Article VII of Macon’s city charter established Macon Municipal Court as the judicial branch of our city government. 

Organizational structure 

Macon Municipal Court is divided into two sections: judicial and administrative. The judicial section consists of six part-time judges.  As of October, 2004, they are as follows: Chief Judge J. Robert Faulkner, Judge Althea L. Buafo, Judge Katheryn W. Gerhardt, Judge Robert E. Herndon, Judge Bryan E. Tiller, and Judge Reza Sedghi.  The administrative section of the Court has twelve employees, headed by John Pattan, director of the Court.  Administrative court personnel are organized in two divisions: court operations and accounts receivable.  The court operations division, headed by Natalie Callaway, assistant court director, directly supports the judges.  The accounts receivable division, managed by LaTonya Slaughter, receives payments from charged misdemeanor violators for monetary juridical verdicts and for fines payable because of citations and arrest warrants.

Mission

The mission of Macon Municipal Court is to administer justice fairly, impartially, and effectively to anyone charged with municipal ordinance violations and with certain misdemeanor state offenses committed within the boundaries of the City of Macon.  Examples of such misdemeanor state offenses include DUI, open container, driving without a license, without proof of insurance, or without seatbelt fastened, failure to properly restrain child in a vehicle, concealed weapon, hit-and-run accident, fleeing or attempting to elude law enforcement officers.

Jurisdiction

Cases filed in Macon Municipal Court are for violations of the civil rather than the criminal code.  They include, but are not limited to, certain misdemeanor state laws offenses and violations of city ordinances relative to environmental violations, traffic violations, parking violations, and other assorted misdemeanors. 

• Environmental violations
• Some examples of environmental violations include violations of the building code, of the housing code, of the unsafe building abatement code, of the sanitation code.     
• Traffic violations
• Traffic violations include moving and non-moving violations committed by or in either personal or commercial vehicles.
• Parking violations
  • Some examples of traffic violations include overtime parking, parking near fireplug, parking in hospital emergency door, double parking, parking in loading zone.
• Misdemeanor violations
  • Misdemeanor violations include, but are not restricted to, selling alcohol without a license, creating unnecessary noise, creating noisome odors, disorderly conduct, cutting utility wires, disfiguring public property, possession of marijuana.