East Ridge Judge Steps Down to Take Job with Hamilton County District Attorney's Office

East Ridge Municipal Court Judge Tracy Cox stepped down from the bench on Friday to take a job with the Hamilton County District Attorney’s office.

Cox will become a domestic violence prosecutor working for DA Coty Wamp.

Cox became the city’s first female Municipal Court Judge in 2022. A non-city resident, Cox defeated Kevin Wilson, who also did not reside in the City of East Ridge.

Sources inside the court said that Bryan Hoss, the judge in Red Bank, will be sitting in on Monday’s court session. It has been moved from the normal Tuesday date to observe Veterans Day.

One source said the city council will appoint a judge in the near future to hear cases until the next scheduled election in two years. That person would then have the option of running as an “incumbent.”

The Tennessee Supreme Cout ruled recently that municipal court judges who are popularly elected must reside within the city they represent for at least one year prior to election.

East Ridge’s Charter allowed municipal judges to live anywhere within the surrounding county rather than inside municipal boundaries. However, the state constitution requirements supersedes conflicting local charters.

Cox’s departure comes on the heels of last week’s election where Misty Chauncey narrowly defeated three-term incumbent Patricia Cassidy for the court clerk’s position.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.