TOPEKA—A nominating commission charged with naming candidates to fill a district magistrate judge vacancy in Osage County has issued a request for assistance from the public.
The nine-member commission is responsible for selecting a district magistrate judge to the vacancy which will be created upon the retirement of District Magistrate Judge Jon Stephen Jones.
"The nominating commission is especially interested in receiving recommendations from the general public. All of the citizens of Osage County are requested to consider this matter and the names of suggested nominees submitted by the public will be welcomed by the commission," according to Supreme Court Justice Eric S. Rosen, departmental justice for the 4th Judicial District.
Kansas statutes require that a district magistrate judge be a resident of the county in which appointed, be a graduate of a high school or its equivalent, and if not regularly admitted to practice law in Kansas, be certified by the Supreme Court as qualified to serve in the job.
Suggested nominees are requested to complete a nomination form for the position. The completed forms should be returned to Janet Walsh, nominating commission secretary, 704 Topeka Avenue, Lyndon, KS 66451 no later than noon, September 23, 2011. The forms are available in the office of clerk of the district court of Osage County and are available online at www.kscourts.org.
The nominating commission will convene at 9 a.m., October 11, in the Osage County Courthouse, Lyndon, to interview the suggested appointees. The interviews are open to the public.
Notices of the vacancy are being mailed to every attorney in the 4th Judicial District by the chairman of the commission. Osage County is one of the four counties in the 4th Judicial District, which also includes Anderson, Coffey, and Franklin Counties.
The nominating commission includes Justice Rosen, as the nonvoting chairman, and James R. Campbell, Burlington; Craig E. Cole, Garnett; Steven B. Doering, Garnett; Janet C. Walsh, Lyndon; Crystal M. Camis, Ottawa; Thomas B. DeBaun, Osage City; Eugene E. Highberger, Westphalia; and Timothy A. Sipe, Waverly.