By Oct. 1, the City of Colleyville expects to be sharing the Colleyville Justice Center with the City of Keller for combined municipal court operations.

The councils of both cities approved an interlocal agreement to merge their municipal court services as a move to reduce costs and improve efficiency this month.

The Colleyville City Council on Tuesday night voted to appoint Mayor David Kelly and councilmembers Michael Muhm and Stan Hall to serve on a six-member selection committee that will interview candidates for a joint municipal judge appointment by June 8.

When Keller approved the agreement on April 3, the council appointed Mayor Pat McGrail and members Gary Reaves and Doug Miller to serve on the selection committee, said Terry Leake, Colleyville's assistant city manager and chief financial officer. The goal is to appoint the municipal judge at the council's respective meetings on June 19.

The next step would be hiring five full-time positions: a court administrator, a deputy court administrator, a senior court clerk and two administrative court clerks. Colleyville currently has three non-judicial positions, while Keller has four, Leake said. Employees from both cities will have the first chance to apply for the positions, Leake said.

"What we are hoping to do is to complete interviews with all interested current employees of the Colleyville and Keller municipal court staffs by June 29," she said. "If all positions are not filled by current staff members in both cities, then we would complete interviews of external candidates by August the 10th."

Colleyville staffers plan to make presentations to the City Council on a contract to acquire new court software on May 15, and an ordinance to adopt a juvenile case manager fee is expected to go before council June 5 and 19.

By combining operations, Colleyville estimates a savings of $52,819 annually, while Keller estimates a savings of $146,875 annually.

The cities plan to share the $419,805 cost of combining court operations, and in addition to an administrative fee, Keller will pay an annual building maintenance fee of $5,000 to Colleyville.

The contract to combine municipal court services will last until 2018 and includes an option for renewal.