Tarrant County considers plan to reorganize administration of criminal courts
Tarrant County commissioners will consider a proposal Tuesday to reorganize the administration of the criminal courts.
If the plan passes, the position of criminal courts administrator would be eliminated and replaced by a director of courts administration.
Criminal court administrator Gregory Shugart has held the position for 12 years and reports to the judges. The new position would report to county administrator Chandler Meritt.
The county predicts the reorganization would save $173,805.
The Tarrant County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association said in a statement that the “reorganization plan took place in secret” and the county received little to no input from criminal justice constituents.
“By not inviting those directly impacted by this dramatic change in how the Courts in Tarrant County will operate leaves many to wonder why the rush?” the statement read. “Moving control of the judicial branch to a singular department within the executive branch is not in keeping with the spirit of how our country and state were founded.”
Democratic county commissioner Alisa Simmons said she wanted more time to study best practices and to hear from the judges, magistrates and staffers who she said were not consulted before the proposal was placed on the agenda.
“A restructuring of the entire court support apparatus within this context makes no sense,” she said in response to emailed questions.
She voiced frustration at the haste and the lack of input, calling the process a lack of professionalism by the county administration.
“It is my understanding on this particular item, however, that multiple members of our court were likely not consulted until extremely late in the process,” she said. “That leads me to believe that the entire proposal was developed by county administration at the urging of only one or possibly two members of the court. This is, in my view, totally inappropriate.”
Simmons said she will vote against the proposal.
Republican commissioner Manny Ramirez’s chief of staff told the Star-Telegram that Ramirez would field questions on Tuesday.
Democrat Roy Brooks, Republican Gary Fickes and Republican County Judge Tim O’Hare did not respond to requests for comment.
