Commissioners Court Splits Over Judge Pro Tem Appointment

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The Fayette County Commissioners Court voted 3-2 to appoint Pct. 2 Commissioner Luke Sternadel as the new County Judge Pro Tem. Sternadel replaces Pct. 1 Commissioner Jason McBroom, who has held the post since 2021.

The County Judge Pro Tem acts as the County Judge whenever he is unavailable. The Commissioners Court votes every year to appoint someone to the position. It has traditionally gone to the longest-serving commissioner. That distinction currently belongs to McBroom. Before McBroom, former Pct. 4 Commissioner Tom Muras held the post.

Mueller broke with that tradition when he nominated Sternadel at the Commissioners Court meeting on Monday, Dec. 23.

“Commissioner Sternadel has been with the County for many, many years,” Mueller said when the item came up at Monday’s meeting..

Mueller moved to appoint Sternadel as County Judge Pro Tem. Pct. 4 Commissioner Drew Brossmann seconded the motion. Mueller called for a vote without any discussion. McBroom and Berckenhoff voted against the appointment. Brossmann voted for the appointment. The Record did not hear Mueller or Sternadel voice their votes. But then Mueller immediately stated that he and Sternadel both voted for the appointment.

“Mueller, Sternadel and Brossmann for, and McBroom and Berckenhoff against,” the judge said after the vote.

There were some questions after the meeting about who voted for what. But no one argued the point in the meeting when the judge stated that he and Sternadel were in favor.

“Commissioner Sternadel has been with the County a long while,” Mueller said in an interview with the Record after the meeting. “He’s nearing his retirement, and I just wanted to make him the County Judge Pro Tem. He’s done a great job with his service to the county over the years.”

The split vote reflects a rift that has developed on the Court between Judge Mueller, Brossmann and Sternadel on one side and Berckenhoff and McBroom on the other. Tensions were especially high last year when McBroom and Berckenhoff voted against the 2024 County Budget over opposition to certain pay raises for the Sheriff’s Office and EMS.

In an interview after last Monday’s meeting, McBroom said Mueller called him into his office moments before the meeting.

“I went into his office for the first time in two years,” McBroom said. “He told me Luke was going to retire and he wanted him to be the county judge pro tem. I said, ‘I think it’s because you don’t like me.’ He didn’t say anything.”

McBroom went on to criticize Mueller’s administration of the County.

“We don’t talk about anything in the meetings,” McBroom said. “All the issues are decided behind closed doors. Nothing happens in front of the people. It’s not transparent.

“They had it figured out beforehand,” McBroom said, referring to the vote on Monday. “I’m sure it happens every day.”

Berckenhoff also expressed his displeasure with the vote in an interview after the meeting.

“I don’t think it’s a given that whoever has been there the longest gets appointed,” Berckenhoff said. “But Jason has the most seniority. Then I do. Then Luke. ... The deal is, the Judge came in there and had it on his mind what he wanted to do. Before we had any discussion, he made the motion and Drew seconded it. We didn’t have a discussion, and he put it up for a vote. That’s not the way the meetings should be run. We should have some discussion. I was totally caught off guard.

“This court has become a kangaroo court run by our county judge, and I’m really sick of that,” Berckenhoff added.

Mueller addressed the complaints from McBroom and Berckenhoff in an interview with the Record Monday afternoon.

“I think the county judge pro tem should be someone who has open communications with the county judge’s office,” Mueller said. “I don’t have that in those two individuals.

“The County Judge has the discretion to nominate any one of the four commissioners for the position of county judge pro tem,” Mueller said. “Any suggestion that there is anything nefarious about this is absurd. This is sour grapes coming from commissioners who wish they would have been named to the position. Longevity on the court is sometimes the criteria, but not the sole criteria. I am confident in the selection made by the court.”

Mueller also addressed their complaints about decisions being made “behind closed doors.”

“They have said this before,” Mueller said. “Anything like that is just untrue. In the open meetings act, the county judge is limited on conversations that can be had. I abide by the open meetings act. In the past, they called them secret meetings or whatever. There is no validity to the claims and it’s just sour grapes.”

After the meeting, some have questioned whether the appointment conflicts with rules of procedure that the Commissioners Court approved in 2019 under former County Judge Joe Weber. At that time, the Commissioners Court unanimously approved a document titled “Rules of Procedure, Conduct and Decorum at Meetings of the Fayette County Commissioners Court.”

The Texas Association of Counties drafted the rules and recomended that counties implement them due to changes in state law at the time regarding public participation in governmental meetings. That document included a section pertaining to the County Judge Pro Tem.

It reads as follows: “In the absence of the County Judge, the senior member of the Commissioners Court (in terms of total number of years as an elected representative) present at the Regular, Special, Emergency Meeting or Executive Session, shall serve as the Judge Pro-Tem of the Court. However, nothing herein shall prevent the senior member of this Commissioners Court from delegating this duty to another member of the Commissioners Court.”

Under that definition, Mc-Broom is the senior member of the Commissioners Court.