[1:58] e
[8:24] 8ye old was going down the and I'm like
[8:28] man I can't do
[8:30] the youngest one speed it's fast that's
[8:33] cool man you say happy new year happy
[8:36] New Year H where's the rest of our crew
[8:38] here oh they'll be around he's
[8:46] [Music]
[8:48] [Applause]
[8:51] [Music]
[8:58] here
[9:02] [Music]
[9:27] all
[9:28] right
[9:29] [Music]
[9:35] I got
[9:37] see oh that's shiny
[9:40] new I saw
[9:42] it good morning welcome to the first
[9:45] tarant County Commissioner Court meeting
[9:47] of 2024 Happy New Year to everyone I
[9:50] will now call the meeting to order T Mo
[9:52] County Judge present Roy Charles Brooks
[9:55] commissioner Precinct one present Alisa
[9:57] Simmons commissioner Precinct
[9:59] here Gary F commissioner Precinct 3 here
[10:03] Manny Ramirez commissioner Precinct 4
[10:06] here thank you so for today's invocation
[10:09] we have a special guest that I thought
[10:10] would be nice to have come uh lead us in
[10:13] our first prayer of the year a South
[10:15] Lake resident and UT quarterback the
[10:18] number three ranked Texas Longhorns
[10:20] quarterback Quinn ERS Quinn come up do
[10:22] the invocation for
[10:28] us
[10:30] [Music]
[10:32] all right everybody please bow your
[10:35] heads Heavenly Father Lord we just thank
[10:37] you for waking us up this morning Lord
[10:39] thank you for getting us here safely
[10:41] Lord thank you for waking us up with
[10:42] breath in our lungs Heavenly
[10:44] Father Lord we pray that you just be
[10:46] with the families um that were in the
[10:49] explosion yesterday here in our own
[10:51] County Lord Lord we ask that you open
[10:54] our hearts and fill our minds with your
[10:56] truth Lord Lord help us to understand
[10:58] the truth true meaning of what it means
[11:00] to be a Christ follower Lord it says in
[11:03] Joshua 1:9 have I not commanded you be
[11:06] strong be courageous for the Lord your
[11:08] God is with you wherever you go Lord so
[11:11] I ask that you just help us understand
[11:13] the true meaning of that verse that you
[11:15] truly are with us wherever we go Lord we
[11:18] love you and we thank you for everything
[11:19] that you do and everything that you will
[11:21] continue to do for us it's in Jesus's
[11:23] mighty name I pray amen amen thank you
[11:26] please join me for the Pledge of
[11:28] Allegiance I pledge Al to the flag of
[11:32] the United States of America and to the
[11:35] for it stands Nation God indivisible
[11:40] withy and justice for all and now the
[11:43] Texas
[11:45] flag
[11:53] St thank you you may be
[11:55] seated thank you Quinn for coming this
[11:58] morning uh Quinn is a resident of south
[12:01] lake like me uh obviously the
[12:03] quarterback at Texas and this morning uh
[12:06] the final rankings were released and
[12:08] Texas came in at number three so
[12:09] congratulations again to you for
[12:14] that he represents tarant County
[12:18] well all right do we have any agenda
[12:20] announcements Mr Merritt yes sir good
[12:22] morning Court members and Happy New
[12:24] yeary New Year couple of quick
[12:26] announcements uh we have several items
[12:28] that have been pulled from the consent
[12:29] agenda the first one is number
[12:35] a12 the next one is
[12:40] E3
[12:42] [Music]
[12:45] F3
[12:49] G2 and in your red folders you should
[12:51] have an updated Court communication for
[12:54] j6 in the purchasing section that's all
[12:56] we have
[12:57] sir a12 D3 F3 G2 and j6 j6 wasn't pulled
[13:04] you just have an updated Court got j6
[13:08] remains a12 D3 F3 G2 is it D3 or E
[13:12] Edward E Edward E E3 my mistake yeah
[13:17] E3 f is and Frank Three G is and girl
[13:20] two all right do we have any
[13:22] Commissioners Court
[13:25] announcements I do okay um on January
[13:30] 18th we are having a town hall meeting
[13:34] it's our first town hall meeting over in
[13:36] Precinct 2 everybody is welcome uh it is
[13:40] entitled state of the tarant county jail
[13:44] and our very own Sheriff uh wver will be
[13:47] on the panel uh along with others so I
[13:50] think it starts at
[13:53] 6:30 gate 5:30 5:30 on uh January 18th
[14:00] so everybody's welcome to come
[14:04] over um on February the 9th we'll have
[14:08] our I believe our 14th
[14:11] annual um transportation Summit it'll be
[14:16] at the um first convention center and
[14:21] start at 8 in the morning and go till
[14:24] about uh 1:30 and we have a
[14:29] are have kind of a unique speaking group
[14:34] we have a team of U Ross pero
[14:38] Jr speaking with the president Lori the
[14:43] president of the Federal
[14:46] Reserve
[14:47] um Lori what's her last
[14:50] [Music]
[14:53] name sorry yes you what is it on the U
[14:58] laor Logan Lor Logan CEO of the D
[15:02] Reserve she's the CEO and president of
[15:05] the Federal
[15:06] Reserve
[15:08] so very excited about uh that team
[15:14] and I think it's going to be a a great
[15:20] day excellent uh as you all know Stock
[15:22] Show season is here and um tent County
[15:25] CR for this year we're partnering with
[15:27] the for wor Stock Show Rodeo on January
[15:30] 29th it's Monday for the Taran County
[15:33] salutes veterans event it'll the stock
[15:35] show is providing free entry uh to all
[15:37] veterans that day and we're going to
[15:39] have an expo there with um you know
[15:42] hundreds of vendors that will provide
[15:44] valuable services to our Taran County
[15:45] veterans so please come out at noon uh
[15:48] it'll be from noon to about 5 or 6
[15:50] depending on what what volume we have
[15:52] we'll have Medal of Honor recipients it
[15:55] it'll be a really great event so looking
[15:57] forward to January 29th please come out
[16:00] all right so everybody knows about the
[16:02] gas explosion by now there were 21 total
[16:05] people injured one critically that one
[16:08] that was injured critically was
[16:09] stabilized at
[16:11] JPS and uh then air flighted to Parkland
[16:15] uh and they're being treated at Parkland
[16:16] currently fortunately and miraculously
[16:19] um no casualties nobody died in this and
[16:23] uh yesterday we sent everybody home in
[16:27] County buildings down down town just out
[16:29] of an abundance of caution at around 415
[16:33] 420 uh but they're still working in the
[16:36] area and still trying to make clean it
[16:39] up and do a lot of things so please
[16:41] remember to uh pray for uh those who
[16:44] were injured and their families uh y'all
[16:47] may remember last meeting I think it was
[16:50] I had talked about uh how Maricopa
[16:52] County came and donated a ton of eggs to
[16:56] uh the tan area Food Bank as a result of
[16:59] the World Series bet we made where where
[17:01] we fortunately won uh they've invited me
[17:04] they're going to actually do the same
[17:05] donation to a food bank in
[17:08] Phoenix uh this Thursday they've invited
[17:11] me and uh the terrant area Food Bank
[17:15] executive director so the two of us are
[17:16] going down there paid for by campaign
[17:18] funds I might add uh but we're going
[17:21] down there on Thursday so we'll be
[17:23] representing Taran County and Maricopa
[17:24] County for that and if you didn't see
[17:27] someone vandalized two nights ago the
[17:31] Old Courthouse across the street so take
[17:34] a look at the video if you have any
[17:35] information on who that may be please
[17:37] contact the tent County Sheriff's Office
[17:39] so we can uh give that person an all
[17:42] expenses paid trip to the County Jail uh
[17:45] next up we have approval of the minutes
[17:48] do we have any motions Corrections or
[17:50] any comments on the minutes for appr
[17:53] second all right we have a motion to
[17:54] approve the minutes and a second any
[17:56] discussion there
[18:00] all right please cast your
[18:11] vote all right passes unanimously next
[18:14] up uh we have our proclamations
[18:17] resolutions and presentations section
[18:20] the uh first one is our
[18:23] employee dear Heavens where did that go
[18:27] our employee
[18:29] recognition and I would like to say um
[18:33] to all of our employees we greatly
[18:35] appreciate you we would appreciate you
[18:38] even more if I had the list of all the
[18:40] people that I was supposed to
[18:43] recognize and I will find that here
[18:47] shortly uh let's start with our
[18:49] five-year employees I'm going to call
[18:51] your name and ask you to stand so we can
[18:53] recognize you all at once uh Tamara
[18:57] Alden Mark
[19:00] adaberry Abu Baba Wendy
[19:03] [Music]
[19:06] Buress judge Jason
[19:09] shanet Annette
[19:11] Coniglio
[19:13] Judy
[19:15] doy Matthew
[19:19] Duffy Janet
[19:22] farmer Deborah
[19:24] Flores Cindy
[19:27] Grisham a ail
[19:29] [Applause]
[19:31] Hanks Kevin
[19:34] Higgins Matthew
[19:36] HOSA meline
[19:39] Jones Jeffrey
[19:42] kiter Judge Alex
[19:45] Kim Christopher
[19:48] lroy Iman
[19:50] nachawati Joshua nice
[19:53] wonderer judge Kenneth
[19:55] nle Brian Ray
[19:58] Abraham
[20:00] Sanchez judge Kenneth
[20:04] Sanders Derek
[20:05] [Music]
[20:07] Sutter Tamara
[20:10] sord Christine
[20:12] Torres Danielle wesac who help me out
[20:17] there
[20:18] Danielle uh and Stephanie zanino those
[20:21] are all of our fiveyear employees thank
[20:23] you all very
[20:27] much
[20:32] uh now for our 10year
[20:36] employees we
[20:39] have Patrick
[20:41] Bernett Lila
[20:46] Delgado Rebecca
[20:49] Gutierrez Pamela
[20:52] Maples Shayla
[20:53] [Music]
[20:56] Moses Patrick n
[20:58] [Music]
[21:00] Christine neevis
[21:02] Medina
[21:03] [Music]
[21:05] Prana py
[21:08] p and Larry
[21:12] Vermilion thank you all very much for
[21:21] your all
[21:24] [Music]
[21:27] right do does this mean we do not have
[21:29] any 15-year employees today okay we have
[21:33] one I don't have that in our none of us
[21:35] have that in our court
[21:37] [Music]
[21:38] notes 15 that's 15 all right we're going
[21:41] to we're going to find you can y'all
[21:42] find me a list of the 15 20s 25
[21:47] oh okay here we go all right here we
[21:51] are thank you Andy 15year employees
[21:54] Michael
[21:55] Barnett Delila Crow
[22:02] Domingo
[22:03] Garza Calvin
[22:05] Jennings Allan
[22:08] Ludwick Eric metf Eric
[22:16] metf Isaac
[22:19] Sano ad doph Taylor Jr and judge Melody
[22:24] Wilkinson thank you all for
[22:26] your
[22:32] Eric you don't like you you don't look
[22:33] like you returned 15 kicks for
[22:36] touchdowns on the NFL
[22:38] so I was in high school he okay
[22:41] excellent means he's younger than me I'm
[22:44] getting old all right so our 20-year
[22:47] employees we only have three today
[22:49] Kathleen
[22:51] gon Carol
[22:52] [Music]
[22:54] laddins and Wesley
[22:56] Lowden
[23:05] thank you all for 20
[23:08] years now we have some 25y year
[23:11] employees and yall may know that what we
[23:14] normally
[23:15] do for our 25 year employees and 30 and
[23:19] 35 and 40 if we have any in this time
[23:21] and Bas we have two normally we invite
[23:24] them to our office uh sit down meet with
[23:26] them because of the holidays and
[23:28] vacations and things we did not do that
[23:30] for January but for anyone who is
[23:33] interested in coming by and meeting and
[23:35] visiting and talking tell me what's
[23:36] going on in the county or just getting
[23:38] to know me and so I can get to know you
[23:40] you are welcome to come by this month uh
[23:43] we do have some uh some folks here quite
[23:46] a few from for 25 years and we have some
[23:48] information on them so first is uh El
[23:52] morce
[23:56] May
[23:58] [Applause]
[24:00] she was born in Fort Worth went to
[24:02] Terell high school has two kids she
[24:06] loves to shop and especially at retail
[24:09] stores um loves to travel and visit
[24:12] other
[24:13] states her most memorable moment was
[24:16] when she received her 25 year award here
[24:19] at the county and that's right now so
[24:20] you're you're all
[24:22] [Applause]
[24:24] part and she loves going out to eat with
[24:27] family and friends so thank you very
[24:29] much for your 25 years we appreciate
[24:34] you next we have Susan strange Susan
[24:38] here with
[24:39] us okay Susan has also been with us 25
[24:42] years uh she is the Repro Graphics
[24:46] manager she was born in conquered
[24:48] California went to high school in
[24:50] California went to college at tarant
[24:52] County junior college she has one
[24:54] son um as a child she collected arroe
[24:58] heads and rattlesnake buttons that's a
[25:00] fact no one knows about her two facts um
[25:03] for fun she loves gardening and shooting
[25:06] Firearms other job titles she's had with
[25:09] the county she's had several she's been
[25:10] Graphics assistant to what she is now
[25:12] Reaper Graphics manager but all have
[25:14] been with Facilities Management her most
[25:16] memorable moment uh she remembers the
[25:20] flood the snakes the exploding toilet
[25:23] and Roger the raccoon that was stuck in
[25:25] our
[25:26] ceiling and what she likes the most she
[25:28] said she is blessed to work with a great
[25:30] graphics and printing team and thankful
[25:31] for the support that they have all had
[25:34] throughout the years so thank you Susan
[25:36] we appreciate you for 25
[25:42] years next we have Eric Martinez Eric
[25:45] are you with us there we go hi Eric how
[25:47] are you welcome uh he is a lieutenant
[25:49] over the combined narcotics enforcement
[25:52] team and the SWAT Commander for the tant
[25:54] county sheriff's office SWAT team so
[25:55] thank you for that uh born in Fort Worth
[25:58] graduated from Boswell High School um
[26:01] has three children one son two daughters
[26:04] here's some facts that no one um knows
[26:08] about him he was originally hired as a
[26:10] clerk and was assigned to be Captain Dan
[26:12] West secretary at the Green Bay
[26:15] facility um he is the first and only one
[26:18] in his family who is in law
[26:20] enforcement what he likes to do for fun
[26:22] he loves to play golf he enjoys
[26:24] traveling to new
[26:26] destinations uh when he can and when he
[26:28] has the money uh when the weather is
[26:30] right he loves to bass fish and he loves
[26:33] pretty much anything outdoors he has had
[26:36] a host of job titles with the county uh
[26:39] Clerk and confinement Jailer release
[26:41] desk Deputy Patrol Deputy SWAT operator
[26:44] narcotics detective emissions
[26:46] enforcement task force investigator
[26:49] Patrol Sergeant criminal investigations
[26:51] division Sergeant CID Lieutenant Patrol
[26:54] Lieutenant Patrol administrative
[26:56] Lieutenant CET lieutenant and SWAT
[26:58] Commander pretty remarkable um his most
[27:01] memorable moment there's so many to talk
[27:03] about but he was given a small tip uh
[27:06] about a drug situation on an individual
[27:08] that suspected of Distributing bulk
[27:10] marijuana as a result they developed
[27:12] probable cause and executed a search
[27:14] warrant on his residents yielding over
[27:16] 600 lbs of marijuana and significant
[27:18] amounts of US
[27:20] currency um this was at the time the
[27:22] largest marijuana seizure in the
[27:24] narcotic unit's history there was a
[27:26] media release that aired before he could
[27:28] get home that day and as he walked in
[27:29] the door his oldest daughter called him
[27:31] the Dooby king after seeing it on the
[27:35] news he would later receive the
[27:37] commodation bar service award for this
[27:40] investigation quite a memory I'm sure
[27:42] what he likes the most is being a part
[27:45] of leadership and supporting the tarant
[27:46] county sheriff's office team members as
[27:48] they grow on their career paths and he
[27:50] loves to mentor and pass on all that he
[27:53] has learned uh thank you very much for
[27:56] your 25 years we appreciate
[28:05] next we have Michael
[28:07] Ford how are you sir good good thank you
[28:10] for being here he was born in Fort Worth
[28:12] 25 years with us went to Western Hills
[28:15] High School has one daughter this is
[28:18] pretty cool a fact no one knows about
[28:20] him his grandfather wrote the song Walts
[28:22] across Texas that's pretty cool uh what
[28:25] does he like to do for fun gol and
[28:27] saltwater fishing um other job titles
[28:31] he's had he started with the jail when
[28:33] he was 19 years old since then he's had
[28:36] various assignments in the Patrol
[28:38] Division Narcotics Division warrant
[28:39] division judicial division uh EF task
[28:43] force and the criminal investigations
[28:45] division his most memorable moment he
[28:48] once watched a 16-year-old kid back his
[28:50] father's new truck and boat trailer into
[28:52] Ben Brook Lake he forgot to put it in
[28:55] park before getting out and he bet he
[28:57] has hasn't made the same mistake
[28:59] twice um what he likes most is having uh
[29:03] the privilege to help people when they
[29:04] need the help the most uh thank you for
[29:07] 25 years Deputy 4 we appreciate
[29:14] you next we have Tracy
[29:16] Kirby is Tracy with
[29:19] us okay so Tracy is a Corporal and
[29:22] instructor born in Fort Worth went to
[29:25] Northside High School has five kids four
[29:27] girls and a
[29:29] boy so maybe there's hope for me and uh
[29:34] fact no one knows about him oh this is
[29:35] really cool uh he's been to 17 of the 32
[29:40] NFL stadiums I got to correct him
[29:42] there's 30 NFL stadiums because two
[29:44] teams share stadiums but he wants to
[29:47] visit all of them I I I want to do the
[29:50] same thing I've been I went to my 18th
[29:51] this year the Buffalo one uh very cool
[29:54] we're going to have to talk about that
[29:56] uh what what does he like to do for fun
[29:58] he enjoys cooking and training in
[30:00] Brazilian jiu-jitsu other job titles
[30:02] he's had with the county he started off
[30:04] as a tech one in the jail in 1999
[30:06] because he wasn't old enough to be a
[30:08] detention officer um he's been a
[30:10] background investigator a security
[30:12] control specialist he was promoted to
[30:14] senior specialist Corporal in the first
[30:16] group when the position was restructured
[30:18] uh working in booking for 15 years he
[30:20] moved over to housing as a floor super
[30:22] supervisor and he's currently the
[30:24] primary instructor for the jail Academy
[30:28] um Tracy I'm sorry well Tracy is a
[30:32] female Tracy's not here so not he she
[30:35] and she became the first female Hispanic
[30:37] instructor for the Sheriff's Office and
[30:40] what she likes the most is traveling and
[30:42] getting to experience different cultures
[30:44] and Cuisines Deputy Kirby thank you very
[30:47] much for your service for 25 years we
[30:49] appreciate you wherever you
[30:56] are all right next we have Michelle
[30:58] Sanders also with us 25 years she is a
[31:02] legal assistant with the mental health
[31:04] unit is Michelle
[31:06] here oh hi there did you think you were
[31:09] going to get away with not being
[31:10] standing up there all right she was born
[31:13] at Carswell Air Force based Hospital in
[31:15] Fort Worth I went to Polytech uh went to
[31:19] college at Taran County College and
[31:21] UTA uh has three kids two sons one
[31:24] daughter uh this is pretty cool a fact
[31:27] that no one knows about her she was a
[31:29] preey and weighed 2 lbs when she was
[31:32] born so pretty cool uh what does she
[31:35] like to do for fun shop till I drop then
