Montgomery County commissioners vote 4-1 on 4 new courts

According to the presentation, the Board of Judges’ unanimous request called for:

• Three new district civil courts
• Two new district family courts
• One new district criminal court
• Two new county courts at law with felony jurisdiction
• One new probate court

However, Precinct 1 Commissioner Robert Walker said a decision on the resolution for nine courts was a difficult request without a location set in place.

“If we were to pass this today, y'all put more pressure on us as commissioners to try to figure out where to put these courts ... the burden is money and trying to create something in a faster motion to grab the time frame,” Walker said.

How it works

Bays and Gilbert broke down the numbers from OCA for commissioners. The OCA, headquartered in Austin, collects data and tells the county what it needs for a court to properly function. Once the data is obtained, the judges present it to commissioners to obtain a resolution to create new courts. The OCA then creates a map to outline court needs.

States differ in their processes, but if a judge is handling a workload equivalent to that of 1.15 full-time employees, it’s deemed acceptable, Bays said. However, anything over that number warrants creation of a new court, Bays said.

What they’re saying

Commissioners and judges debated the pros of a plan for new courts. Gray said he had concerns on the timing and location for the new courts. Bays said once a decision was made on the approved number of courts in the resolution, courts would go online Jan. 1, 2029.

Precinct 2 Commissioner Charlie Riley said he doesn’t think commissioners have to agree with the state’s recommendation for nine courts, but he said something needs to be done.

“I think the longer we put this off, the worse it's going to get; it's just like the courthouse and the jail that we've put off and put off and put off. Now, here we are, trying to figure out how we're going to pay for all this,” Riley said.

In explaining why he was against the resolution, Gray said even though county officials want a new courthouse, and to meet the growing demand, he doesn’t want to rush a decision.

“Are we going to try to bring the new courts on before we even have the space to do it? I'm looking forward to having the meeting with the discussions with the architects to make sure we're not in the jam in 10 years or five years from now,” Gray said.

What happens next

After an executive session was held, commissioners decided to create a new resolution outlining how many courts were approved. The new, signed resolution states support for the following four courts in the 90th Texas Legislature:

• One new district court (preference to civil cases)
• One new district court (preference to family cases)
• One new county court at law
• One new probate court