10.B.
City Council Meeting - FINAL
- Meeting Date:
- 04/02/2013
- Submitted For:
- Don Jacobson, Court Administrator
- From:
- Jessica Cortes, Deputy Court Administrator
Information
TITLE:
Consideration of Appointments: On-Call Judges for the Flagstaff Municipal Court.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Approve the appointment as recommended by Hon. Thomas L. Chotena, Presiding Magistrate of the Flagstaff Municipal Court.
Policy Decision or Reason for Action:
- Appointment of all magistrates is required to be completed by Flagstaff City Council under both the City Charter and FCC SECTION 1-15-001-0002(C)(1).
- Appointment of On-Call judges allows for ongoing coverage of cases that other judges have a conflict of interest in as well as to cover initial appearances as required by law within 24 hours following arrest (including weekends and holidays), provides for coverage for absences of other judges due to illness or planned absences and allows for additional operations to be performed as the court calendar allows.
Financial Impact:
- None outside of budgeted amounts.
Connection to Council Goal:
Effective governance - Improving public safety by providing coordinated coverage for the Municipal Court with other courts within the county and provides for continuous coverage for all case types and filings.
Has There Been Previous Council Decision on This:
- On-Call judges are critical to cover absences of judges due to illness, vacation or conflict of interest.
- For numerous years we have been coordinating our initial appearance calendar with other courts in the areas to reduce duplication of effort and costs associated with jail time and transportation of prisoners. Recently we have added the coordination of after-hour search warrants as well, this provides law enforcement a single contact point to get search warrant approval when no court is open to provide it. Our On-Call judges have been a key to be able to provide these services.
- When an individual is arrested they can only be held for up to 24 hours before they must appear before a magistrate who will determine if there is probable cause for the arrest and set release conditions. Should they not appear in this time they must be immediately released. Having On-Call judges perform our weekend and holiday initial appearances guarantees that those accused of a crime will have an appearance before a magistrate and have release conditions set in accordance to the violation charged.
Options and Alternatives:
- Approve the appointment as recommended by the Presiding Judge.
- Don’t approve appointment as recommended by the Presiding Judge and request additional candidates for Council consideration.
- Don’t approve the appointment for an On-Call judge.
Community Involvement:
Inform
Council Action:
04/02/2013 - EAB - Council approved unanimously.