[31:39] crawl fishing singing and spending time
[31:43] with family she has been a supervision
[31:46] clerk with cscd an Associate clerk with
[31:49] the District Clerk's Office a legal
[31:51] secretary with the DA's office and
[31:54] mental health coordinator with the DA's
[31:56] office her most memorable uh moment
[32:00] showing up to work on a scheduled off
[32:02] day and working with her son Demarcus
[32:05] and daughter cristani for years while
[32:07] working with the county What She Likes
[32:10] most meeting some very nice people
[32:12] making friends along the way and she
[32:14] gets to retire to enjoy the backside of
[32:16] her life with the husband of her youth
[32:18] while she can still recognize
[32:20] him so thank you Michelle for 25
[32:26] years
[32:30] next we have Carl Cole is Carl with us
[32:34] hello Carl are you uh he is micro
[32:37] Imaging scanner operator also born in
[32:40] Fort Worth we got a run of Fort Worth
[32:42] folks today uh Brewer high school went
[32:45] to college at un was it un when you went
[32:49] yes sir okay all right um fact no one
[32:51] know oh this is cool in fact no one
[32:53] knows about him he is a Hall of Fame
[32:56] member
[32:58] of the 1989 football team from Brewer
[33:01] High School very cool what did you play
[33:03] I play defensive tackle excellent all
[33:05] right what does he like to do for fun
[33:07] read history and military books his most
[33:10] memorable moment he participated in the
[33:12] 2015 Jingle Bell run as a member of the
[33:14] county clerk's office he was stretching
[33:16] getting gear ready doing all that that
[33:18] you do and got a tap uh on the shoulder
[33:21] from Mary Louise um that told him he had
[33:25] just missed the start of the event
[33:28] oh but he was Lumber uh what he likes
[33:32] the most is to find humor in everyday
[33:34] occurrences Carl thank you very much for
[33:36] 25 years we appreciate
[33:44] you next we have another 25 years Dr
[33:48] Evette Windgate it's Dr Windgate here
[33:50] hello there uh she is a Community Health
[33:53] Equity and inclusion division manager
[33:56] she was was born in Austin Texas uh her
[33:59] High School St St Stevens Episcopal and
[34:01] laner high school she went to college at
[34:05] the University of Texas at Arlington
[34:07] where she has degrees a master of public
[34:09] administration Bachelor of Arts and
[34:11] sociology and Bachelor of Arts in
[34:12] criminal justice and
[34:14] criminology she also went to Dallas
[34:16] Baptist where she got a doctor of
[34:18] education and educational leadership
[34:20] which means she is probably the smartest
[34:22] person in this room uh she has two uh
[34:26] children to adult boys and her oldest
[34:29] son is a former student athlete at UTA
[34:32] her youngest son is a junior at Houston
[34:35] tilletson University and a published
[34:37] poet which I bet you're proud of them uh
[34:40] fact no one knows about you I can see
[34:42] this this pretty cool she trained in the
[34:44] long jump to compete in the 1994
[34:46] Olympics pretty
[34:54] cool what does she like to do for fun
[34:56] game night with her sons she has had
[34:59] other titles with the county health
[35:00] educator health education coordinator
[35:02] senior policy analyst and Health Equity
[35:05] coordinator and her most memorable
[35:10] moment she managed an award-winning
[35:12] nationally recognized program for teens
[35:14] for 15 of its 20 years of existence teen
[35:17] video Fest um the youth were exposed to
[35:20] various aspects of Public Health
[35:21] Community Based organizations and the
[35:23] professional world of video production
[35:26] uh there was a competition those who
[35:27] competed had to identify a health
[35:29] problem a solution and share health
[35:30] statistics along with resources one of
[35:32] those years she hosted a show on the
[35:34] Fort Worth cable channel to highlight
[35:35] the winners one of the categories was
[35:37] physical health and a team of two young
[35:39] men were the winners one of them was
[35:40] overweight and he told me that he was
[35:42] glad that his teacher made his class
[35:43] participate in teen video Fest he said
[35:46] that because of what he learned while
[35:47] doing the research creating the video he
[35:48] decided to eat healthier and exercise
[35:50] regularly he stated he understood the
[35:52] importance of how this decision will
[35:53] impact the health of future generations
[35:54] and his family pretty cool uh what she
[35:57] likes the most is being a servant leader
[35:58] and being able to meet people where they
[36:00] are able to improve their quality of
[36:01] life Dr Windgate thank you for your 25
[36:10] years all right next we move to 30 years
[36:14] Bobby D Harden
[36:18] Jr good afternoon sir 30 years good
[36:20] morning it is birthplace Pasadena
[36:23] California home of the Rose Bowl um went
[36:26] to South Grand Prairie High School uh
[36:28] went to uh college at UTA also has two
[36:32] kids both daughters and uh they both
[36:37] this last year had babies so they became
[36:39] grandparents two times uh this uh past
[36:42] year in fact no one knows about him
[36:44] everyone knows everything about me that
[36:46] I want them to know I like it that's a
[36:48] good answer you been my office you
[36:51] wouldn't have gotten away with that but
[36:52] you're okay uh what do you like to do
[36:54] for fun golf camping fishing in hunting
[36:57] watch old western movies and work on
[36:59] projects around the house what's your
[37:01] favorite old western
[37:03] movie Jud Big Jake yep that's a good one
[37:07] have you been to the John Wayne Museum
[37:09] you should check it out it's very cool
[37:11] uh what other job titles has he had with
[37:12] the County Deputy field training officer
[37:15] instructor judges Bay and tcla president
[37:18] his most memorable moment as tcla
[37:22] president killing a bill that was going
[37:24] to alter tcdrs and our retirement
[37:27] and what he likes the most besides the
[37:29] people he works with having the
[37:32] opportunity to do something significant
[37:34] each and every day so thank you very
[37:36] much Deputy Harden for 30 years we
[37:39] appreciate
[37:45] you Captain Harden Captain Harden all
[37:49] right Floyd Heckman Jr is Floyd
[37:52] here all
[37:55] right Floyd has been with us 35 years so
[38:00] thank you for
[38:02] that he was born in Easton Pennsylvania
[38:05] for the baseball players out there yes
[38:07] that is where the baseball bats come
[38:09] from he went to Joshua High School uh he
[38:12] got a Bachelor's degree and a master's
[38:14] degree from Lamar University he has five
[38:17] kids adopted four of them and he's been
[38:20] married for 32 years very
[38:23] [Applause]
[38:25] coolow
[38:27] fact no one knows about him he's a huge
[38:29] fan of Rush what's your favorite Rush
[38:33] song that's mine too all right good what
[38:35] does he like to do for fun family he
[38:37] just loves spending time with his family
[38:39] doing things for his family um and he is
[38:42] a big advocate of anything that is uh
[38:45] helping autistic kids or adults anything
[38:49] autism related he's a big advocate for
[38:52] other job titles he's had with the
[38:53] county he's worked in the training
[38:55] academy started in the jail he's done
[38:56] Patrol he's done Internal Affairs he's
[38:59] done SWAT he's done undercover in
[39:01] Narcotics he's he's been all over the
[39:03] agency his most memorable
[39:06] moment uh he helped a lady find her kids
[39:12] who had been kidnapped and they had been
[39:14] gone over 2 and A2
[39:16] years um what yeah that's worth a round
[39:20] of
[39:25] applause
[39:27] and uh those two kids one of them is now
[39:30] a rocket
[39:32] scientist and one of them is a very
[39:34] successful businesswoman two two girls
[39:37] and he's he's followed them to see how
[39:39] they're doing which is pretty cool and
[39:41] then another very remember moment was an
[39:43] active shooter situation he was involved
[39:44] in something that I noticed about uh
[39:48] Captain Heckman is he really does have a
[39:50] heart of gold a heart of service he also
[39:53] served in the US Army thank you very
[39:55] much Floyd for 35 years with tant County
[39:58] We Appreciate
[40:05] You Now last year if I remember
[40:07] correctly we only had two people that
[40:11] this applied to I mean one person this
[40:13] applied to somebody that had been here
[40:15] 40 years and she worked in public health
[40:17] y'all may youall may know who she is
[40:20] today we have two people celebrating
[40:22] their 40th anniversary with tarant
[40:24] County which is unbelievable when you
[40:27] get right down to it so uh James where
[40:29] are you James
[40:33] Mich cor hello did I get that
[40:41] right I don't think you'll heard me 40
[40:50] years he is a bayth in County court at
[40:53] law number one born in cane Pennsylvania
[40:56] went to high school in Pennsylvania uh
[40:59] went to college at New Mexico State
[41:01] University uh University of Pennsylvania
[41:05] and University of Houston uh has one
[41:08] daughter and this even deserves a bigger
[41:10] round of applause this month he will
[41:13] have been married to his wife for 56
[41:23] years this is really cool a fact no one
[41:25] knows about him his final reenlistment
[41:28] in the US Air Force the oath of offic
[41:31] the oath of office was administered by
[41:33] an army officer which doesn't happen all
[41:35] that often but that officer was his
[41:37] daughter so very
[41:41] cool he loves to travel loves to fish
[41:45] loves sports other job titles he's had
[41:47] with the county started in
[41:49] Patrol um he's worked the release desk
[41:52] classification grievance and
[41:53] disciplinary bayth and then he's now
[41:56] he's he's a judge's bayth his most
[41:57] memorable moment um and not necessarily
[42:01] the most memorable but the most serious
[42:03] when an individual came into the
[42:04] courtroom and fatally shot an individual
[42:06] in judge Mills Court when he was there
[42:08] to testify on another issue I'm sure
[42:10] that's something you don't forget easily
[42:12] and stays with you forever um he just
[42:15] wanted to remind folks that shootings
[42:17] can happen do happen be on guard Be
[42:19] watchful what he likes the most tant
[42:22] county is a great place to work he has
[42:25] worked the last 13 years and nine days
[42:27] today for judge Don Pearson in County
[42:30] court at Law at the 1895 courthouse in
[42:33] his opinion it's the best Courthouse to
[42:34] work in in tarant county and best of all
[42:37] he works with a great group of people
[42:40] James thank you very much for 40
[42:51] years when uh I'm done with the next one
[42:54] I would like you James and our next one
[42:56] to come up to the podium so we can all
[42:58] take a picture with you that you get
[43:00] that after 40 years so you get that's an
[43:03] incentive to hang on another
[43:05] 15 all right our final one to recognize
[43:08] today 40 years an
[43:22] Diamond so she is an assistant district
[43:25] attorney in the Civil Division uh she
[43:28] was born in Illinois went to high school
[43:30] in Illinois went to college and law
[43:31] school at Illinois uh she got an MBA
[43:34] from UTA via the County's tuition
[43:37] reimbursement program and yes it has
[43:40] been useful on the job um no kids but
[43:43] blessed with multiple nieces nephews
[43:46] Grand nieces Grand nephews fact no one
[43:49] knows about her her brothers and an they
[43:53] spoke French as small children at home
[43:56] French was her mother's first language
[43:58] pretty cool her brothers and her
[44:01] promptly refused to speak French once
[44:03] they went to elementary school where all
[44:04] the other kids only spoke English and
[44:06] she has forgotten most of her
[44:08] French uh what she likes to do for fun
[44:11] hang out with friends and have great
[44:14] conversations uh other titles she has
[44:17] had with the county she has always been
[44:18] an assistant criminal district attorney
[44:20] 40 years that's very cool uh I won't put
[44:24] you on the spot and ask how much longer
[44:25] you're going to do it but I'm going to
[44:26] ask you privately cuz that's a that's a
[44:28] incredible run most memorable moment uh
[44:31] so many moments good and bad the one
[44:33] moment that has had the most instant
[44:35] lasting impact on her was a difficult
[44:36] one the 1992 fatal shooting in the old
[44:39] court of appeals courtroom and the Old
[44:41] Courthouse where a fellow uh criminal
[44:45] district attorney Chris Marshall and
[44:46] another lawyer died other people she
[44:48] knew were wounded that day forever
[44:50] changed her uh there have been great
[44:53] moments too but that day is the one that
[44:54] stands out the most
[44:56] uh what she likes the most two things
[44:58] the people she has worked with both at
[45:00] the cda's office and with other County
[45:02] offices are amazing as to the cda's
[45:05] office the Civil Division team members
[45:06] are some of the most talented attorneys
[45:07] and best human beings you will ever meet
[45:09] and it has been great working with them
[45:11] over these decades she truly appreciates
[45:14] the opportunity to continually learn new
[45:16] aspects of Law and apply that knowledge
[45:18] to resolve complex uh legal problems
[45:21] ideally without inadvertently creating a
[45:23] new problem and she says the County
[45:25] employee benefit are great never
[45:27] underestimate the importance of great
[45:29] employee benefits so an thank you so
[45:31] much for your 40
[45:42] years I will entertain a motion to
[45:44] receive and file the employee
[45:46] recognition so Mo second I have a motion
[45:49] in a second please cast your
[45:51] vote all right passes unanimously and
[45:54] Ann and James if you'll join us up front
[45:56] please let's take a picture with
[45:59] [Music]
[46:24] everybody ask for St
[46:54] about
[46:58] [Music]
[47:24] having
[47:33] [Music]
[47:47] you got
[47:54] picture
[48:05] [Music]
[48:24] for any employees that do not
[48:28] no I it's just
[48:32] [Music]
[48:54] unexpect
[48:59] [Music]
[49:24] in
[49:30] [Music]
[49:47] all right where are
[49:48] [Music]
[49:49] we that's
[49:51] right all right as we continue the
[49:54] meeting next up up on the agenda is a
[49:57] memorial resolution um this is presented
[50:00] by commissioner
[50:01] Simmons and uh commissioner Brooks this
[50:04] is a joint
[50:08] resolution um and before I turn it over
[50:11] to commissioner Brooks I um want to
[50:15] say that I had the opportunity to uh
[50:20] attend congresswoman Eddie Bernice
[50:23] Johnson's uh wake last
[50:26] evening
[50:27] and I had observed her service for
[50:33] decades um but there was a lot I did not
[50:36] know uh and so attending the Wake was uh
[50:40] very eye
[50:41] openening um and I first had the
[50:44] opportunity to work with her in
[50:46] 2015 uh we worked together to put a
[50:49] symposium together and um so I got to
[50:53] know her well then and I appreciate all
[50:56] that she has done uh the inspiration
[51:00] that she has been for me and others and
[51:03] so uh commissioner Brooks and I thought
[51:05] it would be fitting um for us to present
[51:09] a
[51:10] resolution uh in honor of her work and
[51:14] her life um so there you go thank you
[51:20] commissioner if I may read the
[51:23] resolution into the record
[51:27] Memorial
[51:28] resolution honoring The Life and
[51:32] Legacy of us
[51:35] congresswoman Eddie Bernice
[51:39] Johnson
[51:41] whereas Eddie Bernice Johnson a retired
[51:45] member of the United States House of
[51:49] Representatives was born December
[51:52] 3rd
[51:54] 1934 in wo
[51:57] Texas and whereas M Johnson during a
[52:02] time of segregation in the United States
[52:05] earned a nursing certificate at St
[52:08] Mary's College in
[52:12] 1955 and a Nursing degree at Texas
[52:16] Christian
[52:17] University in
[52:21] 1967 and whereas Miss Johnson began and
[52:25] her professional career in
[52:28] 1956 at the Dallas Veterans Affairs
[52:32] Medical Center in Dallas Texas and
[52:36] became the hospital's first
[52:39] africanamerican Chief psychiatric nurse
[52:43] and whereas Miss Johnson won a seat in
[52:48] the Texas House of Representatives in
[52:52] 1972 72 because becoming the first black
[52:56] woman in north Texas to be elected to
[53:00] public office and a seat in the Texas
[53:03] Senate in
[53:05] 1986 becoming the first AF
[53:08] africanamerican Texas Senator since
[53:13] reconstruction and whereas M Johnson was
[53:17] elected to the United States House of
[53:20] Representatives in
[53:23] 1992 becoming the first registered nurse
[53:27] to hold a seat in Congress and whereas
[53:31] during her esteemed tenure congresswoman
[53:35] Johnson became the first woman to chair
[53:39] the house committee on science space and
[53:44] technology and whereas congresswoman
[53:47] Johnson served on the house committee on
[53:51] transportation and
[53:52] infrastructure where she secured more
[53:55] than $1 billion doar in Appropriations
[54:00] for North
[54:01] Texas and whereas congresswoman Johnson
[54:05] represented Texas's 30th congressional
[54:09] district whose
[54:11] boundaries originally included parts of
[54:15] parent County for 30 years before
[54:19] retiring in January
[54:22] 2023 and whereas
[54:25] on December
[54:27] 31st
[54:30] 2023 congresswoman Johnson a Pioneer
[54:35] Trailblazer
[54:37] humanitarian and social justice Advocate
[54:42] died after her brief illness devastating
[54:46] her
[54:48] family constituents of her former
[54:51] district and peers and communities
[54:54] across acoss the United
[54:56] States now therefore be it
[55:00] resolved that we the Commissioners Court
[55:03] of Taran County do hereby honor The Life
[55:08] and Legacy of the gentle lady Eddie
[55:12] Bernice Johnson a strong and valued
[55:15] leader and call upon all citizens to
[55:20] celebrate her enduring achievements in
[55:23] public service
[55:25] in witness whereof we have here and to
[55:28] set our hands and caused the Seal of
[55:31] Taran County to be affixed this ninth
[55:35] day of January
[55:39] 2024 and just as an
[55:44] [Music]
[55:45] aside I have known Eddie Bernice Johnson
[55:49] since she was elected to the Texas
[55:53] legislature in 196
[55:58] 72 in her
[56:00] passing Texas has
[56:04] lost a valuable
[56:07] resource and through this
[56:11] resolution we extend our
[56:18] prayers to her family and to the very
[56:22] many people across District
[56:26] 30 and
[56:29] Texas
[56:30] for a a life well
[56:36] lived I move approval of acceptance of
[56:39] this resolution I'll second on the
[56:41] motion all right we have a motion in a
[56:43] second uh any discussion please cast
[56:47] your
[56:49] vote all right passes unanimously thank
[56:51] you for that our next resolution
[56:54] position is uh will be presented by
[56:57] commissioner Simmons thank
[57:00] you this is uh presented to the
[57:04] Arlington Martin Luther King Jr
[57:06] celebration committee
[57:08] Incorporated on its 35th
[57:12] Anniversary I do think we have folks
[57:15] here from that celebration committee
[57:18] let's see okay I see you Aaron and
[57:22] Pastor um Jo
[57:26] um so I'll read the resolution and I'll
[57:28] ask you to come up and uh we'll take
[57:30] some
