Ledbetter: Working With Community Was Best Part Of City Judge Job

Retiring Cookeville City Judge David Ledbetter said that the best part of his career has been the people.

Ledbetter said that it felt like the right time to step away from the role. He’s been serving the city for 42 years.

“Working with the city all those years, I’ve met every council member, every mayor, every department head, every city manager,” Ledbetter said. “And working with them has been a real pleasure and anything I need they were always glad to help and I always tried to be helpful to them and hopefully that’s all worked out.”

Ledbetter said that serving in the position for so long has seen both good and bad times. However, he said that while there have been bad days, overall the experience was pleasant and went smoothly.

Ledbetter said that he began practicing law in 1973, and that he’s appreciated every minute of the work. He said that his biggest piece of advice for someone who might want to follow in his footsteps is to be okay with not pleasing everybody.

“Just try to be fair and give everybody an opportunity to say what they want to say,” Ledbetter said. “And then they can’t be upset if they’ve had an opportunity to try to convey to you what they’re feeling or what their thoughts are about the case. We give them the opportunity and a lot of times you rule against them and they go home unhappy. But every time somebody goes home unhappy, there’s people on the other side that go home happy. So just try to treat everybody fairly and give them an opportunity to say their piece, so to speak, will benefit whoever takes over more than anything.”