ALLEGAN, MI (WKZO-AM/FM) – A seat on the Allegan County judicial bench will be open shortly.
This past Friday, May 5, 2023, 48th Circuit Court Chief Justice Robert Kengis announced that he will step down June 30, 2023 after five years on the bench.
A long-time assistant county prosecutor, he won election in 2016 to replace the retiring Fred Anderson as Prosecuting Attorney. Two years later, when Kevin Cronin stepped down from the Circuit Court Bench, Kengis was appointed by Governor Rick Snyder to fill the vacancy, won his own term in 2020, and took over overseeing the court from current justice Margaret Baaker last year.
Kengis has been involved in Allegan County justice for 31 years, and besides his judicial duties, he serves on the Allegan Ascension Borgess Hospital Foundation board. Governor Whitmer will select a replacement for Kengis by June 30th, and that person will have to seek election on the November 5, 2024 ballot to remain in that seat.
Also on that ballot, voters will be asked to fill the Circuit Court opening created by a new seat that was part of a law signed by the Governor late last year, as well as filling the vacancy that will be created by Probate Judge Mike Buck, who is age-limited out of that chair.