[57:31] pictures whereas the Arlington Martin
[57:34] Luther King Jr celebration committee
[57:36] Incorporated was formed in
[57:39] 1989 when representatives from Arlington
[57:43] businesses faith-based group groups
[57:46] cultural and educational
[57:48] organizations joined to create a unique
[57:51] and special tribute to Dr King and to
[57:54] honor his dream and whereas the
[57:57] inaugural celebration was held in
[58:00] 1990 and featured three days of
[58:03] activities and attracted nearly 1,000
[58:07] participants and whereas 35 years later
[58:12] the celebration
[58:14] continues as a collaboration between the
[58:17] City of Arlington Arlington Independent
[58:19] School District University of Texas at
[58:22] Arlington tarant County College
[58:25] Southeast Campus and the Arlington
[58:28] Ministerial Association and has grown to
[58:31] serve more than 6,000 people and whereas
[58:37] since its Inception the MLK observances
[58:39] continue to evolve and now spans 4 days
[58:43] and includes the 2024
[58:47] MLK advancing the dream Gayla MLK step
[58:51] show and talent showcase MLK poetry
[58:55] meets Jazz MLK Hubert Moss acumenical
[59:00] service the zeev strong Jr MLK Day of
[59:03] Service ml MLK day of uh service
[59:07] Festival MLK youth
[59:10] Extravaganza and MLK historical timeline
[59:14] exhibit and whereas the celebration
[59:18] exemplifies Dr King's vision and purpose
[59:22] encouraging positive interactions and
[59:24] and character development while bringing
[59:27] all communities together to advance the
[59:30] American dream and there is no other
[59:34] event in the nation that honors Dr King
[59:37] the way Arlington the Arlington way and
[59:41] whereas the Arlington Dr Martin Luther
[59:43] King Jr celebration success is due to
[59:46] the committee's dedication to keeping Dr
[59:48] King's Vision alive and inspiring others
[59:51] to fulfill their dreams now therefore or
[59:54] be it resolved that we the
[59:56] Commissioner's Court of Taran County do
[59:58] hereby recognize and congratulate the
[1:00:01] Arlington Martin Luther King Jr
[1:00:03] celebration committee incorporated as
[1:00:06] they commemorate 35 years of preserving
[1:00:09] the legacy of Dr King and the
[1:00:11] significance of his inspiring work
[1:00:14] further we encourage all citizens to
[1:00:17] attend and enjoy the festivities of the
[1:00:21] 2024 Arlington advancing the dream
[1:00:24] celebration that begins this Friday
[1:00:27] January 12th
[1:00:29] 2024 in witness whereof we have here
[1:00:32] unto set our hands and cause the Seal of
[1:00:35] teren County to be affixed this 9th day
[1:00:39] of January
[1:00:41] 20124 all right uh I move approval of
[1:00:45] acceptance of this resolution all right
[1:00:48] we have a motion in a second to approve
[1:00:49] the resolution any discussion right
[1:00:52] please cast your
[1:00:53] vote all right passes unanimously okay
[1:00:56] picture
[1:00:57] time so we have let me see we
[1:01:02] have okay Dr Aon parales from Arlington
[1:01:06] Independent School District what's your
[1:01:07] title now Aon because you've been up up
[1:01:09] I'm the executive director of Engagement
[1:01:11] equity and access with Arlington I and I
[1:01:13] have the honor of serving as the chair
[1:01:15] of the celebration committee this year
[1:01:17] okay did you want to add anything just
[1:01:20] on behalf of the 4-day celebration
[1:01:21] committee I like to thank joj joare
[1:01:23] commissioner Simmons and and additional
[1:01:25] Commissioners for this resolution and
[1:01:27] recognition and do invite our tan County
[1:01:29] Community to come out and celebrate the
[1:01:31] life of Legacy with of Dr Mark Lu King
[1:01:33] with us this week okay thank you and we
[1:01:37] have Pastor Jones with us are you still
[1:01:39] president of the Arlington ministerial
[1:01:41] Alliance yes sir and president of the
[1:01:44] Arlington
[1:01:45] NAACP yes sir and uh you serve on this
[1:01:49] committee yes I do absolutely and are
[1:01:52] you over The ecumenical service on
[1:01:54] Sunday yes I am okay he's the speaker
[1:01:58] I'll be there and I'd like to invite all
[1:02:01] of you to come out for this occasion
[1:02:04] especially since it was uh been this is
[1:02:07] the 35th Anniversary and what we uh like
[1:02:10] to uh reflect on greatly in Arlington is
[1:02:14] that Dr King was a member of the clergy
[1:02:18] he started out as a Baptist preacher and
[1:02:21] so especially the uh am May the arm
[1:02:25] Ministry Association and engage all
[1:02:27] takes a special pride in this year's
[1:02:30] celebration and we' like to invite all
[1:02:32] of you out for The ecumenical services
[1:02:34] at Trinity United Methodist Church uh
[1:02:38] 5:30 on Sunday afternoon where all of
[1:02:41] you will be honored for being there
[1:02:43] thank you who's The Speaker uh the
[1:02:46] speaker is the uh Bishop of the north uh
[1:02:50] Texas and Central Conference of the
[1:02:52] United Methodist uh Church Dr Reuben
[1:02:55] signs
[1:02:56] okay all
[1:02:58] [Music]
[1:03:00] right we have
[1:03:14] [Music]
[1:03:22] two here the next
[1:03:27] [Music]
[1:03:28] I'm fixing after some of the stuff I
[1:03:31] can't read
[1:03:53] anymore
[1:04:00] all right thank you gentlemen for being
[1:04:02] here uh the next item on our agenda is a
[1:04:05] proclamation uh be presented by
[1:04:07] commissioner Ramirez yes thank you um
[1:04:09] with us to accept this Proclamation is
[1:04:11] Bishop Keith akan and father Rich stogin
[1:04:15] from the Anglican dases of forworth um
[1:04:18] this is a proclamation honoring the life
[1:04:20] and the legacy of Reverend Dr Martin
[1:04:21] Luther King Jr whereas the Life and
[1:04:24] Legacy of Reverend Dr Martin Luther King
[1:04:26] Jr has left an indelible mark on the
[1:04:29] fabric of our nation promoting Liberty
[1:04:31] Justice and unity and whereas Martin
[1:04:33] Luther King's iconic I Have a Dream
[1:04:35] speech continues to resonate inspiring
[1:04:38] generations to strive for a society
[1:04:40] built on Justice impartiality
[1:04:42] Brotherhood and instilled the wisdom
[1:04:44] that individuals shall be judged by the
[1:04:46] content of their character and whereas
[1:04:49] in recognition of his unparalleled
[1:04:50] contributions to civil rights and his
[1:04:53] tireless advocacy in
[1:04:55] 1983 President Ronald Reagan signed into
[1:04:57] law the designation of the third Monday
[1:04:59] in January as a Federal holiday in honor
[1:05:02] of Martin Luther King Jr's birthday and
[1:05:04] whereas in celebrating the birthday of
[1:05:07] Martin Luther King Jr we honor an
[1:05:08] American who recognized the great
[1:05:10] Injustice of segregation and
[1:05:12] discrimination and made his life's
[1:05:14] purpose to write these wrongs in favor
[1:05:17] of Freedom fairness and Reconciliation
[1:05:19] and whereas Dr King rejected violence
[1:05:22] relying instead on his eloquence and the
[1:05:24] moral force of his convictions changing
[1:05:26] not only laws but hearts and minds and
[1:05:29] whereas on January 15th
[1:05:32] 2024 the Anglican dases dasis of Fort
[1:05:35] Worth is hosting its inaugural mass for
[1:05:37] MLK at St Vincent's Anglican cathedral
[1:05:40] representing more than 10,000 members
[1:05:43] and whereas we encourage others to stand
[1:05:46] with the Anglican dicese of Fort Worth
[1:05:47] in remembering the words of Dr King the
[1:05:50] ultimate measure of a man is not where
[1:05:52] he stands in moments of comfort and
[1:05:53] convenience
[1:05:54] but where he stands at times of
[1:05:56] Challenge and controversy let us unite
[1:05:59] and be true to the American dream he
[1:06:00] loved and strived for and now therefore
[1:06:03] be it resolved that we the Commissioners
[1:06:05] Court of Taran County do here Bri
[1:06:08] Proclaim Monday January 15th 2024 is a
[1:06:11] day of reflection and Tribute to The
[1:06:14] Life and Legacy of Dr Reverend Reverend
[1:06:16] Dr Martin Luther King Jr in witness
[1:06:19] whereof we have here unto set our hands
[1:06:21] and caused the Seal of Taran County to
[1:06:22] be affixed this 9th day of January 2024
[1:06:25] i' move for
[1:06:27] approval all right we have a motion in a
[1:06:29] second any discussion here I please cast
[1:06:31] your
[1:06:33] vote passes unanimously father stogin um
[1:06:37] Bishop aeran if you would please come
[1:06:39] forward if you have anything to add to
[1:06:40] that I would love to hear some
[1:06:43] words first of all thank you judge
[1:06:45] O'Hare County Commissioners and
[1:06:46] particularly this morning commissioner
[1:06:47] raris uh the bishop has asked me to say
[1:06:50] a few words before he renders a a
[1:06:52] blessing and words of appreciation as a
[1:06:56] uh
[1:06:57] 22y old who had come who was born in
[1:07:00] Texas and had gone to University of
[1:07:02] Wisconsin River Falls matriculated to
[1:07:04] the gam Theological Seminary in all in
[1:07:07] um Atlanta Georgia I went to 334 Aubin
[1:07:11] Avenue and there I met the third
[1:07:13] President of thec the Southern Christian
[1:07:16] leadership conference who was a founder
[1:07:18] of that organization he invited me
[1:07:20] eventually to his office and I didn't
[1:07:22] realize in the beginning but then as I
[1:07:24] sat there I saw several books I saw
[1:07:28] several shelves but the chair was
[1:07:31] different and so were the some of the
[1:07:32] photos it was the office of Martin
[1:07:35] Luther King Jr and I worked for them as
[1:07:37] an undercover operative forc while in
[1:07:41] seminary and then moved to kesco
[1:07:43] Mississippi where I lived across the
[1:07:45] street my family and I at the time from
[1:07:48] the Grand Dragon of the cuas clan and I
[1:07:50] called upon SCC and Dr low and a team to
[1:07:54] help us with some of the issues that we
[1:07:55] were doing and as a Baptist educated
[1:07:58] Minister that he was and I never met Dr
[1:08:00] King but I met his father I met his
[1:08:02] widow I met his children I met his
[1:08:05] nieces and nephews and I met Julian bun
[1:08:08] I met those people and they were very
[1:08:10] interesting commissioner rarez as you
[1:08:12] read so eloquently about moral standards
[1:08:17] and about being about family and about
[1:08:19] Justice for All Americans and so this
[1:08:22] this morning on this very glorious day I
[1:08:24] wanted to share those quick stories with
[1:08:26] you to let you know that I had a
[1:08:28] personal interest and a personal
[1:08:30] involvement and they taught me about the
[1:08:32] necessity of having moral standards and
[1:08:35] not being uh people who were pickle but
[1:08:39] people who stood in moral situations
[1:08:42] that are not always easy as we witness
[1:08:45] sometimes in our County and so with that
[1:08:48] I want to thank you all for rendering us
[1:08:50] the opportunity to breathe This
[1:08:52] Magnificent um
[1:08:54] uh Proclamation and I want to thank the
[1:08:56] staff your staff particularly
[1:08:58] commissioner raris for being very uh
[1:09:00] very very engaged in this whole process
[1:09:03] and I want to thank the people for doing
[1:09:05] this because this is an honor and we
[1:09:08] give you uh our praise with that I would
[1:09:11] like to introduce Bishop Keith aaman our
[1:09:13] suffering Bishop of the Anglican dasis
[1:09:16] of Fort
[1:09:18] Worth thank you very much it's a great
[1:09:21] privilege to be with all of you and to
[1:09:24] new friendships and relationships and
[1:09:27] likewise to be able to make new ones on
[1:09:29] a very personal note I'm the priest who
[1:09:32] was called in over three decades ago to
[1:09:34] anoint the bodies of those uh attorneys
[1:09:37] who were shot and killed and I had the
[1:09:40] privilege of being able to minister to
[1:09:42] all the families there the survivors and
[1:09:45] the staff so this is a very special
[1:09:48] moment for me because that time I was
[1:09:50] able to see Taran County come together
[1:09:53] and to be able to take care of what was
[1:09:55] important in a very special way so thank
[1:10:00] you I also uh am very honored because as
[1:10:05] president of the Arlington Ministerial
[1:10:07] Association 20 years ago uh we started
[1:10:11] what you heard about earlier and I am
[1:10:13] thrilled that this has continued to be
[1:10:15] the case thank you that says a great
[1:10:17] deal about all of you who are present
[1:10:19] here and I can never thank you enough so
[1:10:22] it is with great joy that I'm able to on
[1:10:25] behalf of the dicese of Fort Worth
[1:10:28] accept this
[1:10:29] remarkable um these remarkable words
[1:10:32] have been articulated but also with the
[1:10:35] promise to let you know that for us it's
[1:10:37] not merely a matter of receiving uh the
[1:10:40] recognition of doing this but rather
[1:10:42] that is purely symbolic of the ministry
[1:10:45] and our resolve to make sure that those
[1:10:48] things which have divided people in the
[1:10:50] past will not divide people anymore and
[1:10:53] as we worship uh the one true God let us
[1:10:56] pray Mighty and everlasting God we thank
[1:10:59] you for loving us so much that you allow
[1:11:02] us to live in places where we can serve
[1:11:06] you where your name can be
[1:11:10] uttered where we can join
[1:11:13] together where we can be brought
[1:11:15] together by those things which unite
[1:11:18] us and we thank you Lord for putting
[1:11:21] people in leadership who are aware
[1:11:25] of the fact that the gifts have been
[1:11:27] given by you and for them always to
[1:11:30] acknowledge those talents as they do and
[1:11:33] to depend upon your
[1:11:36] grace Empower them strengthen and
[1:11:39] console them in all times especially
[1:11:42] those who are working to make us one in
[1:11:45] the name of Jesus Christ we
[1:11:48] pray thank you Bishop stick around down
[1:11:50] there for a photo right
[1:11:52] okay
[1:11:59] your way
[1:12:04] [Music]
[1:12:22] sorry
[1:12:32] [Music]
[1:12:35] all right thank you both for being
[1:12:44] here now we move to our consent agenda
[1:12:47] the consent agenda is amended a12 E3 F3
[1:12:51] and G2 removed do we have any comment
[1:12:53] comments discussion or motion on the
[1:12:55] consent as amended move approval of the
[1:12:58] consent amend we have a motion and a
[1:13:01] second to approve the consent agenda as
[1:13:03] amended any
[1:13:05] discussion please cast your
[1:13:09] vote all right it passes
[1:13:11] unanimously which takes us
[1:13:16] to item
[1:13:19] A1 Mr Merritt yes sir uh again good
[1:13:24] morning Court members this is a request
[1:13:25] for the approval of amendment to the
[1:13:26] agreement between Taran County Hospital
[1:13:29] District dbaa is JPS Health Network and
[1:13:31] HJ wrestling company for the JPS
[1:13:33] temporary parking project East Campus
[1:13:35] the only additional comment I'll make on
[1:13:36] this is this does represent the final
[1:13:38] guaranteed maximum price for this
[1:13:40] project and it is within budget uh as
[1:13:42] set by the hospital District board move
[1:13:45] approval second all right we have a
[1:13:48] motion and a second to approve this
[1:13:50] amendment to the agreement between JPS
[1:13:53] and HJ Russell and Company for the
[1:13:55] temporary parking project any
[1:13:58] discussion right seeing none please cast
[1:14:00] your
[1:14:02] vote passes unanimously item
[1:14:05] A2 uh again Court members approval of a
[1:14:08] work package authorization number two
[1:14:10] between Taran County Hospital District
[1:14:12] DBA JPS Health Network and Beck uh puter
[1:14:15] joint venture for design build Services
[1:14:17] related to the new parking garage
[1:14:18] located at St Louis and Magnolia Avenue
[1:14:20] this is only work package number two of
[1:14:23] this designed build but is still
[1:14:24] anticipated that this project will be in
[1:14:26] budget as well move
[1:14:28] approval we have a motion of a second
[1:14:30] any discussion on this
[1:14:32] item all right seeing none please
[1:14:36] vote this too passes unanimously thank
[1:14:39] you next up is item A3 which is approval
[1:14:42] of out of state travel
[1:14:44] requests move approv second we have a
[1:14:47] motion a second to approve these out of
[1:14:48] state travel requests any discussion on
[1:14:50] these
[1:14:51] items I seeing none please cast your
[1:14:56] vote passes
[1:14:58] unanimously from consent we now have
[1:15:01] item
[1:15:02] a12 uh we do have speakers on this also
[1:15:06] so item
[1:15:08] [Applause]
[1:15:09] A2 good
[1:15:12] morning I'm seeking approval of an
[1:15:15] interlocal agreement between Taran
[1:15:17] County and the University of North Texas
[1:15:20] Health Science Center concerning Taran
[1:15:21] County's burial program now do any
[1:15:24] Commissioners have any questions
[1:15:27] comments on this
[1:15:28] item um so I just want to be
[1:15:31] clear
[1:15:33] these the
[1:15:37] deceased do we have permission from
[1:15:41] their families to donate the bodies yes
[1:15:44] we do and I also have Claudia yellow the
[1:15:47] will body director um represented from
[1:15:50] un and Dr Rustin Reeves director of
[1:15:54] Center for anatomical Sciences if you
[1:15:57] have any
[1:15:59] questions all right any other questions
[1:16:02] from the
[1:16:03] court all right we have two people
[1:16:06] signed up to speak to this item first is
[1:16:07] lon
[1:16:20] Burnham good morning everybody and hope
[1:16:23] you have a great new year um I'm L bham
[1:16:26] I live here in Fort Worth and I've
[1:16:27] spoken to you on a number of occasions
[1:16:29] I'm particularly concerned about this
[1:16:31] the morality of the current policy and I
[1:16:35] want to speak to it this way uh my late
[1:16:38] father-in-law was a medical doctor I
[1:16:40] have every intention to put my deceased
[1:16:43] body to good use uh for academic study
[1:16:48] but that's my choice my concern here is
[1:16:52] that you're not giving the choice to
[1:16:56] these deceased poppers in fact you may
[1:17:00] be denying their basic religious rights
[1:17:03] it is a cultural tradition in this
[1:17:05] country that we bury our cremate people
[1:17:10] that's not what I want from my body my
[1:17:12] parents had difficulty making that
[1:17:14] transition from bury to Cremation
[1:17:17] because of traditional religious values
[1:17:20] we are not in a position to know what
[1:17:23] these deceased people have as their
[1:17:25] religious values we should not violate
[1:17:28] those religious values we should find a
[1:17:30] better way I'm not the articulate person
[1:17:33] on this issue the good ethics Professor
[1:17:36] who signed up to speak after me is much
[1:17:38] more articulate but I want to raise this
[1:17:40] as a moral and ethical issue we should
[1:17:43] be willing to spend the money that's
[1:17:45] necessary to spend to respect a person's
[1:17:48] religious values which they may or may
[1:17:50] not have and we're not in a position to
[1:17:52] know thank you thank you next is Eli
[1:17:57] [Music]
[1:18:03] shup hi
[1:18:05] there so I am a professor and a medical
[1:18:08] ethicist here in tant county and I'm
[1:18:10] here speaking in opposition to the
[1:18:11] renewal of this agreement in its current
[1:18:13] form and my issue with it is basically
[1:18:16] this so contrary to what you just
[1:18:19] heard the family the next kin of the
[1:18:22] deceased they do have to consent to this
