Commissioners postpone vote on Court Judge Pro Tem

ELLIS COUNTY – An item on the Ellis County Commissioners Court regular meeting agenda last week was tabled until next week’s meeting because Ellis County Judge Todd Little and the three commissioners in attendance decided to wait for Kyle Butler, pct. 4, to be in attendance to vote.

The item in question was to vote for this terms Judge Pro Tem.

Currently, Lane Grayson, pct. 2, sits in the seat of Judge Pro Tem, and he has for the past two terms/four years.

Little considered it might be a good idea to rotate the Pro Tem appointment each term.

But Grayson said he wanted to keep his seat and was not interested in one of the other commissioners having the opportunity.

Randy Stinson, pct. 1,  said he would vote for Grayson again as he did not want the opportunity, and with Paul Perry, pct. 3, also being up for the Pro Tem role.

It would have resulted in a tie depending on how Little voted.

The decision to wait for Butler to return next week made the most sense in order to alleviate a possible tie, and allowing Little to vote as the fifth vote if needed.

Little did reiterate his idea to the commissioners and said he believed it was a good idea to rotate the seat.

He said he was not sure if that meant the oldest commissioner on the court take the role and then have the seat rotate each term, or have the longest sitting commissioner take the seat and have it rotate each term by order of seniority.

Little pointed out there is rarely a need for the Judge Pro Tem since he has only been absent twice during his term.

He was however adamant he believed the seat should rotate in order for every commissioner to have the opportunity to take the role of Judge Pro Tem.