The municipal court shall have jurisdiction within the territorial limits of the city in all criminal cases arising under the ordinances of the city, and shall also have concurrent jurisdiction with the justice of the peace in the precinct in which the city is situated in all criminal cases arising under the criminal laws of this state in which punishment is by fine only, and where the maximum of such fine may not exceed the maximum allowed by law and arising within such territorial limits.
(1965 Code, sec. 7-1)
(a) 
The judge of the municipal court authorized in Article V, section 11 of the city charter shall be designated the presiding judge of the municipal court. In addition to presiding over municipal court sessions, the presiding judge of the municipal court shall have the following additional duties:
(1) 
Coordinate the scheduling of court sessions with the deputy municipal court clerk and the police department;
(2) 
Coordinate attendance at court sessions by the municipal court judges;
(3) 
Prepare a schedule of fines for mail-ins and drop-ins;
(4) 
Establish municipal court administrative policies;
(5) 
Act as liaison for the municipal court with the mayor, city council, prosecutors, police department, city secretary and deputy municipal court clerk.
(b) 
The presiding judge of the municipal court shall receive the compensation determined from time to time by the city council for the duties hereinabove stipulated.
(1965 Code, sec. 7-4)
Upon all trials, if the accused or person charged shall demand a trial by jury, proper writ shall issue to the chief of police to summon a jury, conforming in all things, as well with respect to the qualifications of the persons selected to act as jurors as the summoning and impaneling, and the compensation of such jurors, to the statutes of the state regulating juries in the courts of justices of the peace.
(1965 Code, sec. 7-8)
Oaths of witnesses to testify before the court may be administered by the judge of the court, the clerk of the court, the deputy clerk of the court, the city secretary, the deputy city secretary, the city attorney, or the assistant city attorney.
(1965 Code, sec. 7-10)
The judgment in the case of a conviction in a criminal case before the judge shall be that the city recover of the defendant the fine and fees and that the defendant remain in custody until fine and fees are paid or other order of the court is followed.
(1965 Code, sec. 7-11)
In each case of conviction before the judge from which no appeal is taken, a capias shall be issued for the collection of the fine and costs, which shall be enforced and returned in the manner prescribed by law in civil actions before justices of the peace of this state.
(1965 Code, sec. 7-14)
The municipal court shall assess and collect the maximum administrative fees authorized by state law for traffic related offenses.
(1965 Code, sec. 7-18)
(a) 
The clerk of the municipal court shall keep a record of all violations of traffic ordinances of the city and of the state vehicle laws of which any person has been charged, together with a record of the final disposition of all such alleged offenses. Such record shall be so maintained as to show all types of violations and the total of each. Such record shall accumulate during at least a five-year period and, from that time on, the record shall be maintained complete for at least the most recent five-year period.
(b) 
All forms for records of traffic violations and notices of violations shall be serially numbered. For each month and year a written record shall be kept available to the public showing the disposal of all such forms.
(c) 
All such records shall be public records.
(1965 Code, sec. 20-23)
Any person who willfully violates his promise to appear in the municipal court at the time and place promised by him in a duplicate written notice to appear signed by him after arrest for a violation of any state or municipal law or ordinance punishable by a fine in the municipal court of the city is guilty of a misdemeanor regardless of the disposition of the charge upon which he was originally arrested. A written promise to appear in court may be complied with by an appearance by counsel.
(1965 Code, sec. 20-25)
A municipal court technology fund is hereby created as authorized by Article 102.0172 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. The municipal court clerk shall collect a technology fee of four dollars ($4.00) as a cost of court from each defendant convicted of a misdemeanor offense in the Municipal Court of the City of Alamo Heights. The technology fee shall be added to each offense for which a defendant is convicted. A defendant shall be considered convicted of a misdemeanor offense under any of the circumstances listed in Article 102.0172. The municipal court technology fund shall be expended by the city administrator for any of the purposes authorized in Article 102.0172. The technology fee shall be collected for all convictions occurring in the Municipal Court of the City of Alamo Heights after January 31, 2000.
Editor's note—Ordinance 1450, adopted Jan. 10, 2000, did not specifically amend the Code; hence, inclusion herein as § 11-10 was at the discretion of the editor.
(Ordinance 1450 adopted 1/10/2000)