Department of Administrative Services
Reference: Appointment of Deputy On-call Judges
To: Mayor Gregory Mills and Members of City Council
Through: Michael Martinez, City Manager
Prepared By: Karen Borkowski Surine, Assistant City Manager
Michelle Ramos, Court Administrator
Date Prepared: 3/11/2020
PURPOSE
To request that City Council appoint Deputy "Fill-in" judges for the Brighton Municipal Court on an on-call basis.
STRATEGIC FOCUS AREA
Safe, Active and Engaged Community
Strong Regional Relationships and Partnerships
BACKGROUND
Section 8.2 of the City Charter requires that Council appoint a presiding judge and such deputy judges as the Council deems necessary. Judge Kline has compiled a comprehensive "bench book" as a reference for on-call judges that includes information on how fines are assessed on traffic tickets, basic court procedures and how to use the Court software for court sessions.
On September 21, 2021, City Council appointed Michelle Kline as the Presiding Municipal Judge for a minimum of 100 days per year. Council made the decision to increase the Presiding Municipal Judges hours in order to better serve the needs of the community and for consistency on the bench. This has worked very well for the efficient operations of the Court, however, there are times when a Deputy Judge would be necessary. The following are three incidents where an on-call judge would be utilized:
1. If a defendant requests the setting of a Jury Trial the matter is set on a non-court date in consideration of the court schedule, the City Prosecutor, the defendant or their attorney and the judge. The number of participants involved sometimes requires a setting on a date when Judge Kline would not be available. The court would then contact one of the "fill-in" judges to find coverage for the case to ensure the defendant's right to a trial are kept.
2. There are also those occasions when Judge Kline may have a family emergen...
Click here for full text