County debates, approves a new position

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September 25, 2012

County debates, approves a new position

Faith Harper Jacksonville Daily Progress The Jacksonville Daily Progress Tue Sep 25, 2012, 08:46 AM CDT

RUSK — The Texas Department of Public Safety may be able to put an extra set of hands on the streets after the Cherokee County Commissioners Court unanimously approved hiring an administrative assistant for its Jacksonville office on Monday.

DPS Sgt. Patrick Dark told commissioners the position has been vacant for three years and in the interim, he has been performing the duties which includes copying, typing reports, making spreadsheets and mailing information to the Austin office.

“The state provides secretaries for all the district offices, and the way it has been since I've been here is the counties provide secretaries for the local DPS offices,” Dark told commissioners. “Counties across the state do that.”

The court approved the hiring of an administrative assistant, and voted for a committee with representatives from DPS, the commissioners court, the county attorney's office and the county's human resources department to work details and liabilities with the new position.

County Attorney Craig Caldwell said there is liability to the county if it pays an employee that answers to a separate legal entity. He said the county spent thousands of dollars to ensure it did not get wrapped up in a federal lawsuit filed against DPS a few years ago.

“We certainly want to avoid that kind of situation,” he said, suggesting the entities could negotiate an interlocal agreement.

Assistant County Attorney Kelly Peacock suggested the employee be an employee of the county attorney's office but stationed in the DPS office to provide the worker with a clear boss and one set of rules for the dispute management process.

“I think it sounds really great that you are going to have an employee that is going to be subject to the rules of the DPS and the county rules, but you can't have two heads,” she said. “They have to be either a county employee or they are not.”

“I don't think as a county, we are going to provide you (DPS) with a secretary and (not) have that employee have the (proper) avenues,” Peacock said. “It's putting the employee in an uncomfortable, weird situation, it's putting us as the county in a liability situation that I don't think we need to be in again.”

Other than liability, commissioners discussed the position's potential pay grade and if it needed to be a full or part-time employee. The position was not included in the approved budget and will require a budget amendment once pay figures are voted on.

County Judge Chris Davis said he would like to see the position begin as a part time position to see if it helps the department bring in added revenue. He suggested the 25 hours per week, part-time position pay $8.68 per hour, adding up to about $11,300 per year.

Precinct 1 Commissioner Kelly Traylor said because the position was originally a part-time position, and was upgraded to a full-time position there was obviously a need for a full-time staff member.

Precinct 2 Commissioner Steven Norton said he was in favor of giving the department help, but said he wanted to ensure the county would make its money back in added protection and tickets on the roadways. He suggested the employee could work four, 8-hour days, and be off on Fridays. He said the 32-hours per week would help the office and keep the county from having to pay added benefits.

Caldwell said the money issue is one of many the committee would have to address.

“That not the hard part, really,” Caldwell said. “The hard part is who fires her? Where does she or he report if there is something about their employment situation that is not good, and I'm not talking about dress code, I'm taking about things in our personnel policy that deal with what an employee (does) when they have a sexual harassment complaint, for instance. There are certain places they have to go. Which body do you go to?”

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County debates, approves a new position

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