Meet
Terry Bodine: Municipal Court Administrator
If you see the lights
on in the Township Municipal Building at 3:00 am, it is probably Terry Bodine,
Southampton’s Municipal Court Administrator, taking bail in behalf of a
defendant. Terry’s job requires that
she be “on call” 24 hours a day to sign warrants, accept bail or commit persons
to jail. Fortunately, with the advent
of computers and fax machines, she can perform some of these duties from home —
but accepting bail requires her presence at the Township Complex, no matter
what the time of day.
Terry grew up in Southampton, attending
Southampton Schools and Lenape High School. She has been married to Roger
Bodine for over 22 years. They have two
children, Wayne, 11 and Aubrey, 7.
After 18 years in Mt. Holly, the family now lives in Southampton.
Terry’s career path is another Vincentown
success story. Back in 1978 she was a
waitress at Village Vittles, now the newly opened up-scale 64 Main Restaurant
in Vincentown. Then Court Administrator
Gretchen Stolpen (recently retired Township Clerk— Administrator) came in for
her daily coffee to go. She indicated
to Terry that she needed a Deputy. At
that time some of the Township operations were located in what is now the
Children’s Library, just up the street from the restaurant. She told Terry to stop by if she was
interested. On August 21, 1978, Terry
came to work as the Deputy Court Clerk and has been there ever since — now 24
years, but since October, 1996, has been Municipal Court Administrator.
Back in the “good old days”, court sessions
were held in the old town hall located on Plum Street. The court moved to its current location, the
Robert L. Thompson Municipal Building, in 1981.
Over the years, through experience and
training, Terry has become quite skilled at her work. She has completed “Principles of Municipal Court” I and II, and
has attended other continuing education courses pertaining to running the
municipal court office.
As Court Administrator, Terry oversees
Southampton Township’s justice system.
She prepares financial reports for the State of New Jersey and
Burlington County. She assists our
citizens and area law enforcement agencies by taking complaints, finding
probable cause for issuing warrants, setting and taking bail on both traffic
and criminal charges, and accepting payments for penalties imposed by the State
of New Jersey and the municipal court judge.
Terry has to be aware of the current changes in New Jersey Court Rules
and any new legislation or directives which may come down from the
Administrative Office of the Courts.
As evidenced by her
move from the more primitive days in Southampton at both the old Municipal
Offices on Main Street and Old Town Hall, Terry has seen many changes in the
court system during her tenure here.
The use of computers, faxes and videos has made the judicial process
much more efficient than it was back when she first started.
Terry feels that her work in the court
office has been one long learning experience.
When she started she had minimal typing skills — today she is high-tech! But she’s learned a lot more than the nuts
and bolts of court administration. Her
daily interaction with the public and law enforcement personnel has taught her
a lot about life.
For Terry, getting up for a 3:00 a.m. bail session might be sometimes
stressful, but overall, the job has been very rewarding.