§ 30.03 MUNICIPAL COURT.

(1) Neither the City Attorney nor the Judge of the Municipal Court shall have any specified term of office, but each shall serve at the will and pleasure of the City Council.

(2) Either of those officers may be appointed to or relieved from office by a majority vote of the City Council. The City Council shall set compensation for both officers.

(3) The City Attorney must be a member of the State Bar of Texas and shall serve as chief legal advisor to the City Council, the City Manager, supervisors of city departments and other city officers and agencies.

(4) He or she shall represent the city in those legal proceedings required by the City Manager. The Council retains the right to retain an additional attorney as other circumstances require.

(B) Clerk and Deputy Clerk.

(1) The City Secretary shall be ex-officio Clerk of the Municipal Court, and is hereby authorized to appoint a deputy with the same power as the City Secretary, with the advice and consent of the City Council.

(2) The Deputy Clerk shall hold office for the then current term of the City Secretary.

(3) The Clerk and Deputy Clerk shall keep minutes of the proceedings of the court, issue all process and generally perform all the duties of the Clerk of a Court as prescribed by law for a county clerk, insofar as the same may be applicable, and perform all other duties provided by law or ordinance.

(C) Prosecution to be by written complaint. All prosecutions in the municipal court shall be by complaint in writing, duly sworn to by some creditable person before some officer duly authorized by law to administer oaths.

(D) Assessment and collection of special expenses in connection with personal bond. The Judge of the Municipal Court is hereby authorized to assess, levy and collect those special expenses dealing with the requisites of a personal bond and a special expense for the issuance and service of a warrant of arrest, after due notice, in an amount as provided for in division (G) below. The special expenses shall be paid into the city treasury for the use and benefit of the city.

(E) Disposition of fines imposed. All fines collected in criminal cases filed in the Municipal Court shall be paid into the general fund of the city.

(F) Failure to answer summons.

(1) Failure to appear; complaint to be filed. If and in the event a police officer or other authorized officer of the City of Pleasanton, Texas issues a summons for an apparent violation of the laws of the State of Texas, enforcement of which lies within the jurisdiction of the City of Pleasanton or for a violation of a penal ordinance of the City of Pleasanton, Texas, and the person to whom the summons is issued signs the same and promises thereby to make his or her appearance before the Municipal Court of the city at the date and time stated in the summons, and thereafter fails to make his or her appearance at that date and time, the failure to appear shall constitute a further and additional offense. In the event of the failure to appear, the Clerk of the Municipal Court shall cause a complaint to be prepared and filed charging the failure to appear.

(2) Notification of filing of complaint. The Clerk of the Municipal Court shall cause written notice to be mailed to the party who fails to appear, at the address of the defendant as reflected on the original summons signed by the defendant, notifying him or her that a complaint charging him or her with failure to appear has been filed. The notice shall further advise the defendant that the charges as evidenced by the original summons and by the complaint for failure to appear are set for hearing at a date and time certain, which date and time shall be contained within the notice. The notice shall further advise the defendant that if and in the event the defendant fails to appear at the date and time set forth in the notice, that warrants shall issue ordering the arrest of the defendant both on the charge as evidenced by the original summons and on the charge of failure to appear.

(3) Warrants of arrest. Warrants of arrest issued hereunder shall be issued and served in the form and manner provided by the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.

(4) Arrest; confinement; fines or posting of bond. In the event the defendant fails to appear and answer the charges specified at the date and time stated in the notice, the Clerk of the Municipal Court shall cause warrants to be issued directing the arrest of the defendant. The warrants of arrest shall be executed in the form and manner provided by law. After the arrest of the defendant, the defendant shall be confined to jail until a time as the defendant shall pay the fines hereinafter specified or execute his or her appearance bond in the form and manner specified by law. In the event the defendant elects to pay the fines for the offense charged in the initial summons and complaint and for failure to appear, the fine for failure to appear shall be in the sum of $100 and in addition, there shall be charged a fee as provided for in division (G) below for each of the warrants issued.

