Appointment of all magistrates is required to be completed by Flagstaff City Council under both the City Charter and Flagstaff City Code. 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.

All funding for on-call judges is included in the approved court budget.

Improving public safety by providing coordinated coverage for the Municipal Court with other courts within the county and providing for continuous coverage for all case types and files.

Yes, the City Council has interviewed the applicants at previous Executive Sessions.

1) Approve the appointments as recommended by the Presiding Judge
2) Don't approve the appointment as recommended by the Presiding Judge and request additional candidates for Council consideration
3) Don't approve the appointment for on-call judges
 

 

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 allows us to guarantee that those accused of a crime will have an appearance before a magistrate and have release conditions set in accordance to the violation charged.

On-call judges are critical to cover absences of judges due to illness, vacation or conflict of interest.

These appointments are critical to the ongoing operations of the court. We use on-call magistrates for almost half of all of the court hearings and events that take place at the Flagstaff Municipal Court. Below are the individuals who were recently interviewed, to be considered for appointment/reappointment:

Approving this appointment allows the court to not only maintain operational integrity in managing its caseload, but also supports the application of justice in our community.