate Court Judge in Judicial District 8A and the Supreme Court of Iowa has adopted an application to be completed by each person who wishes to apply for nomination to be a District Associate Court Judge.

Copies of the application can be obtained from the District Court Administrator’s Office for the Eighth Judicial District, 333 North Court St., Ottumwa, IA 52501, by emailing cathy.reck@iowacourts.gov, by calling 1-641-684-6502, ext. 610, or by going to the Commission website at https://www.iowajnc.gov/district-commissions.

Applicants are directed to email their completed applications and writing samples to cathy.reck@iowacourts.gov, mail or personally deliver to the District Court Administrator’s Office for the Eighth Judicial District, 333 North Court St., Ottumwa, IA 52501.

All applications must be received by the Court Administrator’s office no later than Thursday, Dec. 29, 2022 at 4:00 p.m. No late applications will be accepted. The names of the applicants will be made available to the public AFTER the deadline for filing applications.

Applicants must be members of the Iowa Bar, a resident of the sub-district of the court to which they are nominated or in a contiguous county to the judicial election district to which the nominee is nominated, and shall be of such age that they will be able to serve an initial and one regular term of office before reaching the age of seventy-two years.

All valid applications will be considered. However, if there are more applicants than can be effectively interviewed, the commission may elect to screen the applicants and interview less than all. The selected applicants will be given an opportunity to appear before the entire Judicial Nominating Commission for a personal interview on Jan. 4, 2023 at the Keokuk County Courthouse in Sigourney, Iowa. The applicants’ submissions and materials shall be open to the public. Applicant interviews shall also be open. The public will be allowed to observe and listen but not interact. There may be times the commission will go into closed session. Commission deliberations and voting will not be open to the public.

Prior to the interviews, the public will be permitted to submit comments or recommendations regarding the qualifications of an applicant to the District Court Administrator’s Office for the Eighth Judicial District, 333 North Court St., Ottumwa, IA 52501 or by emailing cathy.reck@iowacourts.gov.

The Commission will submit the names of two nominees to Governor Reynolds who will then appoint one to fill the vacancy.