1. The governing body of the city shall select a number of persons it determines appropriate to comprise a panel of substitute municipal judges. The persons selected must not have ever been removed or retired from any judicial office by the Commission on Judicial Discipline and must be:

(a) Members in good standing of the State Bar of Nevada;

(b) Adult residents of the city; or

(c) Justices of the peace of the county.

2. Whenever a municipal judge is disqualified from acting in a case pending in the municipal court or is unable to perform his or her duties because of his or her temporary sickness or absence, the municipal judge shall, if necessary, appoint a person from the panel of substitute municipal judges to act in his or her place.

3. A person so appointed must take and subscribe to the official oath before acting as a municipal judge pro tempore. While acting in that capacity, the municipal judge pro tempore is entitled to receive a per diem salary set by the governing body. The annual sum expended for salaries of municipal judges pro tempore must not exceed the amount budgeted for that expense by the governing body.

4. If an appointment of a municipal judge pro tempore becomes necessary and the municipal judge fails or is unable to make the appointment, the mayor shall make the appointment from the panel of substitute municipal judges.

5. For the purposes of this section, a person shall not be ineligible to be a candidate for the office of municipal judge pro tempore if a decision to remove or retire the person from a judicial office is pending appeal before the Supreme Court or has been overturned by the Supreme Court.

(Added to NRS by 1981, 1639; A 1983, 899; 1999, 95)