Las Vegas City Council to appoint temporary caretaker judge to Municipal Court bench

The Las Vegas City Council will appoint a caretaker judge to temporarily replace retiring Municipal Judge Susan Roger, who is stepping down next month, years before her elected term ends.

The interim judge won’t be allowed to run for Roger’s seat in next year’s election.

The council voted to assemble a panel — with each choosing one representative — to help narrow a list of candidates for the council, said Vincent Zamora, the city’s human resources director. A pared-down list will then be examined by the council before the top three are considered at the Dec. 3 City Council meeting, the city said.

That’s a day before the 30-day deadline to name a replacement expires, the city said.

Municipal Court is tasked with overseeing misdemeanor cases, including traffic infractions and low-level criminal cases, within city limits.

The council decided against letting the interim run for the seat, citing the proximity to January’s election candidate filing period.

Councilwoman Shondra Summers-Armstrong said that allowing a panel to vet the candidates gives them an opportunity to bring legal experts into the process.

The panel will forward its top five candidates, and the council will have an opportunity to interview and rank them before a final decision, the city said.

Roger announced that she’s retiring from the court on Nov. 4. She has served since 2011, and her latest six-year term was set to end at the end of 2030.

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.