Interviews for 11 people who applied to become Seventh District Juvenile judge were conducted last week in the Carbon County Court Complex building by the seven-member judicial nominating commission.
The district nominating commission, which includes a member from each of the four counties in the district - Carbon, Emery, San Juan and Grand - will narrow the list to three and submit those names to the governor. The commission is comprised of two attorneys and the chief justice of the Utah Supreme Court.The governor will make the appointment subject to confirmation by the Utah Senate.
The application period was extended for a month, said court executive Tim Simmons, because there were only eight applicants and the law requires nine. At the end of the extended period, there were 11.
The position became vacant Oct. 1 when Paul Keller, who served 30 years as Seventh District juvenile court judge and for almost six prior to that as Price City judge, retired.
Simmons said that since Keller's retirement, cases have been heard by the two Circuit Court judges in the district, some visiting juvenile court judges and by Keller, himself, who has been appointed as a senior judge.