City Manager's Office
Reference: Presiding Municipal Judge Appointment
To: Mayor Gregory Mills and Members of City Council
Through: Michael P. Martinez, City Manager
Prepared By: Karen Borkowski Surine, Assistant City Manager
Date Prepared: March 20, 2024
PURPOSE
To adopt a Resolution to appoint Johnny Barajas Presiding Municipal Judge for the City of Brighton Municipal Court.
BACKGROUND
Presiding Municipal Judge Michelle Kline tendered her resignation on 12/15/2023. Judge Kline served in this position for just over 2 years. City Councilmembers were informed of the resignation and a search was started through Human Resources. City Councilmembers Pawlowski and Taddeo, along with City Attorney Alicia Calder?n, Court Administrator Michelle Ramos, Assistant City Clerk Erin Kelm and I performed the initial review and screening of the applicants. 10 applications were received by the deadline and 5 were selected for preliminary interviews. Three applicants ultimately were able to be interviewed. The interview team recommended that Deputy Judge Johnny Barajas be interviewed by City Council for the Presiding Municipal Judge position. City Council met in Executive Session on 3/19/2023 to interview Judge Johnny Barajas and discuss the process for selecting Deputy Judges.
Currently the Hearing Officer position is open. Judge Johnny Barajas indicated that he was willing to fill this role. This Hearing Officer will now be the Liquor Authority, the Marijuana Authority, and Hearing Officer for other administrative hearings under the Municipal Code. City Council Directed staff to include Hearing Officer duties in the contract appointing the Presiding Municipal Judge.
CRITERIA BY WHICH COUNCIL MUST CONSIDER THE ITEM
Judges must be an attorney at law in good standing with the Colorado Bar Association. Judge Barajas is in good standing.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Judge Kline's salary was $95,000/year and was set in 2021. Judge Barajas is requesting $110,000. The pr...
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