26-2709: Ordinance - An Ordinance of the City of Mansfield, Texas, Ratifying February 24, 1997, as the Date of the City’s First Appointment of its Municipal Court Judges for the Mansfield Court of Record; Repealing and Replacing Ordinance No. OR-2261-22; Clarifying and Restating the Term for Judges of the Mansfield Municipal Court of Record; Authorizing the City Manager, or his Designee, as Direct

Staff Report & Agenda Item Details

Under Texas Government Code Section 30.00006(b), municipal court judges must be appointed by ordinance. The City of Mansfield established the Mansfield Municipal Court of Record by adopting Ordinance No. 1086 on July 24, 1995, establishing the court’s initial judicial framework. However, no judges were appointed at that time. Over the next 25 years, municipal court appointments were memorialized through other Council actions, including Gerald Pruitt (Feb. 24, 1997: Resolution No. 1058), Bill Lane (Sept. 25, 2000: Resolution No. 1481), Erin Bakker (Mar. 10, 2008 – Minute Order), and Cass Callaway’s part-time selection in June 2020 (Minute Order). In addition, current Associate Judges Wilson and Bauman were also appointed by Resolution. The City’s first and only judicial appointment by ordinance was in 2022. Cass Callaway was appointed as Presiding Judge under Ordinance No. OR-2261-22 for a two-year term running from July 1, 2022, to July 1, 2024 (the “2022 Ordinance”). Following the expiration of that term, and consistent with Texas Government Code Section 29.005 governing term continuances, the City Council approved Resolution No. RE-4206-24 on June 10, 2024. This action, alongside an executed Professional Services Agreement, memorialized Callaway’s appointment for an additional two-year term set from July 1, 2024, through July 1, 2026. To ensure full compliance with Texas Government Code Section 30.00006(b)’s ordinance requirement for the appointment of municipal court judges and eliminate any alleged ambiguities surrounding judicial term calculations, the City recommends that terms for the Mansfield Municipal Court Judges be calculated on continuous two-year cycles anchored to the baseline date of February 24, 1997, rather than calculating the terms strictly from the 2022 Ordinance. To align previous City resolutions and minute orders related to past appointments with Texas Government Code 30.0006(b), the City is proposing to repeal and replace the 2022 Ordinance.

This motion is scored as RESTRAINS_GOVERNMENT (Impact Weight: 6.9/10). Under the Bastiat Liberty Watchdog Index, voting YES on measures that cap or reduce ad valorem tax burdens, expand taxpayer exemptions, retire debt early, enforce competitive bidding caps, or remove regulatory/zoning barriers to private property rights earns a positive Pro-Liberty score.