by Lynn McNicol

    BAKERSFIELD - As one of Bakersfield’s seven justices of the peace, Mary Schwartz has performed two civil unions and no marriages to date, and so far has heard no tax grievances.
      “It’s a thrill to do civil unions,” said Schwartz, who is serving the second year of her first term as JP.
      It’s a low-key job, “not a real job,” she says. The other part of her job as JP will someday include hearing tax grievances. But since tax appraisals were completed prior to her first run for office, and may not occur again for another year or two, she has not yet been part of the grievance process. So for the time being, “doings are minimal” for the volunteer public servant.
      Schwartz, a Democrat, is running for a second two-year term, which will take effect in February 2007. If she is re-elected, she may get to hear some of those tax grievances that some JPs avoid by not running for office again, she said with a laugh.
      Justices of the peace also help count paper ballots at town meetings, and as notaries, may also register voters, Schwartz said. The number of JPs is based on a town’s population, and may change as the number of residents goes up or down.
      Justices of the peace, along with the town board, are members of the town’s Board of Civil Authority, which hears tax grievances during a reappraisal of property. Vermont’s Secretary of State provides workshops periodically to train the JPs in their work.
      While JPs don’t receive salaries for the duties they perform, they may receive pay for holding civil unions, marriages and as notaries. Schwartz said she has not accepted pay for the services she has provided.
     Serving as a justice of the peace may be a “low-demand civic job,” but Schwartz strongly encourages anyone interested in public service to run for JP in his or her area.
       “It’s certainly a way to get involved in town politics,” she said.
      Schwartz lives in Bakersfield with her partner Euan Bear, former editor of OITM. The couple was joined in a civil union in 2000.