[1:18:25] use of their relatives body if they can
[1:18:29] be located in cases when the deceased
[1:18:32] has no NEX of kin or the NEX of kin
[1:18:35] cannot be located currently under the
[1:18:37] interlocal agreement those bodies are
[1:18:40] just given to the medical school to be
[1:18:42] used for medical teaching and research
[1:18:44] which amounts to
[1:18:45] dissection okay so and in the past the
[1:18:49] court you know hasn't been insensitive
[1:18:51] to this issue and that's the reason why
[1:18:54] the current agreement stipulates that a
[1:18:57] person who was known to belong to a
[1:18:58] particular religious faith that
[1:19:00] precludes this kind of use their body
[1:19:02] shouldn't be used okay but like my
[1:19:05] friend L Burnham said we don't always
[1:19:07] know the faith of the deceased sometimes
[1:19:09] we have very little information and
[1:19:12] religion is far from the only reason not
[1:19:14] to want to be naked on a slab after you
[1:19:17] die cut apart by
[1:19:18] strangers okay my own view is that
[1:19:21] nobody's body should be dissected
[1:19:23] without either their prior consent or
[1:19:25] permission from their next ofkin if
[1:19:28] there are no next ofkin or if next ofkin
[1:19:30] cannot be located then I believe that
[1:19:33] that person's body should not be used
[1:19:35] for medical teaching or research period
[1:19:39] it will cost the county more to do what
[1:19:41] is right by these
[1:19:43] people but that's money that needs to be
[1:19:46] spent so medicine in north Texas has a
[1:19:49] dark historical Legacy of grave robbing
[1:19:53] particularly in poor and vulnerable
[1:19:55] communities and what the county has been
[1:19:57] enabling with this ongoing interlocal
[1:20:00] agreement with un Health Science Center
[1:20:03] is tantamount to grave robbing without a
[1:20:05] middleman these people just don't go in
[1:20:07] the ground first nobody's asked their
[1:20:10] permission to use their bodies in this
[1:20:12] way after they die and nobody's nobody's
[1:20:16] been asked at
[1:20:17] all so these cadavers they are
[1:20:20] essentially these medical students first
[1:20:23] patients that is an important right of
[1:20:25] passage and I think it's important that
[1:20:28] these first patients have been donated
[1:20:31] not merely taken and used so I myself am
[1:20:35] a wed body donor with un Health Science
[1:20:38] Center I will go there after I
[1:20:41] die I don't want my next door neighbor
[1:20:44] in the anatomy lab to be somebody who
[1:20:47] died in poverty in this County and had
[1:20:50] no next of kin or loved ones to see to
[1:20:53] their
[1:20:54] Arrangements thank you thank
[1:20:57] you all right any questions from the
[1:20:59] court
[1:21:02] members any comments I would just like
[1:21:05] to
[1:21:06] comment that
[1:21:09] uh there is an OP opt
[1:21:14] out for those with religious objections
[1:21:18] and other kinds of rection objections
[1:21:23] to
[1:21:25] the use of of these bodies for uh
[1:21:30] medical
[1:21:35] training when persons
[1:21:38] die
[1:21:41] without loved ones that we know about or
[1:21:46] anyone to step forward and take
[1:21:51] responsibility this program has worked
[1:21:55] well uh in terms of
[1:22:01] providing an opportunity for medical
[1:22:05] research that benefits the entire
[1:22:09] community at
[1:22:12] large
[1:22:16] uh so I move
[1:22:19] approval of this
[1:22:21] program second all right we have a
[1:22:23] motion to approve in a second um further
[1:22:26] comments or discussion what does it cost
[1:22:29] the county to vary
[1:22:34] Lisa about
[1:22:35] $1,200 I think we did this a couple
[1:22:38] years ago
[1:22:39] [Music]
[1:22:42] okay are you about to answer that
[1:22:44] question yes okay
[1:22:46] yes so um for unidentified uh varials uh
[1:22:52] we spend
[1:22:53] approximately um
[1:22:56] $2,100 to bury
[1:22:58] unidentified how many total people are
[1:23:01] we talking about during the course of a
[1:23:02] year oh so for 2023 fiscal year
[1:23:07] 2023 um there was 146 cremations uh at
[1:23:12] un reimbursed to un and then there was
[1:23:15] three
[1:23:17] unidentified so what now there
[1:23:21] were
[1:23:23] 146 cremations reimbursed to un Health
[1:23:27] Science Center and by saying that are
[1:23:28] you saying there's 146 that were bodies
[1:23:31] used for medical science that were then
[1:23:33] ultimately cremated no they were they
[1:23:35] were cremated those were not the numbers
[1:23:38] of how many were a will body let me call
[1:23:42] 146 unidentified no no no three
[1:23:48] unidentified I believe it's what you
[1:23:50] Dr come up
[1:23:54] he has the numbers uh the statistics for
[1:23:57] all that were donated and then the ones
[1:23:59] that were
[1:24:01] [Music]
[1:24:10] cremated last year we received around in
[1:24:13] fact we received around 200 a year from
[1:24:15] the county and of those that we received
[1:24:18] we we use about onethird of those uh for
[1:24:22] either medical research uh teaching or
[1:24:25] or uh in our education programs some of
[1:24:29] those are not disected in fact about
[1:24:31] half of those are not dissected you
[1:24:33] receive 200
[1:24:36] what donors from these would be
[1:24:38] unclaimed bodies unimed bodies thank
[1:24:41] very
[1:24:43] much we received 178 in 2020 195 in
[1:24:48] 2021 203 in 2022 and 205 last year so it
[1:24:53] average is about 200 a year of those 200
[1:24:57] bodies you said approximately a third
[1:25:00] end up being used for medical science
[1:25:02] okay of the ones that aren't used for
[1:25:04] medical science you then cremate them
[1:25:07] yes sir okay of the ones that are used
[1:25:09] for medical science what whatever is
[1:25:11] done with them is done with them and
[1:25:13] then are they cremated yes sir okay of
[1:25:16] those that are used in medical science
[1:25:20] how many of them do you get permission
[1:25:23] from someone to do this
[1:25:27] to yeah I I don't have that
[1:25:32] number who has that number we can get to
[1:25:35] you that number yes sir okay well I'm
[1:25:37] sure we can get it does anybody have it
[1:25:39] who who would who is the one seeking the
[1:25:41] permission un or Taran County for the
[1:25:45] well it's staff that's requesting the
[1:25:46] court to approve the agreement so it's
[1:25:48] inter local between un and yeah what I'm
[1:25:51] asking is
[1:25:52] when someone contacts the family and
[1:25:55] says do we have permission to do this
[1:25:57] who is doing the contacting un or tarant
[1:26:00] County both there are instances where
[1:26:04] the county is contacting the family
[1:26:05] there saying can we use the body for
[1:26:07] medical science for the family to step
[1:26:10] forward and make arrangements or donate
[1:26:12] yes sir but of the ones that that I
[1:26:15] don't I'm not sure how to say it but on
[1:26:17] the ones that are used for medical
[1:26:20] science you nobody here can tell me
[1:26:22] today how many of them are given
[1:26:24] permission by Family correct okay I'll
[1:26:28] that
[1:26:32] okay last year we used 73 total
[1:26:37] okay uh other questions comments3
[1:26:42] unclaimed bodies got
[1:26:45] it okay all right other questions or
[1:26:48] comments from the court we do have a
[1:26:49] motion in a second is there an urg
[1:26:53] for us to pass
[1:26:55] this or I would have to ask Dr crowns
[1:26:58] because the typically the the bodies are
[1:27:01] kept at the medical examiner's office
[1:27:02] till they're transported over so we
[1:27:03] would just have to ask from a capacity
[1:27:05] standpoint if if he could continue to
[1:27:06] hold it and Dr crowns is
[1:27:12] [Music]
[1:27:21] here
[1:27:24] did you ask
[1:27:34] about so yes if Dr Crown says we do have
[1:27:36] space available at the work so if we
[1:27:39] need to hold two weeks to to work
[1:27:40] through this we certainly
[1:27:42] can okay thank you um can we go back to
[1:27:46] the cost of
[1:27:48] burial does that include what does that
[1:27:51] include us finding the the plot or is
[1:27:54] there or so um the body is at the
[1:27:57] medical examiner's office uh the
[1:28:00] investigator does his due diligent to
[1:28:02] locate family members if it's
[1:28:04] unidentified uh the medical examiner has
[1:28:08] a uh Funeral Home rotation and usually
[1:28:11] typically the major um picks up the body
[1:28:15] so it starts with the uh actual
[1:28:18] Transportation picking up the body
[1:28:20] transportation to the facility and then
[1:28:22] preparation and uh burial um and like I
[1:28:26] said major funeral home is the one that
[1:28:29] has responded to the
[1:28:31] unidentified and they use uh Sky
[1:28:35] View for the
[1:28:38] interment and by law unidentified bodies
[1:28:41] cannot be
[1:28:44] cremated and then it looks like we're
[1:28:48] charged we have to pay a fee for those
[1:28:52] deceased to can't be used that is
[1:28:57] correct through un they um invoice us
[1:29:00] and that's $300 part dece
[1:29:04] there so we give them a an unclaimed
[1:29:08] body if it can't be used we have to pay
[1:29:12] yes to have given them the unclaimed
[1:29:14] body
[1:29:16] $300 per
[1:29:18] deceased
[1:29:20] okay um
[1:29:25] all
[1:29:26] right all right any other questions or
[1:29:29] comments from the court
[1:29:31] members all right seeing none we do have
[1:29:34] a motion in a second please cast your
[1:29:39] vote all right it passes 4 to one thank
[1:29:43] you thank you next item on the agenda is
[1:29:49] [Music]
[1:29:50] E3
[1:29:53] and E3
[1:29:56] is a request for the court to receive
[1:29:58] and file a fully executed copy of the
[1:30:00] contract for Legal Services between
[1:30:03] tarant County the district's attorney's
[1:30:05] office and the tarant County Hospital
[1:30:07] District we have two people signed up to
[1:30:10] speak to this item judge oare members of
[1:30:13] the Court good morning uh the criminal
[1:30:14] District Attorney's office is asking the
[1:30:16] court to receive and file a fully
[1:30:19] executed copy of the agreement between
[1:30:21] the CDA
[1:30:22] and uh JPS the hospital district for
[1:30:24] Legal Services back in September of 2023
[1:30:27] this court approved the agreement with
[1:30:29] JPS for Legal Services at the time the
[1:30:32] court considered that agreement the
[1:30:34] hospital Board of managers had also
[1:30:36] approved it however there was no
[1:30:39] signature page that had been transmitted
[1:30:41] to Taran County from the hospital
[1:30:43] District at that time uh this now what
[1:30:46] the court is being asked to do is simply
[1:30:47] a belt suspenders measure to make sure
[1:30:49] that there is a fully executed copy of
[1:30:51] the agree on file uh in the
[1:30:53] Commissioner's Court records and our
[1:30:56] criminal district attorney approves of
[1:30:58] this contract yes judge he does and he
[1:31:00] has signed it all right any questions
[1:31:02] for Mr kaville any comments from the
[1:31:05] court all right our first speaker is L
[1:31:08] [Music]
[1:31:20] Burnham
[1:31:22] [Music]
[1:31:35] I really have more questions than
[1:31:36] anything else I'm concerned about the
[1:31:39] continuing way that we're doing this
[1:31:42] process and U maybe I need to address
[1:31:44] that to the DA's office in a private
[1:31:47] conversation thank you all right next we
[1:31:49] have Nan Terry
[1:31:58] good morning thank you for the
[1:31:59] opportunity to speak I'm not opposed to
[1:32:01] this payment but we all all have bills
[1:32:04] to pay but are these costs included in
[1:32:06] the cost to the jail and I understand
[1:32:09] we're building the hospital District but
[1:32:11] sometimes those Hospital District might
[1:32:12] not be the right person to build for
[1:32:14] example I believe JPS should not be the
[1:32:17] responsible for the cost of treatment
[1:32:19] for the injuries due to Cory Rodriguez
[1:32:22] he was injured by the result of a
[1:32:25] beating by Taran County jailers in the
[1:32:27] Taran County Jail should the hospital
[1:32:29] District really be on the hook for the
[1:32:31] surgeries the treatment and the
[1:32:33] hospitalizations and could we somehow
[1:32:36] ask the auditor and the DA's office to
[1:32:39] look at these costs instead of just
[1:32:41] blanketly asking the hospital to pay for
[1:32:43] these costs and attribute some of these
[1:32:46] costs to the jail if they are actually
[1:32:48] costs that should be incurred by the
[1:32:50] jail
[1:32:52] okay thank
[1:32:54] you okay so I will make a motion to
[1:32:57] receive and file a fully executed copy
[1:32:59] of the contract for Legal Services
[1:33:00] between tarant County the cda's office
[1:33:02] and tarant County Hospital District
[1:33:04] second we have a second we have any
[1:33:07] discussion all right please cast your
[1:33:12] vote all right passes
[1:33:16] unanimously next
[1:33:17] [Music]
[1:33:20] up
[1:33:22] is
[1:33:24] F3 and
[1:33:26] F3 is something with Michael
[1:33:29] Amador good morning my members of the
[1:33:32] good morning what is F3 it's approval of
[1:33:35] change order number two there it is K
[1:33:38] industry LLC contract for the Scott more
[1:33:41] Juvenile Justice Center juvenile project
[1:33:44] in the amount of $
[1:33:47] 34,7 is this a generator rental is this
[1:33:51] a a rental or a permit it's a permanent
[1:33:55] but we're waiting for the arrival of the
[1:33:57] new generators Comm commissioner so
[1:33:59] we're renting the temporary until they
[1:34:01] arrive they're scheduled to arrive next
[1:34:03] week so this is you want us to approve
[1:34:09] the temporary that's correct the the
[1:34:12] rental price for that temporary for the
[1:34:14] months of November October and
[1:34:17] November okay I I've seen these
[1:34:21] generator rentals on several Court
[1:34:24] communic Cas it it seems um and I'm glad
[1:34:29] to see
[1:34:31] that you know we're this is in support
[1:34:33] of a permanent solution at the Juvenile
[1:34:38] Justice Center um so I appreciate the
[1:34:41] effort
[1:34:43] um make me understand the rentals
[1:34:48] um do I understand correctly that many
[1:34:51] of our Taran County
[1:34:54] buildings were built without backup
[1:34:57] generators uh we have some buildings
[1:34:59] that do not have generator backup
[1:35:02] systems that is
[1:35:03] correct and do I understand that we are
[1:35:07] on year two of renting generators how
[1:35:10] long have we been for juvenile for
[1:35:14] throughout the county it vares your
[1:35:16] honor it vares commissioner I apologize
[1:35:19] uh at the Mansville Sub Courthouse this
[1:35:20] is the second second year we'll be
[1:35:22] Renning uh generators for the winter
[1:35:24] months at the election center we uh
[1:35:27] bring in a backup generator during the
[1:35:30] election season the two SE the two
[1:35:32] elections for approximately three weeks
[1:35:34] each time at the preed maintenance
[1:35:36] center 2 precin maintenance center four
[1:35:39] we'll bring in backup generators during
[1:35:41] the winter months as well that protects
[1:35:43] the fuel Islands so that fuel is
[1:35:45] available for the crews that have to
[1:35:48] work during the winter months Etc
[1:35:52] so given the number of rentals and the
[1:35:55] fact that the cost is recurring annually
[1:35:59] until we get permanent
[1:36:01] installation is it time for the county
[1:36:04] to put together a
[1:36:06] comprehensive prioritized permanent
[1:36:09] generator installation program uh we've
[1:36:12] done that uh commissioner we've actually
[1:36:15] evaluate all the generator emergency
[1:36:17] Power Systems in all of our buildings
[1:36:20] and as uh we be including backup
[1:36:22] generators as part of our um capital
[1:36:25] budget submissions each year for various
[1:36:28] buildings Etc okay it just doesn't seem
[1:36:31] economical to keep renting these things
[1:36:34] how are we paying for the rentals uh we
[1:36:37] pay for out of operating funds or
[1:36:38] maintenance funds it's not ARA or
[1:36:41] anything like that they're just
[1:36:43] operating funds okay I've heard that
[1:36:46] there are possible um Federal earmark
[1:36:50] funds for building additions like
[1:36:53] generators which um can be said to
[1:36:56] accommodate some form of of an Emergency
[1:37:00] Operations Center have we explored that
[1:37:03] at all like can a building be designated
[1:37:06] an
[1:37:06] EOC I help with that we the
[1:37:09] administrator's office is actually aware
[1:37:10] of some of those grants and we are
[1:37:11] looking to pursue some dollars so there
[1:37:13] to to Mike's Point we've been working on
[1:37:15] a longer term Capital Improvement flame
[1:37:17] for the entire County inclusive in that
[1:37:18] is the more permanent installation of
[1:37:20] generators of facil that don't currently
[1:37:22] have them okay yeah it just doesn't make
[1:37:24] sense to to keep renting okay thank you
[1:37:27] thank you Mike this I am
[1:37:30] a matter of priority for me because
[1:37:35] during my first
[1:37:38] election for
[1:37:42] commissioner the power went out in the
[1:37:45] early voting
[1:37:47] Center at the Miller Avenue sub
[1:37:53] Courthouse five
[1:37:55] times during the election
[1:37:59] cycle and that's a very heavily used
[1:38:04] site it made no damn sense
[1:38:12] to to cut the voting period
[1:38:16] short because there was a backup
[1:38:20] generator
[1:38:22] so I guess I'm I'm
[1:38:26] responsible for
[1:38:29] um the demand for backup
[1:38:32] generators for County build buildings
[1:38:35] and
[1:38:38] I proudly bear that
[1:38:44] weight um I I want all buildings to have
[1:38:47] a backup generator I I want us to stop
[1:38:50] renting them is is my point um and the
[1:38:55] Mansville subcourthouse I've been here a
[1:38:58] year uh and so we've had numerous
[1:39:02] problems in the winter and summer months
[1:39:04] so I would like a permanent solution um
[1:39:08] instead of us renting these things but
[1:39:11] so that's my point I I want every
[1:39:14] facility to have a backup
[1:39:15] gener thank you Mike yes all right do we
[1:39:19] have a motion on item F3 for approval
[1:39:22] second we have a motion in a second to
[1:39:23] approve F3 which is approving a change
[1:39:26] order change order number two to the K
[1:39:28] industrial contract for the Scott deore
[1:39:30] Juvenile Justice Center generator
[1:39:31] project any further
[1:39:34] discussion all right please cast your
[1:39:37] vote passes unanimously thank you next
[1:39:41] up is item G2 no no is G1 receive and
[1:39:44] file the Personnel
[1:39:46] agenda Mo to receive and file the
[1:39:49] Personnel agenda second we have a motion
[1:39:52] in a second to receive and file the
[1:39:53] Personnel agenda any discussion there
[1:39:56] all right please cast your
[1:39:58] vote passes unanimously then from
[1:40:01] consent we have item
[1:40:04] G2 we do uh good morning Happy New Year
[1:40:08] uh thank you so with item two we're
[1:40:11] asking the court to approve uh changes
[1:40:15] to the table of
[1:40:16] organization for the uh County
[1:40:18] administrator's office as well as the
[1:40:20] county Judge's office this is a two-part
[1:40:24] uh request the first part uh is that the
[1:40:26] request is for the
[1:40:28] HIV uh Consortium from the county
[1:40:31] administrator's office to move over to
