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Court considers ordinance naming chief deputies as successors for constitutional officers
Summary
The court reviewed a draft ordinance to designate chief deputies of constitutional officers as the named successors in succession slots; discussion centered on whether to list positions rather than individual names and how many positions to include.
Speaker 3 presented a draft ordinance (referencing a prior 2019 ordinance) to place chief deputies for each constitutional officer into the county's statutory succession slots. The draft would repeal the previous ordinance and replace named individuals with positions (chief deputy) so succession rolls “roll forward” when personnel change.
Why it matters: The ordinance affects who can temporarily assume the county judge/executive duties and other constitutional offices when an officeholder is absent or disabled. Commissioners debated whether to list positions (recommended by staff) or specific names, and whether to include additional administrative positions such as jailer or manager.
Discussion highlighted that the draft currently lists seven succession positions for the judge/executive slot and that staff prefer position-based language to avoid repeated ordinance updates as personnel change. Speaker 5 recommended leaving positions (not names) in the ordinance; Speaker 4 identified a paragraph clarifying succession by position and noted it already lists seven slots. Speaker 3 said the changes will be incorporated into a final document for board approval.
The court did not record a final vote on this ordinance in the transcript; staff said they would prepare the revised document for signature and bring the ordinance back for formal action.
