State Court judge George C. Floyd has decided to not seek reelection and he will retire at the end of his current term.

Floyd has served as a State Court judge since July of 2001. His current term runs through the end of 2016.

“I’ve been doing it 15 and a half years,” Floyd said. “I didn’t think I could commit to a full four years. Because I wasn’t absolutely certain I wanted four more years, I decided I should give it up.”

State Court has jurisdiction over arraignments and trials of misdemeanor offenses, traffic violations and fish and wildlife violations.

“I deal with people that committed a crime and I have to punish them,” Floyd said. “It is never fun.”

Floyd said that he is a strong believer that State Court judges should be elected by the people and not appointed by the Governor. If he had decided to run and then resigned mid-term, the Governor would have appointed a replacement.

“I wanted to make [my decision] in plenty of time that if someone want to run they could,” Floyd said. “There are lots of fine lawyers.”

According to Floyd, the part he enjoyed the most was working with the courthouse staff.

“I most appreciated the absolutely tremendous job the clerk office has done making my job easier,” Floyd said. “Especially Patsy Rentz, the courtroom clerk for the State Court, the bailiffs and the courthouse deputies. They’ve just done an outstanding job.”

Floyd said he decided to retire now because it is better to leave too early than too late.