Chief judge retiring earlier to reduce simultaneous vacancies on bench

Posted on April 5, 2018
McLean County Law and Justice Center
The earlier retirement of Chief Judge Kevin Fitzgerald will help reduce the number of associate judge positions open at the same time later this year.
(WJBC file photo)

By Greg Halbleib

BLOOMINGTON – The chief judge of the area’s judicial circuit is retiring earlier than originally planned to prevent three simultaneous vacancies on the local bench.

Eleventh Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Kevin Fitzgerald earlier announced he would retire on December 2nd of this year, but today said he’ll step aside on July 6th.

Fitzgerald explained that the Illinois Supreme Court recently announced a 30-day delay in filling judicial vacancies for budget reasons. With Associate Judge William Yoder expected to fill Fitzgerald’s circuit judge seat combined with two other expected retirements, three of the five associate judges at the start of 2019 would be brand new while handling volume calls. Before that, all three positions would be vacant for 30 days. Fitzgerald’s earlier retirement would allow one new associate judge to begin sooner.

Fitzgerald said in a release he expects the Supreme Court to appoint Yoder to the open circuit position in August, after which the circuit judges would fill Yoder’s associate spot.

Greg Halbleib can be reached at [email protected]. 

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