[1:40:34] the county judges uh office the court
[1:40:37] may recall in September of last year the
[1:40:41] HIV planning Council coordinator
[1:40:43] position moved from uh the county
[1:40:47] administrator's office to the county
[1:40:48] judge's office and so this this uh most
[1:40:51] recent request then would uh actually uh
[1:40:54] Place both those um or or place the
[1:40:58] Consortium um along with the planning um
[1:41:02] Council coordinator position in the
[1:41:05] county judges to the second part of the
[1:41:07] request is to retitle uh the community
[1:41:11] in court leaza that's Natalie roses uh
[1:41:14] vacancy Natalie retired and so the judge
[1:41:17] is requesting that her position be
[1:41:19] retitled or and position be retitled to
[1:41:23] operations uh
[1:41:25] assistant uh and then of course that uh
[1:41:28] position would reports to uh Andy W in
[1:41:31] the county Judge's office um if I didn't
[1:41:34] give you an effective date the request
[1:41:36] is that both uh things uh be made
[1:41:39] effective January 16th there is no
[1:41:42] fiscal
[1:41:45] impact okay so I um I just wanted to
[1:41:49] comment on this this
[1:41:51] item because I admit that I have some
[1:41:55] concern and I'm hoping that by making
[1:41:59] this reorganization move um you know we
[1:42:03] realize that we are out of federal
[1:42:07] compliance uh with Ryan White procedures
[1:42:11] in some
[1:42:12] cases and the PIV pival importance of
[1:42:17] this funding um I I've done some
[1:42:21] research I've had my staff do some
[1:42:24] research on the federal requirements of
[1:42:26] the Ryan White
[1:42:28] funding
[1:42:30] and you know I've learned some things on
[1:42:33] some of the central elements where we
[1:42:35] currently don't seem to be in
[1:42:37] compliance um so hopefully this new
[1:42:40] judge will be you'll handle this since
[1:42:45] it's going under but first let's talk
[1:42:47] about the legislatively required
[1:42:50] planning Council and per the legislation
[1:42:52] the planning council is intended to be
[1:42:54] an organization that is reflective of
[1:42:57] the communities in our County most
[1:42:59] impacted by HIV in fact it is a
[1:43:02] legislative requirement that
[1:43:05] 33% of the planning Council be
[1:43:07] unaffiliated clients of Ryan white
[1:43:10] meaning people with HIV and receiving
[1:43:12] services from what I am aware you can
[1:43:16] correct me or your new staff can um it
[1:43:21] does not appear that we are in
[1:43:22] compliance with this 33% requirement in
[1:43:25] any way shape or
[1:43:28] form also the federal guidance also
[1:43:31] repeatedly emphasizes that the planning
[1:43:33] Council quote look like the epidemic of
[1:43:37] HIV and AIDS in the eligible area in
[1:43:40] Taran County per the AIDS view.org map
[1:43:45] 76 12% of HIV positive individuals are
[1:43:49] men and yet that based on my reading of
[1:43:53] one of the agendas that I was actually
[1:43:56] able to find um the planning Council or
[1:44:00] seven of nine planning council members
[1:44:03] were women um so that doesn't sound like
[1:44:06] it's reflective of the of the population
[1:44:09] that is federally
[1:44:12] mandated um
[1:44:15] but it also makes sense because I
[1:44:18] believe that was also the meeting where
[1:44:21] the planning Council bylaws were changed
[1:44:23] I think that was in
[1:44:25] October October 20 October
[1:44:29] 26 and the planning Council bylaws were
[1:44:32] changed in the previous bylaws it stated
[1:44:35] that quote particular consideration
[1:44:38] shall be given to disproportionately
[1:44:41] affected and historically underserved
[1:44:44] groups however in the updated bylaws
[1:44:46] that language was removed entirely even
[1:44:50] though it came directly from the federal
[1:44:52] program guidance um and finally I'm I'm
[1:44:55] concerned about transparency the Ryan
[1:44:58] White part a manual clearly states that
[1:45:01] detailed minutes of each meeting of the
[1:45:02] council shall be kept meetings must be
[1:45:06] public and announced and should be
[1:45:08] available to the public within 6 weeks
[1:45:10] after the meeting date and yet I went on
[1:45:14] to the north Texas North Central Texas
[1:45:17] HIV planning Council website where all
[1:45:20] of our meeting minutes were previously
[1:45:24] displayed and found nothing there since
[1:45:26] March of
[1:45:28] 2023 um I can still see the
[1:45:32] agendas um because they were filed by
[1:45:35] her tan County Clerk but there seems to
[1:45:37] be no minutes um at from these meetings
[1:45:41] showing what was discussed so judge I I
[1:45:45] think this is a good move
[1:45:47] um I'm confident you'll
[1:45:51] oversight and um get these
[1:45:54] non-compliance issues rectified and I'm
[1:45:56] here to help in any way and would be
[1:45:58] happy to assist in reaching out to um
[1:46:02] qualified individuals to help populate
[1:46:05] that planning Council if if you need
[1:46:07] help um that's we talked about this last
[1:46:10] time and closed and so I decided to go
[1:46:14] take a look at it and and became
[1:46:18] concerned so I'm I think this this might
[1:46:22] [Music]
[1:46:23] be that's all I had the without
[1:46:26] addressing Point by point there are now
[1:46:28] 12 members okay
[1:46:31] um when I took this office on January
[1:46:34] the
[1:46:35] 1st uh as we've discussed the uh Federal
[1:46:40] audit of the planning Council called
[1:46:43] this without quoting the exact words the
[1:46:46] biggest disaster they've ever seen of
[1:46:48] any planning Council okay and so we
[1:46:53] reconstituted the planning Council uh
[1:46:56] and are still in the process of doing
[1:46:57] that and and probably interview someone
[1:47:00] for that
[1:47:01] board certainly on a monthly basis maybe
[1:47:05] even a bi-weekly
[1:47:06] basis uh as far as the 33% requirement
[1:47:10] you referenced I think we are one short
[1:47:12] at this point uh we have sent text
[1:47:15] messages to every single
[1:47:17] recipient in tarant County that has a
[1:47:21] cell phone number uh didn't get a lot of
[1:47:23] response we have reached out to nurses
[1:47:26] hospitals uh JPS nonprofits
[1:47:30] churches um and uh but we are we're one
[1:47:33] short of that one particular requirement
[1:47:35] but it's been a work in progress trying
[1:47:37] to clean it up once uh the planning
[1:47:40] Council came under our supervision and I
[1:47:43] believe that took effect the end of
[1:47:46] September or the beginning of October so
[1:47:48] uh someone on the planning Council staff
[1:47:51] had
[1:47:51] resigned uh left uh I would tell you
[1:47:55] that was the person that should be
[1:47:56] posting the minutes um they're they've
[1:47:59] now been replaced by someone that I have
[1:48:02] confidence in and this whole way this
[1:48:05] was set up where the County Judge is the
[1:48:07] CEO of the program but all the employees
[1:48:09] report to the County Administrator is
[1:48:12] just nonsensical so our first step in
[1:48:15] the process was to move the planning
[1:48:17] Council director to my office we have
[1:48:19] done our next step in the process which
[1:48:22] GK was in support of and so is chanler
[1:48:25] obviously because it's here was to move
[1:48:27] it all under our office and we will make
[1:48:29] sure we comply with all rules and laws
[1:48:31] and make sure things are done correctly
[1:48:32] once they're all under my office thank
[1:48:34] you
[1:48:35] yes okay any other questions or
[1:48:40] comments all right do we have a motion
[1:48:42] to approve
[1:48:44] G2 so move all right we have a motion do
[1:48:47] we have a second second all right any
[1:48:49] further disc discussion on item
[1:48:51] G2 all right seeing none please cast
[1:48:53] your
[1:48:55] vote all right passes unanimously judge
[1:48:58] if I can take just uh a moment please to
[1:49:01] remind our employees um those who may
[1:49:05] have uh
[1:49:07] concerns uh after the explosion uh
[1:49:11] yesterday um we have uh gotten some uh
[1:49:14] we've received some
[1:49:17] um uh reach Outreach from employees uh
[1:49:21] who were a bit shaken up by what
[1:49:23] happened yesterday and so I just want to
[1:49:26] remind employees that the county does uh
[1:49:28] offer an employee assistance uh
[1:49:32] program that's available at no cost to
[1:49:34] employees so if employees um feel like
[1:49:38] they need someone to talk to um please
[1:49:41] uh reach out to our payroll and Benefit
[1:49:43] Service Center we're here on the third
[1:49:45] floor of this building you can reach
[1:49:47] them directly at extension 2861
[1:49:51] and we'll be happy to um provide you
[1:49:54] information on our employee assistance
[1:49:57] uh program and there is um a feature of
[1:50:01] our plan that allows if a department is
[1:50:04] so interested we can certainly have
[1:50:06] someone come on site and talk to groups
[1:50:08] of employees at the same time if any
[1:50:11] Department believes that that's
[1:50:12] necessary so anyway just wanted to
[1:50:15] remind employees that that benefit is
[1:50:17] available at no cost hey thank thank you
[1:50:21] next up we have item J1 uh purchasing
[1:50:26] section I would ask the Commissioners to
[1:50:28] take a look at items J One 2 3 4 and
[1:50:34] five does anyone have any individual
[1:50:36] specific questions on J 1 two 3 four or
[1:50:42] [Music]
[1:50:46] five no all right I will make a motion
[1:50:50] to approve the requests in J 1 through 5
[1:50:54] Second we have a motion we have a second
[1:50:56] any discussion on any of these
[1:50:59] items all right seeing none please cast
[1:51:01] your
[1:51:04] vote all right passes unanimously next
[1:51:07] up is item j6 yes this is an approval of
[1:51:10] of an exemption from the competitive
[1:51:12] bidding requirements for the purchase of
[1:51:14] use Ford police interceptor vehicles for
[1:51:18] from Auto Nation Ford for
[1:51:21] wor vote for approval second have a
[1:51:24] motion a second to approve item j6 any
[1:51:27] discussion there all right please cast
[1:51:30] your
[1:51:31] vote passes unanimously next up j7 and
[1:51:35] the last item is permission to take bids
[1:51:38] U for the purchase of a mill opener and
[1:51:40] opener system and annual contract for Co
[1:51:43] Milling
[1:51:45] Services move
[1:51:47] approval all right second we have a
[1:51:49] motion and a second second to Grant
[1:51:52] permission to take bids on these two
[1:51:53] items any discussion
[1:51:55] there right please cast your
[1:51:58] vote passes unanimously thank you thank
[1:52:01] you next up M1 is an interlocal
[1:52:04] agreement Precinct one commissioner
[1:52:07] Brooks yes sir
[1:52:12] [Music]
[1:52:15] um it's an interlocal agreement with the
[1:52:19] town of Edge Cliff Village for the
[1:52:22] overlay
[1:52:24] of couple of
[1:52:27] streets uh it of approval on item M1 A
[1:52:32] and B second we have a motion at second
[1:52:35] to approve item M1 A and B any
[1:52:37] discussion there all right please cast
[1:52:39] your
[1:52:41] vote all right passes unanimously do we
[1:52:44] have any appointments to any boards
[1:52:46] committees or Tiff districts today than
[1:52:50] yes your
[1:52:51] honor uh I've got
[1:52:54] to to Fort Worth Tiff number
[1:52:58] eight uh I need to reappoint
[1:53:02] myself and to Grand Prairie Tiff number
[1:53:07] one I'd like to reappoint Janette
[1:53:11] Martinez okay I'll second that so we
[1:53:14] have a motion in a second to reappoint
[1:53:16] commissioner Brooks to one board and
[1:53:19] Miss Martin is to another board any
[1:53:21] discussion
[1:53:22] there please cast your
[1:53:25] vote right passes unanimously any other
[1:53:29] yes um I need to reappoint uh Joanna
[1:53:33] Cardoza to Arlington tur number
[1:53:37] seven and that's a motion that's a
[1:53:39] motion we have a motion in a second any
[1:53:42] discussion on that
[1:53:43] item all right seeing none please
[1:53:47] vote all right that passes unanimously
[1:53:50] with no more board or commission
[1:53:52] appointments we move to bonds or
[1:53:53] certificates of social insurance there
[1:53:54] are none uh now we go to various claims
[1:53:56] and addendum move approval of the claims
[1:53:59] including the addendum second we have a
[1:54:01] motion of a second to approve the claims
[1:54:03] and the addendum any discussion on that
[1:54:05] item all right seeing none please
[1:54:08] vote all right that passes unanimously
[1:54:11] which now brings us to a criminal
[1:54:14] justice update and I believe Mr
[1:54:16] Schaffner is going to start this
[1:54:18] presentation
[1:54:21] we do have a speaker on this
[1:54:25] item good morning judges and juding
[1:54:27] Commissioners so today we have a
[1:54:29] criminal justice update from you the I
[1:54:32] will be leading uh the first half of the
[1:54:35] presentation and then uh judges uh
[1:54:38] hegerman and nikol will come up and
[1:54:40] present a a couple slides and then Mr
[1:54:43] Sher will present a slide and then I'll
[1:54:45] be back to uh close us up finish us up
[1:54:49] and uh ask for any
[1:54:51] questions
[1:54:52] so we would like to there's been an
[1:54:55] increased um interest in the criminal
[1:54:57] justice system from Court members from
[1:54:59] uh various County departments and staff
[1:55:01] as well as uh from the community and so
[1:55:03] we wanted to address um several issues
[1:55:05] that have come up and kind of give a an
[1:55:07] overview and set a baseline of uh
[1:55:09] conversation regarding the tan County
[1:55:11] criminal justice system so first off and
[1:55:13] this is something that we talk a lot
[1:55:15] about in the criminal justice
[1:55:16] coordinating Council but the the goal of
[1:55:18] what we're trying to do is balance
[1:55:20] Public Safety Community safety with jail
[1:55:22] population and how do we strike that
[1:55:24] balance um and then also wanted to
[1:55:26] discuss a couple of item so Taran County
[1:55:29] um has been undergoing a um Criminal
[1:55:33] Justice Reform if you will as well as
[1:55:35] pretty much everybody uh in the rest of
[1:55:37] the state since 2017 up to 2019 is when
[1:55:41] it all kind of kicked off there were a
[1:55:43] number of different litigation uh pieces
[1:55:45] of litigation throughout the state from
[1:55:48] um Harris County's O'Donald
[1:55:50] case in the Galveston County case as
[1:55:52] well as litigation in Dallas County all
[1:55:54] about um ranging from misdemeanor bonds
[1:55:57] to the ability to pay um actually a
[1:56:00] separate Dallas County case was resolved
[1:56:02] yesterday with the US Supreme Court so
[1:56:04] there a number of different pieces of
[1:56:06] litigation around bonds and the criminal
[1:56:09] justice system that began the county of
[1:56:12] process with work with Commissioner's
[1:56:14] Court and the judicial system the judges
[1:56:17] the CDA and the sheriff on what we need
[1:56:19] to do to be prepared to handle various
[1:56:22] issues so one shift that we made was
[1:56:24] centralizing magistration to where
[1:56:27] instead of there being um various
[1:56:29] Municipal judges setting bonds it was
[1:56:32] more or less Consolidated within um tan
[1:56:35] County underneath our um judges trying
[1:56:38] criminal cases second pre-trial shifted
[1:56:41] and was split pre-trial used to be under
[1:56:43] the county administrator's office it was
[1:56:45] then split part cscd to supervision and
[1:56:49] the judge judges do um the portion
[1:56:52] related to
[1:56:54] um Services related to um ability to pay
[1:56:58] and and those types of things the part
[1:56:59] leading up to to bond setting and then
[1:57:02] also in my slide is in correct it's
[1:57:03] supposed to be S sp6 from the 87 session
[1:57:05] the state legislature uh went in and did
[1:57:08] a number of of um Bond and criminal
[1:57:13] justice changes to the system including
[1:57:15] restricting what PR bonds could be used
[1:57:17] for uh which has greatly impacted
[1:57:20] so maybe just set a baseline regarding
[1:57:23] the approved fy4 budget um so this is by
[1:57:26] function area so the first page of the
[1:57:29] approved roll up of the budget which is
[1:57:31] the thick book that you get from the
[1:57:32] budget office that Helen produces the
[1:57:34] first page of that is the budget
[1:57:36] approved budget by functional area and
[1:57:38] you'll notice on this that judicial
[1:57:40] constitutes approximately 20% and Public
[1:57:42] Safety uh constitutes approximately
[1:57:45] 27% so 47% and these are high figur
[1:57:49] years it's by functional area so it's
[1:57:50] it's broad categories 47% of the
[1:57:53] approved tan County budget goes for to
[1:57:55] the criminal justice system the judicial
[1:57:58] that's only the criminal side it it it
[1:58:00] also includes several so civil so we're
[1:58:02] looking at again broad Strokes so just
[1:58:05] to make sure I'm clear that
[1:58:08] $11.4 Million number includes civil Does
[1:58:11] it include probate yes Does it include
[1:58:13] family yes so 47% doeses not go to
[1:58:18] criminal justice
[1:58:20] it would be underneath that number yes
[1:58:21] right
[1:58:23] okay so if you look at historical trends
[1:58:26] of approved budgets from fy19 to 24
[1:58:29] again looking at the public safety
[1:58:30] functional area the judicial functional
[1:58:32] area with um taking in consideration
[1:58:34] your comments judge um you get the
[1:58:38] general percent of on the far right hand
[1:58:40] coln percent of the total approved
[1:58:41] budget so in 2019 we're at
[1:58:45] 51% were those two functional areas in
[1:58:47] 2024 that approved budget was was
[1:58:50] 47% um part of the reason that you see
[1:58:53] the numbers declining in 21 and 22 is
[1:58:56] based on the co relief funds that we
[1:58:58] received U because that added in and and
[1:59:01] made some of the percentages smaller and
[1:59:03] changed some of those
[1:59:05] percentages so let's talk a little bit
[1:59:07] about the constitution of what of the
[1:59:09] individuals that are within the jail
[1:59:10] What charges we have so there are 18 um
[1:59:16] classifications of folks in the Taran
[1:59:18] County Jail
[1:59:19] um you'll see this and this was just
[1:59:21] took a date December the 5th of 2019 uh
[1:59:24] to start with so if you go from 2019 the
[1:59:26] gel population was 4100 you'll notice
[1:59:28] that the unsentenced felons which
[1:59:30] constitutes the largest portion of
[1:59:32] 57% uh and also you can kind of go
[1:59:34] through unsent misdemeanor at 7% I'll
[1:59:36] show you some Contracting but this gives
[1:59:38] you the broad Strokes of what the
[1:59:40] composition of the jail was on that date
[1:59:43] if you look to the next day Jael total
[1:59:45] population of
[1:59:46] 4256 and this is on December the 5th of
[1:59:49] 2023 you'll notice that unsentenced
[1:59:51] felons have increased substantially to
[1:59:53] 63% unsentenced misdemeanors has
[1:59:56] decreased substantially by to 3% and
[1:59:59] again those other compositions and I've
[2:00:00] got a side by side to make it easier
[2:00:02] because it's difficult when you're
[2:00:04] looking at the pie
[2:00:05] charts
[2:00:07] so we have um the classification and
[2:00:10] then on December the 5th of 2019
[2:00:13] December the 5th of 2023 again just a
[2:00:15] snapshot in time and then the percent
[2:00:17] changes so unsent spell we went up a
