After holding interviews with six candidates earlier this week, Hamilton County commissioners have appointed attorney Charles Paty to fill an open judicial commissioner position vacated by Andrew Basler.
Paty received seven of the commission's 11 votes on Wednesday. According to the resolution, Paty will begin immediately and serve until Oct. 31, 2024. Basler stepped down on Sept. 11 and has joined Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp's office.
"I just want to say thank you to all of you commissioners for the confidence you have placed in me, and I look forward to getting to work for the citizens of Hamilton County," Paty said. "I'm looking forward to working with law enforcement and the judicial department."
According to his resume, Paty has 43 years of experience in criminal law and general civil practice, including contracts, torts, family law, juvenile law, collections, bankruptcy and will and estates.
Paty has argued cases in the Tennessee Court of Appeals and the Tennessee Supreme Court. In the past, he has served as a special judge in Hamilton County General Sessions Court, Chattanooga City Court, Hamilton County Circuit Court, Hamilton County Chancery Court and Hamilton County Juvenile Court.
He has worked at the law firm of Paty, Rymer & Ulin since 1979. Paty ran unsuccessfully for school board this year in a Republican challenge of incumbent Democrat Karitsa Jones. He said he will be winding down his practice to take on the judicial commissioner role full time.
"My desire is to try to help our law enforcement in what they're doing to keep the criminals in jail and those that are not criminals, even though they've been charged, to try to get them on the right path," Paty told commissioners during his interview on Monday.
Paty told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that he applied for the judicial commissioner role years ago when the program first started. He was not selected and decided to pour his time back into his private practice.
"When the opportunity came open again, I thought, 'Well, you know, I'm getting to that stage of my life where I want to give back to the community,'" he said by phone on Wednesday afternoon.
Also called magistrates, judicial commissioners issue warrants and set bond. The Hamilton County website lists three judicial commissioners and a chief magistrate.
Contact David Floyd at dfloyd@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6249. Follow him on Twitter @flavid_doyd.