HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - Read Before Packet - 7/25/2017 - Work Session Item #1-City Charter And Municipal Court Jurisdiction Powerpoint Presentation7/25/2017
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7-25-17
CHARTER AMENDMENT: MUNICIPAL COURT JURISDICTION
HOME RULE POWERS
• Article XX, § 6.c. of the Colo. Const. grants home rule municipalities
power to create municipal courts and to define and regulate their
“jurisdiction, powers and duties”
• In Town of Frisco v. Baum (2004), Colo. Supr. Ct. confirmed that, if
granted by charter or ordinance, home rule municipal courts have
jurisdiction to consider not just violations of a municipality’s charter
and ordinances, but also other matters of local concern arising under
its charter or ordinances, such as appeals of land use decisions
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CURRENT CHARTER
• City Charter Article VII, § 1 vests Municipal Court with
“original jurisdiction of all causes arising under the City’s
Charter and ordinances,” so not just violations of Charter
and ordinances.
• The kind of civil actions not involving Charter or
ordinance violations that can now be filed in Municipal
Court are also the kind of civil actions routinely filed in
District Court (i.e., challenges to land use decisions).
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RECENT CIVIL ACTION FILED IN MUNICPAL COURT
• Until a recent challenge to a Council land use decision was filed in
Municipal Court, such civil actions have always been filed in District
Court.
• The experience of this lawsuit has shown that the Municipal Court is
not well-suited to hearing these kinds of civil actions.
• Also, since these civil actions filed and decided in Municipal Court
must first be appealed to and heard in District Court before being
appealed to Colorado’s appellate courts, hearing these civil actions
first in Municipal Court just adds a layer of unnecessary judicial
review.
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PROPOSED CHARTER AMENDMENT
• The amendment proposed will restrict the Municipal Court’s
jurisdiction to just hearing and deciding the prosecution of violations
of the City Charter and ordinances.
• Charter Article VII, § 1 would be amended to read, in part:
There shall be a Municipal Court vested with original jurisdiction of
all causes arising under the City's Charter and ordinances. There
shall be a Municipal Court, which shall be a qualified municipal court
of record as provided by law, to hear and try all alleged violations of
the Charter and ordinances of the City and shall have such other
jurisdiction as may be conferred by law.
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RECOMMENDED NEXT STEPS
In order to reduce the potential for unnecessary delays due to multiple
levels of quasi-judicial and judicial review of City matters, the City
Attorney, City Manager and Municipal Judge are recommending that
Council consider at its August 8 Special Meeting an ordinance setting a
Charter amendment ballot question for the November 7, 2017, Special
Municipal Election.
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QUESTIONS?
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