Recent changes throughout the local judicial system have led to several vacancies on the bench in Henry County Magistrate Court, all of which were officially filled at the October 20 regular meeting of the Henry County Board of Commissioners.

  Ted Norman Echols, Stephen Norris Knights Jr. and Shalanda Williams were appointed associate judges by unanimous vote of the commissioners upon recommendation by Martin Jones, the chief magistrate judge.

  Two of the vacancies were created when Vincent Lotti and Danielle Roberts were recently appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp to serve on the Henry County State Court bench.

  The resolution regarding the new appointments detailed the recent setup in Magistrate Court before the vote: Roberts and Amanda Flora as full-time associate judges; Donald Patten as a part-time associate judge; Lotti, Santana Flanigan and Maritza Ramos as on-call associate judges; one open on-call associate judge position; and Robert Godwin serving as senior judge.

  The qualifications for magistrate judge are also addressed in the resolution, which states that each new appointee “has distinguished himself or herself in the practice of law for a minimum of seven years, and is otherwise qualified to be appointed by the judges of the Superior Court of the Flint Judicial Circuit and the Henry State Court to serve as judges pro tempore designated judges to provide judicial assistance to these courts if and when requested.”

  The new judges’ terms end December 31, 2022.

  Lotti was appointed to the State Court bench to succeed Ernest Blount, who retired earlier in the year. Roberts was appointed to fill the vacancy left when Kemp tapped Pandora Palmer for the Superior Court bench to succeed Trea Pipkin, who was named to the Georgia Court of Appeals.