After nearly four hours in executive session Friday during a specially called meeting of the Kendall County Commissioners Court, the creation of a county court at law was pushed back to 2029.
The legislation creating the new county court was rushed through the state houses last legislative session and created quite a stir in the courthouse and beyond when the bill was changed to allow county commissioners to appoint a judge.
That change came just 20 days after the former County Judge Darrell Lux had announced an election would be held to fill the lead judicial role in the court and after Kendall County First Assistant District Attorney Katherine McDaniel had filed to run for the seat.
“This is going to benefit the whole community by delaying it so we have more time,” newly elected County Judge Shane Stolarczyk said. The court approved unanimously – without the presence of Precinct 1 Commissioner Christina Bergmann – a resolution to postpone the creation of the court until January 2029.
Reading the resolution, Stolarczyk noted the postponement takes into consideration several wavering factors tied to the new court’s creation never successfully addressed by previous former commissioners.
“Whereas the county commissioners court is responsible for judicial economy, the effective administration of justice for the citizens of Kendall County, adequate appropriations for office and court space to provision for a secure and efficient court system, responsibility of efficiently managing county funds, adequate planning for expected growth, be it resolved to amend Section 25.1331 of the Texas Government Code to change the creation of the Kendall County Court at Law to Jan. 1, 2029,” Stolarczyk read.
Original legislation – signed into law during the 2021 legislative session – included an Oct. 1, 2022, creation date for the county court but had an effective date set for Sept. 1 of 2021. According to a May 11 email to Kendall County Elections Administrator Staci Decker from the Texas Secretary of State’s Elections Division staff, county staff and officials were notified those this draft would create a vacancy in the court judge position Sept. 1, meaning an election to fill the judge seat would’ve been required in May 2021.The commissioners would not be able to appoint a judge.
Aligning the October effective and creation dates was done shortly after Decker received the email from the state agency, information showed, but Decker was not sure where the request to change the legislation came from.
Later emails between Chapman and the state agency cite the change and show Chapman understanding the court’s creation having always been in October 2022.
In a response on July 29, 2021, an employee with the agency clarified the effective date of the Kendall County portion of the act had been updated since his first email to general counsel, which changed the effective date to match the Oct. 1, 2022, creation date. This rendered the election requirement void, leaving commissioners with the option to appoint a judge or to conduct a special election to fill the position. If a judge is appointed, there won’t be a judge for the county court at law until 2024.
With the news cohort of commissioners opting to hold off on the court’s creation, Kendall County’s newly-elected District 19 House Rep. Ellen Troxclair, R-Austin, will be tasked with getting an amended bill through this legislative session to set the postponement in stone.
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