“Courting” change could soon pay off for Martin residents.

On Wednesday, Martin officials said a bill pending before the Tennessee General Assembly that would grant the city the authority to appoint a city judge with general sessions jurisdiction had passed through the House and was awaiting final approval in the Senate.

Mayor Randy Brundige said he had been in close contact with state Sen. Roy Herron and Rep. Mark Maddox in the past few days about the bill’s status and was pleased with the response he had received.

“Our legislators have introduced the legislation and are weighing both sides as the bill proceeds though the lawmaking process,” said Brundige. “I understand that because of the controversial nature of this bill, they must take both sides of this issue into consideration.”

At press time, the bill had passed second consideration and is awaiting final approval.

In an interview on Monday, Herron said that he and Maddox had been talking with representatives from both the county and city.

“Quite frankly, a lot of my focus the past few weeks has been on this budget and the budget deficit and on TennCare and what the impact of that is going to be on the hospitals here. And, so, I’ve known I’ve had direct responsibility for dealing with that,” Herron said.

“I’d hope folks with the city and county could come together and reach some consensus and that has not happened, may not be about to happen, but that is still what needs to happen. Weakley County doesn’t need to be in a war with any city.”

“We need to come to some consensus on what is best for the city of Martin, for the county of Weakley, for all the cities in the county. We need to pull together if we can.”

“Our problems are so severe and our challenges so great, that we don't need to be divided and fighting each other. We need to be competing with other states, other countries ... so we can go forward together.”