2018-098 Court Clerk Reporting Structure finalDate: August 3, 2018 Report No. 2018-098
INFORMAL STAFF REPORT
TO MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
SUBJECT: Denton Municipal Court Clerks Reporting Structure
BACKGROUND: The purpose of this report is to respond to questions asked by Council Member Armintor during the July 24th City Council meeting in regards to the reporting structure of the Denton Municipal Court Clerks.
DISCUSSION:
The Finance Department presented the FY 2018-19 Proposed Budget to City Council on July 24th. During the meeting, Council asked to see what other cities were doing in regards to the reporting structure for Municipal Court Clerks and the possibility of the clerks reporting directly to the Municipal Judge.
Staff benchmarked surrounding cities to collect data on how other respective court clerk offices were structured. Out of the responding cities, the City of Lewisville was the sole local city set up where the clerk’s office reported directly to the Municipal Judge. Other Texas cities that have the court clerks report to the Municipal Judge were metropolitan cities, Houston and Austin.
The results of the benchmark are as follows:
City Court Clerk Office Reports To Department Structured Under
Denton Customer Service Manager Finance
Garland Director of Customer Service Finance
Carrollton Assistant City Manager Finance
Plano Finance Director Finance
Frisco Finance Director Finance
Richardson Finance Director Finance
Farmers Branch Finance Director Finance
Greenville Finance Director Finance
Hurst City Secretary City Manager
Grand Prairie Deputy City Manager City Manager
Arlington Deputy City Manager City Strategic Support
Irving Assistant City Manager City Manager
Coppell Assistant City Manager City Manager
Fort Worth Assistant City Manager City Manager
McKinney Assistant City Manager City Manager
Dallas Assistant City Manager City Manager
Lewisville Municipal Judge/Director of Court Services Mayor/Council
Houston Director/Presiding Judge Mayor/Council
Austin Mayor/Council Mayor/Council
Date: August 3, 2018 Report No. 2018-098
CONCLUSION: The mission of the Denton Municipal Court Clerk’s office is to provide fair and courteous administration of justice. The financial aspect of the clerk’s office is to properly collect and reconcile payments remitted by the Municipal Court. Due to the nature of the financial scope, many cities have in place the hierarchy of reporting to the Finance Department or City Manager’s Office to ensure
appropriate financial compliance and segregation between administration and judicial roles. The City of Denton Municipal Court Clerk’s office works closely with the Municipal Judge whom sets Court procedures, policy, directives, initiatives and fee ranges of the Municipal Court. The role of the Clerk’s Office is to ensure the Municipal Judge’s direction is supported and implemented.
Responding cities echoed similar approaches with the reporting structure and Court policy being at
the direction of the Municipal Judge. Currently, staff has a solid and effective working relationship between the Municipal Judge and the Court Clerk’s office. The structure is balanced and ensures the Municipal Judge is contributing to
decisions that affect the Court Clerk’s office.
STAFF CONTACT: Tiffany Thomson, Customer Service Manager (940)349-7401
Tiffany.Thomson@cityofdenton.com
Robin Ramsay, Municipal Court Judge (940)349-8139 Robin.Ramsay@cityofdenton.com