DALTON, Ga. — Since she was placed on “voluntary paid leave” in October of last year, Whitfield County Magistrate Judge Shana Vinyard has been paid $19,612.57, according to a county official. By the time she leaves office on April 1 following her letter of resignation, the total will be $26,102.06, all of it paid for by the taxpayers of Whitfield County.

Vinyard’s yearly salary is $52,492. Her resignation letter from last week and the fact she has been getting paid for not working have some county residents irate and some county officials frustrated.

“I think that we feel the same way as a lot of the taxpayers do — frustrated,” county Commissioner Roger Crossen said. “It is not a good situation at all. It is tough to be in this position where you really can’t do anything about it.”

A judge with Magistrate Court confirmed last week that Vinyard has been under investigation by the state Judicial Qualifications Commission. Chief Magistrate Judge Haynes Townsend has said he can’t comment on any ongoing investigation.

Vinyard has been on voluntary paid leave since Oct. 3. Townsend said in November he did not have the authority to put her on administrative leave and gave her the choice of continuing to work or “staying at home. She decided to stay at home.”

Vinyard submitted a letter of resignation to Gov. Brian Kemp on Wednesday.

“I, Shana B. Vinyard, am writing to inform you that I will be resigning from my position as Whitfield County Magistrate Judge effective April 1, 2019,” Vinyard wrote in the letter. “I have deeply appreciated the opportunity that I was given to serve my community in this capacity.”

The letter lists Vinyard’s address as a Dalton post office box. Messages left on the listed phone number were not immediately returned on Monday. Calls to attorney Rick Brown, who represented her in an earlier matter, were not immediately returned on Monday.

Like many elected county positions such as tax commissioner and sheriff, Magistrate Court judgeships are paid for by the county. But local commissioners have no supervisory authority over those positions.

“It is like any constitutional office,” county attorney Robert Smalley said. “The board of commissioners is charged with setting a reasonable budget for that office, but have no authority over it. We have great cooperation for the most part between those offices and the commission, but that doesn’t mean the board of commissioners have any control over an elected judge.”

“I don’t like it, but that is not our call,” county commission Chairman Lynn Laughter said. “I don’t know why she gave her resignation so far away. I might contact the governor, but I don’t think we have any influence on this.”

Laughter said some have suggested scaling the court back to three judges since that is how the court has operated for almost five months.

“I can see how the voters would be upset by someone not working and drawing a paycheck,” Commissioner Barry Robbins said. “If you go back and check the record, I advocated not adding a fourth position to the court when I first came on the board.”

Authority over judges lies with the state Supreme Court, which can remove, suspend, censure or enforce retirement on a judge based on recommendations from the Judicial Qualifications Commission. Messages left with commission director Ben Easterlin have not been returned since an initial request for comment on Thursday. On Monday, the office was closed for Presidents Day.

Questions sent to Gov. Kemp’s press secretary Cody Hall were not immediately responded to by Monday evening.

County officials talked to for this story said they have not been contacted by the Judicial Qualifications Commission.

Many county residents have made their feelings known in social media posts and through the newspaper’s Forum.

“My thought is how in the world could she be given the opportunity to stay home and do nothing and then decide to resign,” said Tunnel Hill resident Angie White Morgan, who has responded to stories about Vinyard’s situation with comments on the newspaper’s Facebook page. “That is just pure thievery. She is not doing anything for that money. I just think that it is a travesty. I think that taxpayers should be outraged.”

Smalley said as the county’s attorney he understands the frustration.

“Why this has gone on this long, I can’t understand it,” Smalley said. “But there isn’t a satisfactory answer to that. It would be very helpful to get a resolution as soon as possible, get the vacancy filled and have that court function the way it is supposed to.”