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DIVISION 4 - MUNICIPAL COURT
There is hereby created a Municipal Court for the City of Cleburne which shall possess jurisdiction authorized by laws of the State of Texas relative to Municipal Courts. There shall be a clerk for the Municipal Court who shall be appointed to this position as provided by law.
(Adopted by electorate, May 11, 2013)
(A) There shall be one or more magistrates of the Municipal Court known as the Municipal Court Judge, who shall be a competent and licensed attorney practicing law in the State of Texas, and shall be appointed by the City Council to serve for a term of two (2) years, or until his successor in office shall have been appointed and qualified. The judge may be removed by the City Council at any time for incompetency, misconduct, malfeasance, or disability, after notice and an opportunity to be heard before the Council. A judge shall receive such salary as fixed in the budget by the Council. In the event of removal of a Municipal Court Judge by action of the City Council, the City Council may appoint a duly qualified attorney practicing law in the State of Texas, and otherwise qualified under the laws of the State of Texas, to fill the vacancy caused by such removal.
(B) The judge shall have power to punish for contempt to the same extent and under the same circumstances as the State court with concurrent jurisdiction and may punish for contempt in all criminal cases. In the event the judge of the Municipal Court should, for any reason, be disqualified, or deemed himself to be disqualified, to sit as judge in any cause pending before the court, then the judge shall notify the Mayor in writing of the disqualification. The Mayor shall appoint a duly licensed attorney to sit as special judge in such cause. The special judge shall take any oath as may be required by law and shall perform all duties of the Municipal Judge with regard to that matter. The term of the Municipal Judge shall run concurrently with that of the Mayor, and any appointment to fill the position of Municipal Judge when a vacancy occurs shall only be for the remainder of that unexpired term. A special judge shall receive such compensation as may be fixed by the City Council.
(Adopted by electorate, May 11, 2013)
DIVISION 5 - CITY ATTORNEY
(A) The City Council shall appoint a competent and duly licensed attorney licensed to practice law in the State of Texas for at least five (5) years who shall be its City Attorney. The City Attorney shall receive such compensation as may be fixed by the Council and shall hold office at the will of the City Council and until a successor is appointed.
(B) The City Attorney may represent the City in all litigation and shall be the legal advisor of and attorney and counsel for the City and all officers and departments thereof in matters relating to their official powers and duties. It shall be the duty of the City Attorney to perform all services incident to his position as may be required by statute, by this Charter, or by ordinance.
(C) The City Attorney shall have power to appoint an assistant if deemed necessary by him, subject to the approval of the City Council, at such compensation as may be fixed by the Council; and more than one assistant if deemed necessary by the Council, such assistant or assistants to hold office at the will of the City Attorney, so long as he remains City Attorney.
(Adopted by electorate, May 11, 2013)
DIVISION 6 - GENERAL ADMINISTRATION
All records and accounts of every office, department or every office, department, or agency of the City shall be open to inspection, in accordance with the Public Information Act, under reasonable regulations established by the City Manager, in accordance with State law.
(Adopted by electorate, May 11, 2013)
Every officer, including elected officers, the City Manager, City Secretary, Municipal Judge, City Attorney, members of the Planning and Zoning Commission and Board of Adjustment of the City shall, before entering upon the duties of his office, take and subscribe to the oath or affirmation required by the Constitution of the State of Texas.
(Adopted by electorate, May 11, 2013)
The electors (which in this Article shall mean the registered voters residing in the City of Cleburne) shall have power to propose any ordinance except an ordinance appropriating money or authorizing the levy of taxes, and to adopt or reject the same at the polls, such power being known as the initiative. Any initiative ordinance may be submitted to the Council by a petition signed by qualified electors of the City equal in number to at least twenty-five per centum of the number of votes cast at the last regular municipal election.
(Adopted by electorate, May 11, 2013)
The electors shall have power to approve or reject at the polls any ordinance passed by the Council, or submitted by the Council to a vote of the electors, such power being known as the referendum. Ordinances submitted to the Council by initiative petition and passed by the Council without change shall be subject to the referendum in the same manner as other ordinances. Within twenty days after the enactment by the Council of any ordinance which is subject to a referendum, a petition signed by qualified electors of the City equal in number to at least twenty-five per centum of the number of votes cast at the last preceding regular municipal election may be filed with the City Secretary requesting that any such ordinance be either repealed or submitted to a vote of the electors.
(Adopted by electorate, May 11, 2013)
Initiative petition papers shall contain the full text of the proposed ordinance. The signatures to initiative or referendum petitions need not all be appended to one paper, but to each separate petition there shall be attached a statement of the circulator thereof as provided by this section. Each signer of any petition paper shall sign his name in ink or indelible pencil and shall indicate after his name his place of residence by street and number, or other description sufficient to identify the place. There shall appear on each petition the names and addresses of five electors, who, as a committee of the petitioners, shall be regarded as responsible for the circulation and filing of the petition. Attached to each separate petition paper there shall be an affidavit of the circulator thereof that he, and he only, personally circulated the foregoing paper, that it bears a stated number of signatures, that all signatures appended thereto were made in his presence, and that he believes them to be the genuine signatures of the persons whose names they purport to be.
(Adopted by electorate, May 11, 2013)
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