Opinion ID: 2390024
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: removal procedures

Text: The Texas Local Government Code governs a mayor's removal from office in a general-law municipality. See TEX. LOC. GOV'T CODE § 21.002. A mayor may be removed from office for official misconduct, intentional violation of a municipal ordinance, habitual drunkenness, incompetency, or a cause prescribed by a municipal ordinance. See TEX. LOC. GOV'T CODE § 21.002(c). When a complaint is made against the mayor, the complaint must be presented to an alderman of the municipality. See TEX. LOC. GOV'T CODE § 21.002(f). The alderman shall then file the complaint, serve the mayor with a copy, set a date for trial of the case, and notify the mayor and the other aldermen to appear on that day. See TEX. LOC. GOV'T CODE § 21.002(f). A majority of the municipality's aldermen constitutes a court in the mayor's removal trial with one of the aldermen presiding over the trial. See TEX. LOC. GOV'T CODE § 21.002(f). If two-thirds of the members of the court who are present at the trial find the mayor guilty of the complaint's charges and find that the charges are sufficient cause for removal from office, the court's presiding officer shall enter a judgment removing the charged officer and declaring the office vacant. See TEX. LOC. GOV'T CODE § 21.002(h). Section 21.002 removal proceedings are subject to the procedural rules governing the justice courts and to procedural rules governing district and county courts, to the extent these govern justice courts. See TEX. LOC. GOV'T CODE § 21.002(h); TEX.R. CIV. P. 523 (All rules governing the district and county courts shall also govern the justice courts, insofar as they can.) In addition, the Texas Rules of Civil Evidence apply to section 21.002 trials. See TEX.R. CIV. EVID. 101(b) ([E]xcept as otherwise provided by statute, these rules govern civil proceedings in all Texas courts other than small-claims courts.).