(5) Voluntary payment of fine after issuance of arrest warrant. In the event a warrant of arrest has been validly prepared, authorized, logged and issued pursuant to this division and the defendant, prior to the service of the warrant upon the defendant, voluntarily comes forward to pay his or her fine, the fine assessed shall be in accordance with the fee schedule for voluntary payment of fines then in force as recommended by the Judge of the Municipal Court; however, the warrant fee shall be collected in addition to the fine.

(6) Disposition of fines and fees. All fines and warrant fees collected pursuant to this division, as well as other penal ordinances, and any other sums collected by the Municipal Court, shall be paid into the city treasury for the use and benefit of the City of Pleasanton.

(7) Notice of next docket of court. In the event the defendant in lieu of paying the fines, posts his or her bond in the form and manner required by law, the Clerk of the Municipal Court shall, prior to the release of the defendant, advise him or her of the next docket of the Municipal Court of the City of Pleasanton. If practicable, the notice shall be in writing signed by the defendant prior to his or her release. In the event the defendant is released prior to receipt of the notice, the Clerk shall furnish notice to the defendant by mail as expeditiously as possible.

(8) Failure to appear at the next docket; forfeiture of bond; new complaint filed; warrants issued and the like. In the event the defendant is released pursuant to his or her bond and fails to make his or her appearance at the next court docket of the Municipal Court of the City of Pleasanton, Texas, the bond or bonds shall be forfeited in the manner provided by law and a new and additional complaint for failure to appear shall be filed. The Clerk of the Municipal Court shall then cause warrants to be issued on the charges as evidenced by the original complaint and on both charges of failure to appear. Upon his or her arrest, the defendant shall be confined in jail and shall not be released except upon his or her payment of a fine of $200 for each of the two failures to appear and the payment of the warrant fees. In the alternative, however, the defendant shall be released upon his or her posting a cash bond in the amount of the fines and warrant fees or by the direction of his or her release by a writ of habeous corpus or other writ issued by a court of competent jurisdiction.

(9) Process server's fee. There shall be paid a fee of $10 to each officer serving, or having made all reasonable attempts to serve, a warrant issued pursuant to this division.

(10) Administrative procedures to be prepared by Chief of Police.

(a) The Chief of Police shall prepare administrative procedures for the preparation and issuance of warrants, a warrant docket the payment of fines, arrests and confinement of defendants, release of defendants on bond, schedules of cases on the docket of Municipal Court and other pertinent administrative regulations pertaining to the enforcement of this division and other penal ordinances of the City of Pleasanton.

(b) The administrative regulations shall be approved by the City Manager and the City Attorney, and shall contain strict controls relative to the service and attempted service of warrants, the collection of fines and warrant fees and the payment of cash bonds so as to ensure financial integrity.

(G) Court fees.

(1) Warrant fees. The city is hereby authorized by and through its duly authorized municipal court pursuant to Tex. Code of Crim. Procedure, Art. 45.203(c), to establish a fee not to exceed $25 for the issuance and service of a warrant of arrest for an offense under Tex. Penal Code, § 38.11, or under § 149, Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Highways (Tex. Trans. Code, Ch. 542) and special expenses described in Tex. Code of Crim. Procedure, Art. 17.04, all for special expenses involved with the issuance and service of a warrant of arrest, after due notice, not to exceed $25, and the same shall be paid into the city treasury for the use and benefit of the city. The fees shall be in addition to any fines previously levied by the court and in addition to any conviction for the offense of failure to appear as prescribed by law.

(2) Deferred adjudication fee upon completion of driving safety course. The Municipal Court is hereby authorized to collect a special expense for services performed in cases in which the laws of this state require that the case be dismissed because of action by or on behalf of the defendant which were subsequent to the date of the alleged offense. Those actions are limited to compliance with the provisions of Subsection (a), § 143A, Uniform Act Regulating Traffic on Highways (Tex. Trans. Code, § 541.201). The special expense shall not exceed the actual expenses incurred for the services or $10, whichever is less.

(H) The failure to appear notices will be mailed non-certified because it is cost effective and will expedite the time to file a warrant for the defendant's arrest. The fine for failure to appear shall increase to the sum of $200.

(1989 Code, Ch. 7, § 3) (Ord. 1268, passed 12-2-2004)

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