Commissioners bid farewell to McCurdy
BURNET — Burnet County Associate Magistrate/Judge Gale “Mac” McCurdy will resign by the end of the month. “It is time to retire,” McCurdy said earlier this week. “I have loved this community. It has been great working for them.”
Friday is his last day on the job, McCurdy added.
During his service to the county, which began more than five years ago, McCurdy first served as the Precinct 4 county constable and later as Granite Shoals municipal judge.
Through an interlocal agreement with Granite Shoals, the County Commissioners appointed McCurdy as associate magistrate in 2008.
He was appointed to help relieve the logjam of cases building up in the justice of the peace courts, McCurdy said.
“The courts were getting busy, and they still are busy,” McCurdy said.
As associate magistrate, McCurdy was the first point of contact for a person under arrest and brought to the Burnet County Jail. He informed the suspects of the charges brought against them and their right to an attorney, evaluated their mental health, set jail bonds and officially received inmates for incarceration.
“The system works well when you have a full-time judge at the jail that can take care of problems,” McCurdy said.
He plans to stay close to his daughter and grandchildren in Phoenix during his retirement, McCurdy added.
“I am extremely grateful to Judge McCurdy for his service to Burnet County,” County Judge Donna Klaeger said. “He is a hard worker who developed a time-saving system to magistrate people and move them quickly and efficiently through the system. We will miss him.”
No immediate successor to McCurdy was mentioned during the County Commissioners meeting Tuesday.
The commissioners will post an opening for an associate magistrate during upcoming days, Klaeger said.
Applicants for the position will be interviewed by Klaeger, County Attorney Eddie Arredondo and the justice of the peace from each county precinct before a successor is recommended to the commissioners, officials said.