Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Brown Undertakes Job As New County Judge

As of 12:01 a.m. Jan. 1, 1997, Nevada County had a new county judge.

James Roy Brown took the oath of office at midnight, along with all other elected officials.

Brown took over from John William Barham, who had been appointed to serve the term of the late John Henry.

"I'll try and finish what's been started," Brown said of his plans for the office.

However, he doesn't plan on doing anything rash and jumping the gun. At this time, Brown is waiting for state turnback funds along with grant money before he does anything. He said his predecessor left him in good shape.

"I want all county employees to be courteous at all times," Brown said. "I told them we're all paid by the same people -- the taxpayers, and want everyone who works for the county to be courteous."

He said if anyone has any complaints about anything, they need to call him.

"I want to get my feet on the ground and see what needs to be done," he said. "I should know pretty soon.

"In a few months it should be dry enough to do road work, and I'll try and improve the equipment as we can. I'll do the best I can with what we've got."

Brown plans to look around at the various departments, see what's going on, what needs to be done and what can be done. Primarily, he will focus on the road and bridge crew, because this department is directly under his control.

If he can, Brown plans to upgrade the equipment, but, as he said, everything will be determined by the cost factors.

He also plans to help work and attract industry to Nevada County, which, in turn, will help the existing businesses stay as well.