[2:00:19] little bit if you go back to and compare
[2:00:22] December 3rd
[2:00:24] 2019 to December 3rd of 2029 or 2023 um
[2:00:28] it's flat it literally Depends for uncs
[2:00:31] on what day tcj comes and picks up
[2:00:34] prisoners on what that number can look
[2:00:36] at so these numbers can swing 70 80 80
[2:00:39] people um a particular day but I want to
[2:00:41] call your attention to a couple of them
[2:00:43] that are important Court exam uh is up
[2:00:46] two 2% and this is important the state
[2:00:49] has really struggled hhsc has struggled
[2:00:52] with with the weight list to State uh to
[2:00:55] state hospitals ours our catchman area
[2:00:59] goes up to witto Falls and it has
[2:01:01] struggled to um more or less stay
[2:01:04] current with it and we've have over um
[2:01:07] 150 people on that weight list at any
[2:01:09] given time just for ours the state
[2:01:11] during Co actually had to shut down a
[2:01:13] couple facilities uh due to lack of
[2:01:15] Staffing and at one point only had like
[2:01:17] 2third of the beds available on uh
[2:01:20] actually online for that so that's why
[2:01:22] those that number is elevated
[2:01:23] unsentenced felons um again has
[2:01:26] increased by
[2:01:27] 6% uh unsentenced misdemeanors has
[2:01:30] decreased by 4% and I think that's
[2:01:32] directly related to some of the um
[2:01:35] reforms that we've seen since 2019 U
[2:01:38] going forward and but the gel
[2:01:40] populational notice has increased by
[2:01:41] 3.8% again this is a snapshot in time if
[2:01:45] you run the numbers back to to um
[2:01:48] December the 3rd it's 2% up so again
[2:01:50] just looks but broad strokes and ter
[2:01:52] County population has increased by 8.1%
[2:01:54] so I think a lot of combination needs to
[2:01:57] happen to the sheriff and the da and the
[2:02:00] judges for being able to even though our
[2:02:03] population is going up 8.1% over this
[2:02:05] time period jail population has only
[2:02:07] increased by 3.8% so that's something we
[2:02:09] should continue to look at so we're
[2:02:11] going to cover these uh six areas today
[2:02:15] um so first off the criminal justice
[2:02:16] coordinating Council so this has been
[2:02:19] reconstituted after Mr Merritt I came
[2:02:22] aboard as County Administrator we have
[2:02:24] monthly meetings it's a Roundtable style
[2:02:26] uh you can see the membership that we
[2:02:27] have there and we are working through a
[2:02:29] number of different issues that are
[2:02:31] brought by the group um as to discuss
[2:02:34] and work through various items sometimes
[2:02:36] they're handled during the meeting other
[2:02:38] times they hand take a meeting or two to
[2:02:40] resolve but we are actively working
[2:02:42] through and trying to do system
[2:02:44] improvements uh to the criminal justice
[2:02:46] system so
[2:02:47] dashboards
[2:02:49] so we've been working the T County
[2:02:52] administrator's office as well as it I
[2:02:54] know that Criminal Courts administrator
[2:02:56] Administration separately has been
[2:02:57] working on a different project trying to
[2:02:58] get dashboards updated and these are
[2:03:00] public fent dashboards we have internal
[2:03:02] dashboards but we need better public
[2:03:05] facing information so the Jael dashboard
[2:03:07] and the bond dashboard which you see
[2:03:09] snapshots of there the public facing
[2:03:11] version of those dashboards we plan on
[2:03:13] um having online available to the public
[2:03:15] by the end of the month um which will be
[2:03:18] a real um great opportunity as part of
[2:03:21] that uh information we will have
[2:03:23] explanatory notes uh that'll be there
[2:03:26] that you can click and see all sorts of
[2:03:27] different information and explain what
[2:03:29] you're actually seeing on these
[2:03:30] documents because it is complicated the
[2:03:33] court CDA and mental health Dash boards
[2:03:34] are all still in development um and we
[2:03:37] will continue to update you as those uh
[2:03:39] are
[2:03:40] developed middle Health jail diversion
[2:03:43] Center so of the items within the
[2:03:45] criminal justice system that
[2:03:46] Commissioners court and all of our
[2:03:48] stakeholders have to work work through
[2:03:49] during 2024 the middle Health Diversion
[2:03:51] Center is one of the top priorities of
[2:03:53] what we've got to work through first off
[2:03:55] the contract that we have with
[2:03:58] MHMR is up on December 31st of this year
[2:04:02] uh and that's for the operation of this
[2:04:03] it's a $17 million contract uh We've
[2:04:06] expended approximately 59% of those
[2:04:08] funds um as of the last uh invoice that
[2:04:11] we received for November of last year so
[2:04:14] we need to work through um how we
[2:04:17] continue to increase usage of this
[2:04:20] facility so mhm more estimates that the
[2:04:22] monthly that our monthly bed capacity is
[2:04:24] about 400 we'd like to have a Target
[2:04:27] capacity of 330 if we were to set a goal
[2:04:29] what does that monthly look like um and
[2:04:31] we are not hitting it we have not hit it
[2:04:34] uh since the beginning of this project
[2:04:36] uh we have you'll see started very low
[2:04:41] uh but you'll an significant uptick
[2:04:43] starting in May June and July of last
[2:04:46] year those were based on changes that
[2:04:48] were made um to eligibility
[2:04:52] criteria to allow people to go to the
[2:04:54] center and we have seen that uptake also
[2:04:57] the sheriff's department and the CDA has
[2:05:00] been working um laboriously to screen
[2:05:04] individuals as they come into the jail
[2:05:07] so someone from Arlington is um picked
[2:05:11] up and taken into the Arlington's
[2:05:13] Municipal Jail that could have been a
[2:05:15] good fit for the mental health gel
[2:05:16] Diversion Center but they the again just
[2:05:18] is an example they went ahead and took
[2:05:20] them to the Municipal Jail that
[2:05:22] individual as they work through the
[2:05:23] system the sheriff's department will
[2:05:25] come pick them up you know within 24 or
[2:05:26] so hours uh and they get in our jail go
[2:05:29] through booking they are
[2:05:31] identified um and a tremendous amount of
[2:05:34] work goes from once you're identified as
[2:05:36] part of that process and then getting
[2:05:38] them to the mental health gel Diversion
[2:05:39] Center so there's and that's why we are
[2:05:42] seeing that uptake in no the November 23
[2:05:45] data 36 of those 102 individuals were
[2:05:48] deferred directly from the jail um which
[2:05:51] is really the center data is going to
[2:05:52] show even more so this is for so the
[2:05:56] mental health Diversion Center has two
[2:05:57] components of the contract we have the
[2:05:59] actual operations of the contract and
[2:06:00] then secondarily we have a transitions
[2:06:02] program that MHMR works during the
[2:06:04] transition program is for those folks so
[2:06:07] you go to the Diversion Center you stay
[2:06:08] your 48 hours you're stabilized and then
[2:06:11] it's what next so when you're enrolled
[2:06:13] in the transition program they help you
[2:06:15] um find uh the necessary community
[2:06:18] resources to help get you stabilized
[2:06:20] more long term so that's a component you
[2:06:22] can see our monthly enrollment it's
[2:06:24] increased decreased a little bit but um
[2:06:26] it has kind of kept aligned itself with
[2:06:30] um the general uh enroll involvement of
[2:06:34] the criminal justice Coordinating
[2:06:35] Committee so with this slide judge
[2:06:37] Hagerman is going to come and discuss uh
[2:06:40] Bond setting with the court and then
[2:06:41] judge Nik is going to talk about a
[2:06:43] mental health PR Bond program and and uh
[2:06:45] Mr shuger will give us an update related
[2:06:48] to remote video
[2:06:58] magistr good morning Court
[2:07:01] um Judge David hegerman of the 297
[2:07:04] District Court talk about magistration
[2:07:07] and setting of bonds this morning I have
[2:07:10] uh I have some of my cohorts here some
[2:07:13] additional judges as well as staff
[2:07:15] counsel so I I hope you'll allow me some
[2:07:18] leeway if I get something wrong during
[2:07:20] this
[2:07:21] presentation one thing that I am
[2:07:23] absolutely certain of that I am not
[2:07:26] wrong about is the fact that the changes
[2:07:28] that we have made to mag to the
[2:07:31] magistration process since 2015 and
[2:07:36] 2016 have saved this County from a major
[2:07:40] lawsuit uh Russell talked a little bit
[2:07:42] about the litigation uh that has gone on
[2:07:45] in Houston and Dallas and I believe Bear
[2:07:49] County as
[2:07:50] well
[2:07:52] um we knew that we were being
[2:07:55] targeted by uh the person or persons who
[2:08:00] filed those lawsuits Taran County itself
[2:08:03] was being targeted for a
[2:08:05] lawsuit and uh the changes that we made
[2:08:09] to the magistration process to
[2:08:12] centralize it and um do the things that
[2:08:17] had come out of that lawsuit
[2:08:19] saved us from from being sued we know
[2:08:21] that because they told us
[2:08:24] that prior to 2015 and
[2:08:28] 2016 Taran County had not followed the
[2:08:30] law in regards to
[2:08:32] magistration probably for about 50 years
[2:08:35] 1517 of the Texas code of criminal
[2:08:37] procedure mandates how a person is to be
[2:08:42] magistr
[2:08:44] and basically everything was
[2:08:46] decentralized prior to to that um
[2:08:51] probably that was done to ease jail
[2:08:53] overcrowding back in the early 70s and
[2:08:57] 80s but it was illegal and when it was
[2:09:02] discovered we realized there were some
[2:09:04] changes that we had to make hence we
[2:09:07] began the process of central
[2:09:10] magistration magistration is a very very
[2:09:13] important process uh it's the initial
[2:09:17] portion of the criminal justice system
[2:09:19] and many times it's a person's first
[2:09:22] contact with the criminal justice
[2:09:25] system basically after a person is
[2:09:28] arrested uh there are several things
[2:09:31] that have to be complied
[2:09:33] with uh not just with the code of
[2:09:36] criminal procedure but also certain
[2:09:38] reporting
[2:09:39] requirements that uh your state
[2:09:42] government in Austin requires of every
[2:09:45] magistrate that touches a bond prior to
[2:09:48] meeting the defendants the magistrate
[2:09:51] reviews a lot of information this takes
[2:09:54] several minutes not just the PC
[2:09:57] affidavit which they need to review they
[2:09:59] have to
[2:10:00] review uh but the PSA risk assessment
[2:10:04] which is a requirement Now by uh the
[2:10:07] office of Court Administration in Austin
[2:10:10] there's a financial interview as to what
[2:10:12] to determine whether or not that person
[2:10:14] is entitled to an appointed counsel in a
[2:10:18] family uh violence case there is a
[2:10:20] danger assessment and the state mandated
[2:10:24] also uh Public Safety reporting system
[2:10:27] has to be complied with I'll talk about
[2:10:28] that in a moment the magistrate reviews
[2:10:31] all of those
[2:10:33] documents and all documents um are made
[2:10:38] available to in the tech share
[2:10:39] magistration portal at that time the
[2:10:42] magistrate punches a button says it's
[2:10:45] ready for magistration and determines
[2:10:47] what the Bond's going to be
[2:10:49] um that data has to be entered into the
[2:10:53] public safety Reporting
[2:10:56] System um which basically is a reporting
[2:11:00] system to OCA in Austin it's highly
[2:11:04] detailed if it is a shity bond that has
[2:11:07] to be entered if it is a personal bond
[2:11:11] that has to be entered if there are Bond
[2:11:13] conditions each and every Bond condition
[2:11:15] has to be entered every time a
[2:11:18] magistrate or a district judge or a
[2:11:21] County Judge touches a bond in any way
[2:11:25] shape or formed that p uh Public Safety
[2:11:29] reporting system has to be complied with
[2:11:32] and it has to be entered and it's fairly
[2:11:34] time
[2:11:35] consuming once the case is marked ready
[2:11:37] for magistration the next case is
[2:11:40] reviewed by the magistrate and so on and
[2:11:42] so on once the person is brought before
[2:11:45] the magistrate to be magistr there's a
[2:11:47] list ly that that most magistrates go
[2:11:50] through they introduce themselves they
[2:11:52] say I'm your Magistrate Judge uh we're
[2:11:55] going to talk to you about your rights
[2:11:57] and what we're going to be doing today
[2:11:59] obviously all the rights that a person
[2:12:01] has under 1517 the Texas code criminal
[2:12:04] procedure have to be read to them and
[2:12:07] they have to make and the magistrate has
[2:12:08] to make sure that person understands
[2:12:11] there's a question regarding citizenship
[2:12:14] under magistration and under the code if
[2:12:16] that happens and they are not body
[2:12:18] citizen there are certain additional
[2:12:20] warnings that have to be given to that
[2:12:23] person um a conscientious magistrate
[2:12:26] actually goes so far as to give them the
[2:12:29] warnings under the Vienna convention are
[2:12:32] you um are you a citizen if you're not a
[2:12:35] United States citizen here's what can
[2:12:38] happen do you want us to tell the
[2:12:39] government where where you are from that
[2:12:42] you are incarcerated and so on after
[2:12:46] that the person is asked about an
[2:12:47] attorney whether or not they want to
[2:12:49] hire their own lawyer whether or not
[2:12:50] they feel they are entitled to a lawyer
[2:12:53] once that gets done if the financial uh
[2:12:56] assessment has been completed a person
[2:12:58] can be appointed attorney at that
[2:13:01] time they tell what their the person
[2:13:04] accused is told what they are charged
[2:13:06] with and the bond conditions that the
[2:13:09] magistrate imposes are also uh told to
[2:13:14] the accused person at that time certain
[2:13:16] additional wrinkles if there's an
[2:13:18] emergency protective order that is also
[2:13:21] gone over with the accused person at
[2:13:23] that time and if the law allows and if
[2:13:25] the facts warranted a personal Bond can
[2:13:28] be issued also uh under the
[2:13:32] code we have delved into remote
[2:13:37] magistration that is uh allowed for by
[2:13:40] the code now and we've had some success
[2:13:43] with that uh remote magistration is a
[2:13:47] little bit more time time consuming just
[2:13:49] because it takes time to
[2:13:52] get the the the software up and running
[2:13:55] and to have all the documents in place
[2:13:57] at the right time but we are moving
[2:14:00] forward with uh as much remote video
[2:14:03] magistration as we can
[2:14:07] um we magistr I've got a couple of
[2:14:11] numbers
[2:14:16] here
[2:14:18] the um the the magistrates that we added
[2:14:22] as I as I
[2:14:24] [Music]
[2:14:26] stated were added and done not because
[2:14:30] we wanted to increase our
[2:14:32] footprint but because we believed it was
[2:14:34] constitutionally
[2:14:35] required and to avoid the the
[2:14:38] unnecessary litigation that has plagued
[2:14:41] some of these other counties um and we
[2:14:43] did avoid that total magistration
[2:14:46] between
[2:14:48] we
[2:14:51] average about 177 a day is that right
[2:14:55] 177 bonds are set day about 125
[2:14:58] defendants 125 defendants are magistrate
[2:15:01] every day 177 bonds per day are set why
[2:15:06] are there more bonds than defendants
[2:15:08] defendants have multiple charges
[2:15:10] sometimes
[2:15:13] um we magistrate 24 hours a day 7 days a
[2:15:18] week uh there is no on call magistrate
[2:15:21] because we have chosen to uh do that
[2:15:26] process all the time anybody have any
[2:15:30] questions okay thank you
[2:15:39] [Music]
[2:15:44] J good afternoon members of the Court
[2:15:46] bear with me I have a little bit of
[2:15:51] laryngitis when we are setting mental
[2:15:53] health bonds we have to go through that
[2:15:55] same procedure that judge hegerman just
[2:15:58] explained but there are a few added
[2:16:02] twists as Russell explained when we are
[2:16:05] dealing with mental health individuals
[2:16:09] there's a different process in that we
[2:16:11] have jail Navigators who work with
[2:16:15] MHMR that work with these individuals
[2:16:17] determine whether or not they fit the
[2:16:22] code definitions of someone who may be
[2:16:25] eligible for mental health
[2:16:27] treatment or diversion and once those
[2:16:31] jail Navigators have review those
[2:16:34] individuals they will verify their
[2:16:36] criminal
[2:16:37] history and they must determine whether
[2:16:40] or not the person is willing to
[2:16:42] participate in a mental health
[2:16:45] program as you saw our participation in
[2:16:49] sending individuals to the mental health
[2:16:51] Diversion the Justice Diversion Center
[2:16:54] is increasing monthly in December we
[2:16:57] actually beat all of our records by
[2:17:00] sending and maintaining 60 individuals
[2:17:04] in December now there are only 40 beds
[2:17:07] so clearly these are cycling through and
[2:17:10] not staying for the entire month for
[2:17:14] certain MHMR programs they have to show
[2:17:17] the need of housing available to them
[2:17:20] but some of the MHMR programs such as
[2:17:23] the mental health Diversion Center they
[2:17:25] do not have to have stable housing that
[2:17:28] is one of the things that they work with
[2:17:30] them to help provide stable housing drug
[2:17:34] treatment mental health treatment
[2:17:36] substance abuse treatment and other
[2:17:39] things that these individuals may
[2:17:41] need cscd reviews the conditions of
[2:17:45] their bond their treatment plan and
[2:17:47] other conditions that the individual may
[2:17:50] need prior to their being released and
[2:17:53] there is an individual who works with is
[2:17:56] a an employee of cocd who does this
[2:18:00] evaluation prior to a bond being set
[2:18:04] when the bond is set the individual is
[2:18:07] released to supervision through cscb and
[2:18:10] MHMR so there are essentially two
[2:18:13] different groups that we're discussing
[2:18:15] here we have individual and Navigators
[2:18:18] who are reviewing people to go to the m
[2:18:21] Health Diversion Center and we have
[2:18:24] recently started a program we reviewing
[2:18:26] individuals for their ability to be
[2:18:29] released under the code of criminal
[2:18:32] procedure
[2:18:33] 17032 bonds and those include
[2:18:37] misdemeanors and nonviolent
[2:18:40] felonies if they qualify to be released
[2:18:43] under
[2:18:44] 17032 those are the ones that have the
[2:18:47] dual supervision through CSC and mhr now
[2:18:51] please focus on the fact that these are
[2:18:54] nonviolent individuals and they are
[2:18:57] receiving dual treatment as of I think
[2:19:00] it was Friday of last week Commissioners
[2:19:02] we identified 23 individuals who may
[2:19:06] qualify for
[2:19:08] 17032 bonds who are currently in custody
[2:19:12] they were being reviewed by Cheryl
[2:19:14] Bennett Wright and shaqua burns in the
[2:19:18] mental health program to make sure that
[2:19:22] they qualify under the code to be
[2:19:24] released under that
[2:19:27] Bond so I'm very proud of the fact that
[2:19:30] we're really working very hard to get
[2:19:33] the mental health Diversion Center
[2:19:34] filled with appropriate individuals
