The gist
The city now has two courts: the Municipal Court of Record No. 1 and Municipal Court of Record No. 2, after City Council amended an ordinance in August, which went into effect at the beginning of September.
Hutto’s Municipal Court of Record No. 1 will preside over criminal matters. The Municipal Court of Record No. 2 will preside over civil matters, according to a news release, such as:
- Zoning violations
- Subdivision regulations
- Civil penalties under its general authority for conduct classified by statute as a Class C misdemeanor
- Proceedings relating to the interior configuration, design, illumination, or visibility of certain sexually-oriented businesses
- Proceedings relating to point source effluent regulations
- Proceedings relating to floodplain control
Quote of note
City Council Place 2 member Dan Thornton said the new court will be a benefit to citizens.
“We continued to see contractors damaging people’s yards and utility easements; and developers who are notified of gaping potholes in their commercial developments and don’t fix them, and people are damaging their cars driving through them... I think this court will be able to serve the public and make it easier for them to get justice for those issues," he said.
What else?
Palumbo said should a party in a civil matter file an appeal to a ruling, the court will have to find another judge to preside over the appeal hearing.
Wilson said he does not anticipate many appeal hearings.
"Usually when you have those administrative hearings, it’s more of a civil process or procedure, so the appeals are less likely, but we’ll have somebody in place that’s approved by council in case we have to go that road," he said.
