Replacing County Judge Dean Crooks might run into legal questions if one the four current county commissioners wants the position.
A paper of advice from the Texas Association of Counties says that if a seated commissioner wants to be appointed county judge, the commissioner must resign from office. And then, a replacement for the commissioner should be made before the court appoints a new county judge.
The commissioner who resigned may or may not be appointed as judge.
A big question will be whether Crooks as a holdover official will appoint the replacement for a commissioner who resigns.
Local officials and assistant county attorney Denise Gremillion are researching the legalities of replacements after Crooks announced his resignation at a commissioners court meeting last week.
The court is set to accept his written resignation during a meeting Tuesday. Crooks could rescind his letter and still serve his term, which ends on January 1, 2023.
However, if commissioners court accepts the resignation, Crooks will be a “holdover” official.
The 13-page paper of “short answers to common questions” from the Texas Association of Counties describes a “holdover official.” The holdover still keeps the full power and salary of the position until a replacement is appointed.
In one answer, the paper says only the county judge appoints a replacement for a commissioner. Crooks as holdover county judge could be required to appoint a replacement for a commissioner.
Precinct 3 Commissioner John Gothia, who is the judge pro tem, told KOGT’s Gary Stelly on air Monday morning that the court could appoint an interim county judge who could then appoint a replacement if a commissioner resigns to get the job.
He said he is interested in becoming county judge.
Representatives from the Texas Association of Counties attended Wednesday meeting when Crooks made his unexpected announcement to resign. The representatives were making routine visits to new county judges and to announce the association’s help with cyber security.
The representatives ended up meeting in closed-door executive session with commissioners and Gremillion to discuss the legal procedures for replacing a county judge.
Whoever is selected to become county judge will have to run for election during the next countywide election in 2020. Crooks was elected in 2018 and had served only two and a half months of his elected term.
He became county judge in May after incumbent Brint Carlton, who Crooks beat in the Republican primary in March 2018, resigned to take a job in Austin.
County Elections Administrator Tina Barrow said the person who is appointed county judge will run in 2020 for the unexpired term of Crooks, and then will have to run again in 2022 for a full, four-year term.
Gothia said the county has had two judges within 19 months of the flooding of Hurricane Harvey.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
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