Johnny Russell begins duties as newest squire

Posted January 7, 2015 at 3:16 pm

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In early January, there will be a couple of new faces that make up the Clinton County Fiscal Court. One of those will be the only new magistrate, as life-long Clinton County resident Johnny Russell, 59, will be First District Magistrate after having won the past year’s election in the May primary.

Russell is the son of the late Glen and Alene Russell and is married to Penny Cross Russell. The couple have two sons, Nathan, 31, and Jonathan, 24.

This is the first time that the new magistrate has been elected to public office, but he was a candidate back in the mid-1990s in an unsuccessful county-wide race for Clinton County Jailer, the year that Steve Wallace was elected to that position.

Russell has had various vocations, mostly as a truck driver, and he also worked as a deputy jailer at the local jail in the 1990s. Most recently he has worked for 18 years at Albany Redi-Mix. He now, for the most part, stays home and takes care of his wife, Penny, who suffered a serious stroke about six years ago.

Russell said he didn’t really have any one particular reason for deciding to seek the magisterial seat. “I just decided to try for it when the filing for local office began,” he said.

The magistrate-elect feels his background in different jobs and working with the public will help him in his job duties as a county official and noted he recently went to three days of training for magistrates that was held earlier in December in Louisville.

“They taught us a lot, including about what a magistrate can and cannot do and how county government works,” said Russell of the recent training session that is required of new magistrates.

Russell said he looked forward to working with the other five members of the fiscal court and the new county judge/executive for the betterment of the Clinton County and for the people in his district. Although not naming many specific goals, he did note that keeping the jail open was one of his priorities.

Russell went on to say the most pressing issues facing the county at this point is the budget and finances in light of the current economic climate. He feels that bringing more jobs to the county would help that situation.

“I’d like to see a lot of things accomplished, but I’ll just have to wait and see what we (fiscal court) can do as I go along,” in noting he will be new to the job and will have quite a lot to learn as time goes on.

Russell also believes it’s very important for the judge and fiscal court members to work together and also along with the city government on projects to help everyone.

The new magistrate thanked everyone in the first district for their vote and support and vowed to work hard to earn their confidence.