This is an appeal by defendants Pike County, its county manager, and members of its board of commissioners (collectively “County”) from the Superior Court of Pike County’s grant of summary judgment to plaintiff Marcia Callaway-Ingram (“Callaway-Ingram”), who was appointed Chief Magistrate of Pike County. Callaway-Ingram filed suit seeking, inter alia, a writ of mandamus and permanent injunction in this dispute involving her salary and the funding and operation of the magistrate court. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the judgment of the superior court.
The relevant facts as found by the superior court are the following. In April 2010, Priscilla Killingsworth resigned the position of Chief Magistrate of Pike County in the middle of her 2009-2012 elected term of office. Callaway-Ingram was appointed to fill the position on May 25, 2010, and assumed her judicial duties on June 1, 2010. During the 2009-2012 term of this elected position, Killings-worth was paid an annual salary of $63,139, and that remained the budgeted salary for that office when Callaway-Ingram assumed it on June 1, 2010. Inasmuch as the
During Killingsworth’s term as chief magistrate, she had the assistance of a full-time associate magistrate, Loretta Rakestraw, who was appointed by Killingsworth at the start of the 2009-2012 term of office at an annual salary of $56,826. The County re-approved that salary for the full-time associate magistrate for the 2009-2010 fiscal year, after Callaway-Ingram assumed her duties as chief magistrate, which created the situation in which the associate magistrate was paid approximately $7,000 more per year than the chief magistrate. However, for the 2010-2011 fiscal year, the County made the associate magistrate position only half-time with a corresponding reduction in salary to $23,108. The Board, over Callaway-Ingram’s objection, maintained the associate magistrate’s position as half-time in its 2011-2012 budget. No operational analysis was done to determine the proper level of staffing required for functioning of the magistrate court.
Because of a failure to report for work, in September 2010, Callaway-Ingram suspended Rakestraw without pay. A lawsuit between Rakestraw and the County related to the suspension was settled in November 2011. Pursuant to the settlement, Rakestraw was reinstated to the position of associate magistrate with a part-time status, but was given full-time benefits until the expiration of her appointment on December 31, 2012. As part of the settlement, Rakestraw was also given $20,000 which was paid from the magistrate court’s personnel budget. Callaway-Ingram was not meaningfully consulted in regard to the settlement even though her responsibilities as chief magistrate includedbudget oversight. Callaway-Ingram again objected to the reduction of the associate magistrate’s position to half-time. The parties’ settlement was adopted by the superior court in the form of a consent order. In July 2011, Callaway-Ingram attempted to fill a civil clerk position, but the County was responsible for withholding from her at least two of the applications that had been submitted for the position. The County repeatedly refused to provide her with staff and funds deemed necessary for operation of the magistrate court.
Callaway-Ingram filed suit seeking, inter alia, a writ of mandamus requiring the County to pay her the full salary as set at the beginning of the 2009-2012 term, as it had prior to her appointment, and to employ a full-time associate magistrate; a permanent injunction enjoining the County from interfering with the effective operation of the magistrate court, by, among other things, preventing job applications from reaching her; and back pay with interest and attorney fees. Callaway-Ingram and the County filed cross-motions for summary judgment. The superior court entered summary judgment in favor of Callaway-Ingram on all claims and denied the County’s motion for summary judgment.
The County challenges numerous aspects of the superior court’s grant of summary judgment to Callaway-Ingram and contends that it should have been granted summary judgment with respect to the claims that it illegally reduced Callaway-Ingram’s salary and the position of associate magistrate from full-time to part-time. Further, it takes issue with the grant of permanent injunctive
1. The 1983 Georgia Constitution, Art. VI, Sec. VII, Par. V provides in relevant part that “[a]n incumbent’s salary, allowance, or supplement shall not be decreased during the incumbent’s term of office.” And, as noted, the salary for magistrates is set by statute. See OCGA § 15-10-23. Furthermore, there are statutory prohibitions against decreasing such compensation. Indeed, OCGA § 15-10-23 (d) states:
The county governing authority may supplement the minimum annual salary of the chief or other magistrate in such amount as it may fix from time to time, but no such magistrate’s compensation or supplement shall be decreased during any term of office. Nothing contained in this subsection shall prohibit the General Assembly by local law from supplementing the annual salary of any magistrates.
(Emphasis supplied.) Thus, at issue is whether Callaway-Ingram was an “incumbent” during the relevant time period, and key is the meaning of the phrase “term of office” as used in the constitutional and statutory provisions.
An “incumbent” is an individual who is in possession of the office at issue and is qualified as a matter of law to exercise the powers and perform the duties pertaining to that office; the status of “incumbent” is not affected by the method by which the individual attained the position. Lee v. Peach County Bd. of Commrs.,
As for the question of whether the County violated the prohibition against decreasing the magistrate’s salary during the “term of office,” the County contends that when a salary is established for a particular judge, that salary is guaranteed only for that particular judge for the duration of the term at issue; that if the chief magistrate is replaced during that term, the replacement does not inherit as a matter of law the salary previously set for the position; that it had the authority to lower the chief magistrate’s salary while the office was vacant; and that the phrase “term of office” is “expansive enough to contemplate numerous individuals having separate and distinct terms of office during the same statutory four-year period.” But, the County’s arguments are unavailing. This Court has plainly stated that a “term of office” is the “statutorily-set, definite extent of time an elective office may be held.” Lee v. Peach County Bd. of Commrs.,
The County violated both the constitutional and statutory mandates in reducing Callaway-Ingram’s salary during the unexpired term which she was serving. Accordingly, a writ of mandamus was available to recover the salary due her. Lee v. Peach County Bd. of Commrs.,
2. The County contends that the superior court erred in holding illegal the reduction of the associate magistrate’s position from full-time to part-time because the court had previously approved the reduction in the lawsuit between the County and Rakestraw, and inasmuch as the present order was not issued during the same term as the consent order in that litigation, the superior court effectively allowed Callaway-Ingram to impermissibly collaterally attack the prior consent order. The Rakestraw consent order makes plain that Callaway-Ingram voiced
3. The County, citing Ellis v. Georgia Kraft Co.,
But, the cited language from the Court of Appeals in Morris v. Mullis is based upon this Court’s decision in Newport Timber Corp. v. Floyd,
4. The County maintains that even if Callaway-Ingram was entitled to permanent injunctive relief for a claim actually presented, the superior court erred in granting an injunction that lacked the specifics necessary to be enforceable, in that it merely ruled that the County could not engage in “future interference.” But, the superior court found that Callaway-Ingram was entitled to specific relief; such relief included that the County not be permitted to continue with the salary and position reductions at issue and that it not be allowed to interfere with Callaway-Ingram’s ability to interview and hire personnel. The statutory requirements in OCGA § 9-11-65 (d)
Judgment affirmed.
Notes
OCGA § 9-11-65 (d) provides:
Form and scope of injunction or restraining order. Every order granting an injunction and every restraining order shall be specific in terms; shall describe in reasonable detail, and not by reference to the complaint or other document, the act or acts sought to be restrained; and is binding only upon the parties to the action, their officers, agents, servants, employees, and attorneys, and upon those persons in active concert or participation with them who receive notice of the order by personal service or otherwise.