[2:19:37] those individuals can only at this time
[2:19:40] be charged with certain misdemeanor
[2:19:42] offenses they cannot be charged with DWI
[2:19:46] they cannot be charged with any form of
[2:19:48] assaultive offenses or any type of
[2:19:50] violent offenses right now there are
[2:19:52] only six to seven offenses that qualify
[2:19:56] for diversion into that center now those
[2:20:01] people have to volunteer and they are
[2:20:04] not required to stay but if the DA has
[2:20:07] determined that they qualify for
[2:20:09] diversion to that program and they agree
[2:20:12] to go to the center their cases end up
[2:20:15] being dismissed it is a a little bit of
[2:20:17] a revolving system where we know
[2:20:20] individuals may not stay but the hope is
[2:20:23] that if we get them there often enough
[2:20:26] that they will engage in the services
[2:20:28] that are provide provided and stop
[2:20:31] coming through the jail which is a
[2:20:33] revolving door for many of these
[2:20:36] offenders the 17032 bonds are a little
[2:20:39] bit different in that they do have that
[2:20:42] dual supervision and as long as they're
[2:20:45] competent their cases will will either
[2:20:47] be pled or go to trial if they are not
[2:20:50] competent They will receive different
[2:20:52] types of services and
[2:20:55] dispositions now do remember too there
[2:20:58] are three different mental health
[2:21:01] programs in tant County we have the
[2:21:04] enhanced Mental Health Services Program
[2:21:06] who are mostly for people with low level
[2:21:09] offenses that are not competent and
[2:21:12] we're trying to help them regain
[2:21:14] competency we have the jail-based
[2:21:16] competency restoration and the
[2:21:18] outpatient-based competency restoration
[2:21:21] and we have the mental health diversion
[2:21:23] Court which does accept many different
[2:21:27] types of misdemeanors and felony
[2:21:30] offenses right now we're trying to plan
[2:21:32] to have two mental health diversion
[2:21:35] courts and perhaps expand the type of
[2:21:38] individuals that we serve but that is
[2:21:40] still in the works do you all have any
[2:21:45] questions all right thank you very much
[2:21:47] thank you judge thank
[2:21:50] [Music]
[2:21:58] you I'll be real quick um with
[2:22:02] partnership with County Administration
[2:22:04] Criminal Courts have been able to expand
[2:22:06] video magistration throughout the county
[2:22:09] uh what's important is that 70% of
[2:22:11] defendant that get magistr remotely book
[2:22:14] out uh book out remotely and never get
[2:22:16] book back in jail and the reason for
[2:22:18] this is as we evolve the program it ends
[2:22:20] up being the lowlevel risk defendants
[2:22:23] that end up being video magistr
[2:22:25] defendants that require any type of
[2:22:27] electronic monitoring or or have an have
[2:22:30] a mental health issue get Shi get bust
[2:22:33] and where the treatment is where C can
[2:22:37] supervise them or MHMR can do a more
[2:22:39] comprehensive review uh over this last
[2:22:42] year just counting book in and book out
[2:22:45] that 70% say uh was some soft Savings of
[2:22:49] $600,000 a year of not actually
[2:22:51] physically booking these people in and
[2:22:53] out of jail that figure each day we're
[2:22:56] actively Ma you all can read a
[2:22:57] PowerPoint but we're we're actively
[2:22:59] magistra in our larger cities where our
[2:23:01] regionals are we have some on demand
[2:23:03] cities and we're continuing to expand
[2:23:06] and right now we're actively working
[2:23:08] with great find White Settlement and
[2:23:10] Ulus White Settlement and Ulus are
[2:23:12] becoming Regional jails uh due due to
[2:23:15] Central magistration and how we're
[2:23:17] handling things uh local police law
[2:23:19] enforcement agencies are shutting down
[2:23:21] their holding facilities and and they're
[2:23:23] being centralized Ulus will handle heru
[2:23:25] with Bedford and White Settlement is
[2:23:27] handling that part of Taran
[2:23:29] County any
[2:23:32] questions thank
[2:23:37] [Music]
[2:23:42] you the legislature has made some
[2:23:45] changes last session and commissioner
[2:23:46] rire and speaker Garen and Senator King
[2:23:49] all played a huge role in getting HP
[2:23:52] 2620 across the goal line which allows
[2:23:54] for the state to reimburse us for
[2:23:56] prisoners held over 45 days so if it is
[2:23:59] a state prisoner that's held over 45
[2:24:01] days we're entitled to State
[2:24:03] reimbursement for that individual um as
[2:24:07] always just because the law is passed
[2:24:08] doesn't mean that the law is passed and
[2:24:10] it happens we have gone through the rle
[2:24:12] making process um and so hopefully
[2:24:14] within sometime within this fiscal year
[2:24:16] we'll see
[2:24:17] those opportunities but what that bill
[2:24:20] also did not just allowing us a
[2:24:22] mechanism for reimbursement but
[2:24:24] encouraged um T TDCJ to be very active
[2:24:27] in picking up prisoners and so across
[2:24:29] the state Statewide um the number of
[2:24:32] State Prisoners has decreased in county
[2:24:34] jails because no one wants to have to
[2:24:36] reimburse counties for that funding
[2:24:38] compy restoration beds as we mentioned
[2:24:40] previously in the presentation um State
[2:24:43] the state weight list to go to the State
[2:24:44] Mental Health hospital is long and and
[2:24:47] they it State continues to struggle so
[2:24:49] the session they authorized $ 150 beds
[2:24:52] at the cost of $92 million for the buy
[2:24:54] Anum of local compy restoration beds
[2:24:57] MHMR received 23 of these beds so and
[2:25:00] they're currently in the contract with
[2:25:02] or currently in the process of contract
[2:25:04] negotiations with hhsc to draw down
[2:25:06] those funds and then be able to in local
[2:25:09] facilities have folks that are meet
[2:25:12] certain criteria to come out of the jail
[2:25:13] and instead of going to W Falls or
[2:25:15] Vernon well it be only which to Falls
[2:25:17] they could go to a local uh facility for
[2:25:19] contract for competency restoration
[2:25:22] again reducing the load in our jail
[2:25:23] getting some of the most complicated
[2:25:25] individuals that we have in the in the
[2:25:26] in our gel facilities out and getting
[2:25:28] the help that they need and then finally
[2:25:30] we continue to work with hhsc on the
[2:25:32] State Mental Health Hospital study for
[2:25:34] Taran County um going back and forth and
[2:25:36] in various issues so that'll come to a
[2:25:38] head next legislative session so next
[2:25:41] steps for
[2:25:43] 2024 increase uh Municipal remote uh
[2:25:45] video magistration participation as well
[2:25:48] increasing usage in the mental health
[2:25:49] gel Diversion Center implementing the
[2:25:52] pre-booking system with law enforcement
[2:25:54] agencies and that's a system to where um
[2:25:58] law enforce leas before they um or more
[2:26:01] or less before they uh put someone on
[2:26:03] the bus to go to the county jail have to
[2:26:05] enter in more information so we get more
[2:26:06] information on the on the front end
[2:26:08] rather than on the back end Contin to
[2:26:11] develop the public criminal justice
[2:26:12] dashboards uh renovating the cold
[2:26:14] springs facility uh from a low security
[2:26:17] to medium security facility and then
[2:26:19] continue to develop those system
[2:26:21] enhancement through the criminal justice
[2:26:22] coordinating Council and with that we're
[2:26:24] happy to take any
[2:26:26] questions any questions for
[2:26:29] Russell I've got a comment that I would
[2:26:33] like the judges present to
[2:26:39] hear and that is that from the various
[2:26:44] dashboards that we get on a regular
[2:26:51] basis there appear to
[2:26:54] be a number of persons in our County
[2:26:59] Jail on a DA daily B
[2:27:02] basis with
[2:27:05] bonds
[2:27:07] under
[2:27:11] $5,000 charged with nonviolent
[2:27:15] misdemeanor cas
[2:27:18] es it appears to me that anybody who
[2:27:23] fits that
[2:27:29] description and is still in
[2:27:31] jail is there simply because they're too
[2:27:36] poor to write a check to get
[2:27:42] out that
[2:27:45] is an Abomination as far as I'm
[2:27:49] concerned judge
[2:27:51] negam shouldn't we do our little best to
[2:27:54] give
[2:27:57] sorry you and I both have squeaky voices
[2:28:00] this
[2:28:01] [Music]
[2:28:04] morning it's my by-ear bout of
[2:28:07] laryngitis um we do our level best to
[2:28:10] give as many personal bonds to
[2:28:12] misdemeanor defendants when they hit the
[2:28:15] jail they certain offenses that do not
[2:28:19] qualify um we are still under the orders
[2:28:23] that assaultive and demestic violence
[2:28:25] offenses do not apply uh for personal
[2:28:29] bonds I've seen personal Bonds on
[2:28:33] everything from DWI Misa repetitions on
[2:28:38] down so I would love to have any list of
[2:28:43] those offences brought to my attention
[2:28:45] and I will personally look at them and
[2:28:49] see what those bonds are set at because
[2:28:51] 5,000 is generally way too high for a
[2:28:54] misdemeanor nonviolent
[2:28:56] offense I'm happy to review them and I
[2:29:01] personally will reset the bonds or see
[2:29:03] if they're eligible for personal bonds
[2:29:06] I'll take that task
[2:29:08] on my point judge
[2:29:10] negam is
[2:29:13] [Music]
[2:29:15] that and anyone
[2:29:18] who
[2:29:22] qualifies for
[2:29:25] a personal
[2:29:29] Bond should be given a personal Bond I
[2:29:33] agree sir and should not just be laying
[2:29:35] up in the jail I agree sir um it is
[2:29:40] possible that some of those folks have
[2:29:42] pending felonies and that may be
[2:29:44] withholding them but if all they have is
[2:29:47] a nonviolent misdemeanor I agree with
[2:29:49] you sir they shouldn't be sitting in
[2:29:50] jail well I'd certainly be interested in
[2:29:54] sitting down with you and going through
[2:29:57] the list so that we can both
[2:30:02] understand what's at play here I'd be
[2:30:05] happy to do so
[2:30:07] sir just name a time and we'll do it
[2:30:11] thank you all any other questions or
[2:30:14] comments I have some
[2:30:17] um so
[2:30:19] um thank you Russell that was
[2:30:22] informative and the judges uh quite
[2:30:26] [Music]
[2:30:28] um I appreciate some of the data and
[2:30:31] statistics that you used as I have found
[2:30:35] that criminal justice data and
[2:30:38] statistics are very hard to come by at
[2:30:41] least for
[2:30:42] me in this County at the moment and I'll
[2:30:45] I'll touch on that in a second so you
[2:30:48] had your data comparing predominantly
[2:30:51] 2019 and 2023 with regard to our jail
[2:30:55] population and two aspects stood out to
[2:30:58] me
[2:31:00] there first a positive aspect our
[2:31:04] unsentenced felony jail numbers dropped
[2:31:08] from 3% of our jail population in
[2:31:12] 2019 to 1% of our jail population in 20
[2:31:17] three and that's
[2:31:19] fantastic um as you guys have heard me
[2:31:22] say many many times we do not need to
[2:31:25] have people who are accused of lowlevel
[2:31:28] misdemeanor sitting in our jail so I I
[2:31:32] commend the judges handling misdemeanors
[2:31:36] for doing things like improving
[2:31:38] clearance rates um as well as issuing
[2:31:41] more personal recognizance bonds that
[2:31:44] are likely res resulted um in that
[2:31:48] reduction so I see what you're doing and
[2:31:50] I I thank you guys
[2:31:53] um so that's that's the positive and
[2:31:56] then the not so positive our unsentenced
[2:31:59] felonies are actually they they've
[2:32:02] actually increased between 2019 and
[2:32:06] 2023 by
[2:32:08] 6% and that increase is representative
[2:32:11] now of a whopping
[2:32:13] 63% of our jail population
[2:32:16] so if you think about that for a minute
[2:32:19] 63% of our jail population is
[2:32:23] pre-trial accused of felonies but not
[2:32:26] yet convicted of
[2:32:29] anything um and you know some people
[2:32:31] will tell me that's just how it is
[2:32:35] there's no other way to do it and we as
[2:32:38] a county simply can't bear the risk no
[2:32:40] matter how small uh our risk assessment
[2:32:44] says it might be of some some
[2:32:47] people uh being released pre-trial to to
[2:32:51] Rampage around our County and I I say
[2:32:54] that's nonsense and it's completely
[2:32:56] irresponsible
[2:32:58] fiscally um you know I'll quote
[2:33:02] Harvard's Malcolm weiner Center for
[2:33:04] social policy that says despite
[2:33:07] significantly lower crime rates than
[2:33:11] what existed in the United States in
[2:33:13] 1970 current rates of pre-trial
[2:33:16] detention are five times higher than
[2:33:20] they were 50 years ago and that's the
[2:33:23] domestic historical
[2:33:25] context now if you look at the Modern
[2:33:29] Global context currently the United
[2:33:32] States pre-trial detention rate is the
[2:33:35] highest in the world it's 50% higher
[2:33:40] than in Russia which is the second worst
[2:33:44] um so I don't I don't know about you
[2:33:46] guys but um I don't consider Russia any
[2:33:50] great liberal Bastion of confinement
[2:33:53] policy and being dead behind them is is
[2:33:57] pretty sad so bottom line it sounds like
[2:34:00] we need to do better than 63% of our
[2:34:03] jail population being
[2:34:05] pre-trial felony confinement in this
[2:34:07] County that's bad by comparison with our
[2:34:10] own history and that's terrible in
[2:34:14] relation to the rest of the world now so
[2:34:17] that's what I'll continue to strive for
[2:34:20] here um and on that note I do have a
[2:34:22] couple of questions and these can be for
[2:34:24] whoever feels best place to answer them
[2:34:27] given that our trend lines seem to be
[2:34:29] going in different directions with
[2:34:31] regard to pre-trial confinement and
[2:34:33] misdemeanors and felonies what is
[2:34:36] attributable to the reduction in
[2:34:39] pre-trial misdemeanor
[2:34:44] confinement did they leave you
[2:35:01] commissioner Simmons simply put personal
[2:35:04] bonds yeah yeah that's what I thought do
[2:35:08] we
[2:35:10] um have better clearance
[2:35:13] rates with we do okay we do
[2:35:16] um you have several brand new judges who
[2:35:19] are working very hard the judges who
[2:35:21] have been here are working very hard um
[2:35:25] as a team our clearance rate has gone
[2:35:29] considerably higher than it was in the
[2:35:31] past few years Co hurt us but most of us
[2:35:36] have caught up or are very close to
[2:35:38] catching up to the numbers we have
[2:35:41] previously um just as an example my
[2:35:45] contest do ET which are triable cases
[2:35:48] that attorneys have asked for jury
[2:35:49] trials I have about 20 cases total of
[2:35:53] attorneys asking for trial and I have a
[2:35:56] pending number of
[2:35:57] 2200 oh okay so I there's a lot at play
[2:36:03] commissioner but I think the short
[2:36:05] answer is that
[2:36:07] okay um all right so I I have another
[2:36:12] question gets my earlier comment about
[2:36:15] data in this County I I think it was
[2:36:19] back in October maybe September I asked
[2:36:23] my staff to research the clearance rates
[2:36:26] for courts handling felonies versus
[2:36:28] misdemeanors they they couldn't get a a
[2:36:31] good fix on that because following the
[2:36:34] TCH share migration I'm told that we
[2:36:37] don't have that
[2:36:39] data um I'm also told that we had been
[2:36:42] unable since the texure migration to
[2:36:44] provide our statuto required OCA reports
[2:36:48] to the state I'd like to first ask
[2:36:50] County Administration if that is
[2:36:53] true if we have not reported to OCA
[2:36:55] since the uh go live court that is
[2:36:59] correct we have not reported I believe
[2:37:01] that uh with where we are on the cleanup
[2:37:03] of that data uh I think Tech Shar has
[2:37:05] actually made the recommendation to the
[2:37:07] clerks uh to report what we have uh I'll
[2:37:10] see if either of the clerks want to
[2:37:11] comment on that but my understanding is
[2:37:13] the the 40 categories with regards to OC
[2:37:15] reporting have been CED up they have I
[2:37:17] believe validated that data and uh to
[2:37:20] the best of their ability and I think
[2:37:22] the recommendation has been made to
[2:37:23] start transmitting that data okay so we
[2:37:25] went live was that end of April May one
[2:37:28] yes
[2:37:30] ma'am and okay we've
[2:37:34] not reported OCA to the state since then
[2:37:38] that's correct we went through a similar
[2:37:40] transition uh last time we did a
[2:37:41] transition from how we reported to OCA I
[2:37:44] think it was also 7 to9 months in that
[2:37:46] same transition so very similar in U in
[2:37:49] scope okay tell me again when we expect
[2:37:51] that to be resolved uh I would hope
[2:37:53] within the next 30 days or so that will
[2:37:55] be transmitting clerks again if y'all
[2:37:57] received any different information from
[2:37:58] me that's the last i' heard from our it
[2:38:01] department is it here or should the
[2:38:03] clerks answer that or or
[2:38:06] it let's see Russ do you have any
[2:38:10] [Music]
[2:38:11] comment come on up bruss Russ holds a
[2:38:14] weekly meeting uh on wday with regards
[2:38:16] to where we are on Tex share so but uh
[2:38:20] the latest that we have from the tech
[2:38:22] share development team is they are
[2:38:23] anticipating getting the final Kinks uh
[2:38:27] in the reporting worked out in the next
[2:38:28] 30 to 40
[2:38:31] days today is the 9th so February 9th
[2:38:36] February 20th they're meeting they're
[2:38:39] meeting almost daily uh with the uh
[2:38:41] Clerk's offices uh to work through the
[2:38:44] issues and clean up the data
[2:38:47] okay well I I for one just don't feel
[2:38:50] great about being out of compliance with
[2:38:53] the state Mandate of that kind or any
[2:38:55] kind especially when it relates to
[2:38:58] transparency we'll comment ma'am on that
[2:39:00] just so you know we've actually
[2:39:01] discussed directly with OCA on this
[2:39:03] issue and they have assured us they want
[2:39:06] us to make sure that the data is correct
[2:39:07] before we transmit and they said that
[2:39:09] the delay that we put in there they are
[2:39:11] they are certainly okay with uh The
[2:39:12] District Clerk's Office on a monthly
[2:39:14] basis sends an email to the fact that
[2:39:16] they are still working through it and
[2:39:17] OCA responds and lets us know that again
[2:39:20] please transmit when the data is correct
[2:39:22] oh okay thank you and my final question
[2:39:27] pertains to the mental health aspect of
[2:39:28] this brief and I think judge Nim
[2:39:31] probably hit on it I was processing some
[2:39:34] things I'm going to ask again um and
[2:39:38] maybe this is for Mr schugar or or judge
[2:39:41] n is there anything we can do pertaining
[2:39:43] to magistration that would dreamline the
[2:39:46] mental health
[2:39:49] process
[2:39:52] I'll
[2:39:55] okay
[2:39:57] well commissioner that specifically we
[2:40:00] do have some projects in the works uh um
[2:40:05] that could streamline the mental health
[2:40:06] process we I think it been sitting on
[2:40:09] the it steering committee since 22nd
[2:40:12] which is a tech share uh merging the uh
[2:40:15] mental health alert system and the Tex
[2:40:18] share magistration so that those are two
[2:40:20] disparate systems that if they were
