CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — It seems city marshal jobs are on the line following a review of Corpus Christi's Municipal Court.
The review serving as an audit of sorts ahead of leaders singing off on the next city budget. Leaders believe the way business is conducted within the municipal court system is simply outdated.
One of those employees making an emotional plea, addressing the matter in front of city council members Tuesday.
The deputy marshal who got up to speak said she had been with the city for over a decade. Now, that job and five others are on the verge of being eliminated.
Deputy Marshal Amanda Guerra disputed a move that would do away with the City Marshal service by October.
"And I believe that inadequate information was put in this report and not intentionally, no Marshal was ever approached. No deputy or no city Marshal was ever approached to asked us about our daily duties," Guerra said.
The job of a marshal is to serve warrants and arrest those with outstanding ones. 3NEWS has even ridden along with them during warrant round-ups. They make calls and place notices when someone doesn't answer.
In a finalized report conducted by a retired municipal court judge, it pointed to devices like an interactive kiosk that can help speed up the process of clearing cases. The report also calls out the Marshal's department, saying some positions play a minimal role in resolving cases.
The report also says it's unclear how many warrants the marshal unit actually clears. Further saying he see's no value to the court from this almost $700,000 budget item.
"We have facts we haven't even talked about today we'll show you that the amount of arrests that are made when people have warrants whereby the police officers, Corpus Christi police department is in fact making more arrests per I guess per person then the marshals are," said Corpus Christi City Manager Peter Zanoni.
The report goes on to highlight the success text messaging has played in getting people to appear in court, versus marshals actually driving to homes.
"We feel, you know, we've met and we feel that it is an outdated business model. And that's why our recommendation is to support what was in the report and to eliminate that function completely," Constance Sanchez said.
City of Corpus Christi Chief Financial Officer Constance Sanchez went before council members to answer their questions.
"Times have changed. And we have looked at the business process with technology and with from what I understand, you know, people have those ringer things, so they see them coming, so they don't answer the door. So that's a problem," she said.
Zanoni said as far as the six employees, the goal is to help them find another job within the city. However, Guerra wants to continue in law enforcement, which means it would be another six months to a year process before being hired into another law enforcement agency.
"And if I'm to go apply somewhere, it is going to take me six months to a year to get hired....And I'm sorry that I'm getting emotional, but I'm losing my job," Guerra said.
No decision was made about the jobs Tuesday. That will come net week as city leaders tackle the budget.
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