[2:40:22] merged into just Tex share magistration
[2:40:24] we were able to um quickly route people
[2:40:27] in the system uh through texture
[2:40:29] Integrations to the the dockets that uh
[2:40:32] judge Nim talked
[2:40:35] about so what does a timeline look like
[2:40:40] for what you just suggested a texture
[2:40:42] merger of mental health alert system we
[2:40:45] went through the uh crimin the crimin
[2:40:47] courts went through the it steering
[2:40:48] committee process and it is uh I don't I
[2:40:52] will don't get I use the terms
[2:40:53] incorrectly but I think it's been
[2:40:55] removed off the backlog and it's
[2:40:56] currently being investigated I know that
[2:40:58] it we have an IT steering committee
[2:41:00] coming up at the the end later this
[2:41:03] month that it'll be addressed again but
[2:41:05] it's in cue to move forward but it
[2:41:08] hasn't moved
[2:41:12] forward all okay so new timeline I've
[2:41:17] been told about mental health parabond
[2:41:20] and I'd like to know what is needed to
[2:41:22] improve our
[2:41:23] efficiency refie eligibility for those
[2:41:27] well again that's where right now we
[2:41:28] have two dispair that's where the where
[2:41:30] if was all merged that the magistrate
[2:41:32] was aware of everything that is going on
[2:41:33] with the defendant at the time of
[2:41:35] magistration is that we uh there
[2:41:38] statutory requirements for the law
[2:41:39] enforcement agency or the jail as a law
[2:41:42] enforcement agency to notify the
[2:41:43] magistrate of the mental health uh right
[2:41:46] now we have two disparaged systems that
[2:41:47] don't talk to each other so the
[2:41:49] magistrate may not know about the mental
[2:41:51] health uh alerts that have been put in
[2:41:53] front of them when they are doing
[2:41:54] magistration they may learn about it
[2:41:56] later by looking at the mental health
[2:41:58] alert system so the idea of those two
[2:42:01] items being tied together will expedite
[2:42:03] to those defendants into the proper
[2:42:05] dockets and when you look at the
[2:42:07] Timeline I mean the longterm timeline to
[2:42:10] get us in line to get to the state
[2:42:11] hospital the sooner a defendant that
[2:42:13] needs to get to the state hospital if we
[2:42:15] can recognize them early get them to the
[2:42:17] right path and into our compy dockets we
[2:42:19] could either not go to the state
[2:42:21] hospital or we can start getting them
[2:42:23] treatment prior to that or get them on
[2:42:24] the list sooner so as as I don't as to
[2:42:29] as judge hegerman said the the critical
[2:42:31] point in the criminal justice system is
[2:42:34] first time you deal is at magistration
[2:42:36] where where they can be routed and the
[2:42:38] more information the magistrate has to
[2:42:41] make a better decision about that
[2:42:43] defendant the the the best chance chance
[2:42:45] of of success for that defendant system
[2:42:47] or also expedited into the criminal
[2:42:49] justice system as well if if they need
[2:42:51] to be prosecuted so all that happens at
[2:42:54] magistration and the more information is
[2:42:56] happening at magistration uh it's in the
[2:42:58] best interest of the entire system thank
[2:43:01] you sir we to my fellow Court members we
[2:43:05] we just cannot continue to um turn a
[2:43:09] blind eye toward the software and IT
[2:43:12] issues with
[2:43:13] regard to
[2:43:15] texier and criminal justice um
[2:43:19] management um we we've got to we've got
[2:43:22] to do something um but thank
[2:43:26] you all right any other questions a
[2:43:32] comment would seem to be focused
[2:43:36] on
[2:43:38] [Music]
[2:43:40] magistration when it comes to getting
[2:43:43] people to the mental health jail
[2:43:46] diversion
[2:43:50] Center
[2:43:53] ideally the system is set up and it
[2:43:56] works
[2:43:58] best
[2:44:01] nationally when the officer in the
[2:44:06] field makes the
[2:44:09] decision to take that
[2:44:13] person to treatment
[2:44:15] rather than to
[2:44:21] incarceration it the system when it
[2:44:25] works
[2:44:29] properly saves the county
[2:44:33] money it saves US money
[2:44:38] on book in book
[2:44:44] out
[2:44:47] daily care and feeding
[2:44:54] costs that's if
[2:44:58] the
[2:45:00] arreste never
[2:45:02] hits the sally port at our
[2:45:06] [Music]
[2:45:11] jail we can go at it as at
[2:45:17] work and make it
[2:45:21] work but by doing it that
[2:45:25] way we're occur we're
[2:45:29] occurring costs that do not need to be
[2:45:36] encouraged and we
[2:45:40] are not giving the
[2:45:44] arrestes the benefit of
[2:45:48] treatment there's not enough treatment
[2:45:50] in the county jail for the number of
[2:45:54] persons that are there and the
[2:45:59] state's
[2:46:01] emphasis seems to be
[2:46:06] on restoration of
[2:46:11] Competency rather than
[2:46:14] treating
[2:46:16] persons on an outpatient
[2:46:20] basis
[2:46:21] [Music]
[2:46:24] um whenever we encounter
[2:46:30] them if we're going to use all our
[2:46:35] state mental health
[2:46:39] bids to get someone restored to
[2:46:44] competency so that we can try them for
[2:46:47] their
[2:46:50] offenses that that's a model
[2:46:54] [Music]
[2:46:57] for
[2:46:59] continuing the county
[2:47:01] jail as the largest provider of Mental
[2:47:05] Health Services in the county which is
[2:47:09] where we don't want to
[2:47:13] be so let's take a look again at the
[2:47:17] mental health jail diversion
[2:47:21] Center and see if we can make it work
[2:47:23] the way it's supposed to
[2:47:25] work that will lower our jail
[2:47:32] census it
[2:47:35] will have more
[2:47:38] direct
[2:47:40] benefit
[2:47:42] quicker to
[2:47:45] the mental
[2:47:48] health
[2:47:51] patient save us
[2:47:55] money commissioner uh just to maybe
[2:47:59] clarify a couple things from from your
[2:48:01] comments um I'd be a Miss if I didn't
[2:48:04] mention the um
[2:48:06] incredibly the amount of effort that the
[2:48:08] criminal District Attorney's office has
[2:48:10] put into engaging and educating our law
[2:48:13] enforcement agencies across Ross the
[2:48:15] county and it's not that they have gone
[2:48:17] out for one meeting at each one it's a
[2:48:19] continual effort that they have going to
[2:48:22] meetings going to shift changes
[2:48:24] educating trying to make sure that the
[2:48:27] officers the police Chiefs um the
[2:48:30] sergeants all of the the folks within
[2:48:33] Command Staff are aware of this mental
[2:48:35] health gel Diversion Center um so I
[2:48:38] don't think it's a lack of awareness
[2:48:40] within the Lea's because the DA's office
[2:48:43] has done a tremendous job and I think
[2:48:45] what we're
[2:48:46] seeing with the jail with the Sheriff's
[2:48:51] Office being the the ones that are
[2:48:53] shifting the folks over to the Diversion
[2:48:54] Center that are diverting um two
[2:48:57] thoughts on that one the sheriff's
[2:48:59] office when someone comes into the jail
[2:49:01] the sheriff can't release them once
[2:49:04] someone comes into the jail it's either
[2:49:05] the judges or the DA's office are the
[2:49:07] only ones that can get them um somebody
[2:49:10] to to be released that's not the
[2:49:11] sheriff's decision so the sheriff Works
[2:49:14] tirelessly and his and Chief eer and
[2:49:16] others to get those folks identified and
[2:49:19] through the system and even back up as
[2:49:22] part of stuff that's already been done
[2:49:24] um to get them shifted over so yes the
[2:49:27] way that it's currently working is very
[2:49:31] laborious but with the center being
[2:49:34] there and the impetus to make it work
[2:49:37] everybody's doing double time to get
[2:49:39] this thing to get the center um as full
[2:49:42] as we can get it and and we have some
[2:49:43] real challenges as we move for well I
[2:49:45] recognize that the criminal District
[2:49:48] Attorney's office
[2:49:53] has performed a
[2:49:56] Herculean uh task of trying to
[2:49:59] get police agencies up to
[2:50:05] speed but it's going to be a longterm
[2:50:10] process uh as you indicated it can't be
[2:50:14] just a one or two time
[2:50:18] hit the more comfortable we
[2:50:22] can get the local command
[2:50:26] staffs to be with the jail
[2:50:30] diversion
[2:50:32] concept the more
[2:50:34] successful the program is going to be
[2:50:37] and we just have to keep at
[2:50:43] it all right any other questions or
[2:50:45] comments from the court we do have a
[2:50:47] speaker on this I just want to applaud
[2:50:50] you Russell uh and the rest of our staff
[2:50:53] for doing what you've done thus far I
[2:50:56] know that you're working hard on
[2:50:57] publicly facing dashboards that we asked
[2:50:59] for you're working hard on a lot of the
[2:51:01] things a lot of the information that the
[2:51:03] court has asked for and in context in
[2:51:06] the grand scheme tan county is doing a
[2:51:09] great job when you look at the
[2:51:11] population increasing by 8.1% but the
[2:51:13] jail population only increasing by 3.8
[2:51:16] that's great when you look at the fact
[2:51:18] that Harris County's jail population is
[2:51:20] about 23% or 2% of their
[2:51:25] population bear counties
[2:51:28] 22% Dallas counties 23% Taran counties
[2:51:32] .19 we're lower than all the other major
[2:51:36] counties in Texas in our jail population
[2:51:38] relative to our population uh and that's
[2:51:41] something that should be celebrated I
[2:51:43] agree we should always try try to get
[2:51:44] better um but at the end of the day it's
[2:51:47] personal responsibility that matters and
[2:51:50] folks that are committing crimes that
[2:51:52] are dangerous to our society we can't
[2:51:54] just let them out because we want to so
[2:51:56] I I applaud what y'all are doing I
[2:51:58] applaud the delicate balance that our
[2:51:59] judges have to have to exercise whenever
[2:52:03] they're setting bonds because ultimately
[2:52:05] Public Safety must come first uh so
[2:52:08] those are my comments I think that we're
[2:52:10] doing a good job and it should be
[2:52:11] celebrated thanks for the
[2:52:13] report all right thank thank you Russell
[2:52:15] thank you
[2:52:16] all all right speaker for this is jyn
[2:52:19] Jackie
[2:52:23] Cox judge if you could wait to start my
[2:52:28] until distributed would help me because
[2:52:31] I'm going to be speaking in reference to
[2:52:43] these okay the first page of the handout
[2:52:47] that I made for you can you hear me now
[2:52:49] thank you much fa thank you the first
[2:52:52] page of the handout that I made for you
[2:52:55] came to me from the DA's office in
[2:52:57] response to a public information act
[2:53:00] request I think it is the update of the
[2:53:03] dashboard for the chil which was
[2:53:06] referred to in one of the
[2:53:08] presentations and what you can see is
[2:53:10] that it's for a date certain it's for
[2:53:12] Wednesday November 22nd
[2:53:15] 23 and it shows an inmate count in the
[2:53:19] jail of
[2:53:22] 3,751 if you flip down to the next chart
[2:53:26] which was the one that was presented to
[2:53:28] you uh or was prepared by Mr
[2:53:32] Shatner he shows an inmate population on
[2:53:36] December 5th of
[2:53:39] 4,256 and that's 500
[2:53:42] off and that's a big deal because 500
[2:53:46] off is the price of the Garza contract
[2:53:49] which is almost $100,000 for two year
[2:53:52] I'm sorry almost $100 million for two
[2:53:55] years it's $10 million a month or $12
[2:53:59] million a month it just kind of ranges
[2:54:01] but it's a lot of
[2:54:03] money so we need to figure out what
[2:54:07] happened to the 425 inmates and it looks
[2:54:11] like if you flip down to the back that
[2:54:13] really if you added 465 inmates from
[2:54:17] Garza to the numbers that bring the
[2:54:20] state to a total of
[2:54:24] 3,751 you come out with something a lot
[2:54:27] closer so I think it is the Garza
[2:54:29] population that just got not put into
[2:54:32] the the the population statistics that
[2:54:36] we get on the dashboard what I can't
[2:54:39] tell is how those population statistics
[2:54:43] translate into into the cost per day
[2:54:46] figures one of my requests here is for
[2:54:51] more specific information about sources
[2:54:55] of data and sources of
[2:54:58] cost uh I I think I know what some of
[2:55:01] this stuff means but I spent a lot of
[2:55:03] time looking at it and wondering well am
[2:55:06] I right or wrong you know is for example
[2:55:09] category number 16 court exam 316
[2:55:13] inmates
[2:55:14] actually the people who are waiting for
[2:55:17] diagnosis on mental health issues or is
[2:55:20] it something else if 307 inmates is also
[2:55:24] a very high price tag at $85 a day times
[2:55:28] 30 days a month you see how that one
[2:55:31] rolls up into big numbers and so what
[2:55:35] I'm hopeful for is that someone who
[2:55:38] prepares your dashboard will be able to
[2:55:41] provide me with a list of what the very
[2:55:44] variables really mean because when I
[2:55:46] asked for it I got it we don't keep that
[2:55:49] response thank you thank you all right
[2:55:52] do we have any announcements or comments
[2:55:53] from the Commissioner's
[2:55:56] Court all right seeing none we move to
[2:55:58] public comments I have four people
[2:56:01] signed up to speak first is Katherine
[2:56:10] [Music]
[2:56:13] Godby
[2:56:15] [Music]
[2:56:17] thank you good morning or afternoon uh
[2:56:20] today I simply wanted to remind us of
[2:56:22] this story January 15th
[2:56:25] 2020 a young woman 21 years old four
[2:56:28] months pregnant is having a mental
[2:56:30] health crisis it's bad enough that her
[2:56:33] mother becomes concerned for her
[2:56:34] grandchild growing in her daughter's
[2:56:36] body following the protocol she's been
[2:56:39] given the mother calls 911 requesting an
[2:56:43] involuntary commitment of her daughter
[2:56:44] to JPS she needs mental health treatment
[2:56:48] and this is exactly what you were
[2:56:50] talking about commissioner Brooks when
[2:56:51] the officers arrived the mother's
[2:56:53] concerned that what she's requested will
[2:56:55] be ignored and she was correct instead
[2:56:58] of help this 21-year-old woman is
[2:57:00] arrested and taken to tan County
[2:57:03] Jail during her five months there she
[2:57:06] does not have a single court date
[2:57:09] apparently the mental health treatment
[2:57:10] that she receives is if any is in compl
[2:57:14] completely ineffective because she
[2:57:16] decompensates and her condition
[2:57:18] deteriorates so severely that by the
[2:57:21] time she gives birth she is actually
[2:57:25] nonverbal my understanding is that jail
[2:57:27] staff was told they knew that when the
[2:57:30] time came she would not be able to
[2:57:32] communicate or perhaps even herself know
[2:57:35] that she was going into labor May 17th
[2:57:38] 2020 alone in her jail Cale she goes
[2:57:41] into labor She Bangs on the window to
[2:57:43] get a assistance but no one comes the
[2:57:46] baby girl is born on the floor of this
[2:57:49] jail Cale her brain is severely damaged
[2:57:52] from lack of oxygen May 27th 2020 the
[2:57:56] baby is declared brain dead and at just
[2:57:59] 10 years 10 days old this newborn baby
[2:58:03] dies the young woman's family requests
[2:58:06] that she be allowed compassionate RS to
[2:58:08] attend the funeral of her baby the
[2:58:11] request is
[2:58:12] denied Kent County reasonably enough is
[2:58:15] being sued for what happened the young
[2:58:18] woman is Chassidy conas her baby was
[2:58:21] zenora it's possible that not every
[2:58:24] aspect of this story is completely
[2:58:26] accurate I took the details from various
[2:58:28] news reports but as a whole I think it
[2:58:30] is completely it is accurate so what
[2:58:33] will the ending of this story be you our
[2:58:36] elected officials have the power to do
[2:58:38] the right thing for chassid and her
[2:58:40] family to settle this case so that her
[2:58:42] family can provide her with the medical
[2:58:44] and mental health care that she needs
[2:58:47] she's not a criminal from what I can
[2:58:49] glean she did nothing wrong but because
[2:58:52] of the actions and inactions at an
[2:58:54] institutions that you're responsible for
[2:58:56] a baby is
[2:58:59] dead my understanding is that U you're
[2:59:02] refusing or yeah refusing to settle this
[2:59:06] case I urge you to do the right
[2:59:10] thing I don't know the amount of the
[2:59:12] lawsuit that what the lawsuit's asking
[2:59:15] for but whatever it is in my view it's
[2:59:18] not enough thank you thank you it it's
[2:59:20] case
[2:59:21] settled nothing is final at this point
[2:59:23] judge but okay there will be something
[2:59:25] for the court to approve when if when
[2:59:27] there is a settlement yeah all right Nan
[2:59:29] Terry is
[2:59:42] next
[2:59:57] Russell I want to Echo the commissioner
[3:00:00] Court the Commissioners who've spoken
[3:00:01] about the wonderful job you've done on
[3:00:03] the presentation for the costs in the
[3:00:05] jail it's difficult to go through that
[3:00:07] data and I appreciate you presenting it
[3:00:09] in a format to this court thank you
[3:00:12] um
[3:00:15] as you can see from the chart that um I
[3:00:18] just handed Russell the numbers are
[3:00:19] close I took three statistics classes in
[3:00:22] a college two an undergrad one in uh
[3:00:26] graduate school and my favorite uh
[3:00:29] Professor had a a book that he loved how
[3:00:32] to lie with Statistics
[3:00:34] and but it but it does show you that you
[3:00:39] know numbers are numbers but I I don't
[3:00:40] think these are statistically
[3:00:42] significantly different there are some
[3:00:45] differences uh one I'd call you I think
[3:00:47] we're using different databases the
[3:00:50] unsentenced felons um your numbers are
[3:00:53] 2681 but it's a 272 difference between
[3:00:57] the open records act request in October
[3:00:59] or in November 13 days and 272 seems
[3:01:03] like a lot of people to have unsentenced
[3:01:05] felons in that short time I think we're
[3:01:07] maybe pulling data from a different
[3:01:09] place um but the thing
[3:01:11] I come about with this is references and
[3:01:16] consistency and omissions um the
[3:01:20] references I really applaud you Russell
[3:01:22] on having a your dashboard have a place
[3:01:25] where you can click and get more
[3:01:26] information um I'd
[3:01:28] also offer up when I in my prior career
[3:01:32] before we would go deploy a system to
[3:01:35] the public we would try to quote break
[3:01:36] that system with people who didn't know
[3:01:38] anything about it or volunteers and I
[3:01:41] don't know that you'd ever accept it but
[3:01:42] I would offer my uh re if you want you
[3:01:45] know how to find me I'll volunteer to
[3:01:47] help break the system before you go live
[3:01:49] if that would be beneficial um the other
[3:01:51] thing I'd like to note
[3:01:54] is the uh references which I did and the
[3:01:57] omissions um we don't know the image
[3:01:59] alar costs we don't know the cost of the
[3:02:02] settlement costs we don't know the cost
[3:02:05] of legal cost that I spoke to in my
[3:02:07] earlier presentation today so there are
[3:02:09] a lot of costs that I don't think are
[3:02:11] covered by these costs for the jail and
[3:02:13] until we can get a real number on what
[3:02:15] the costs are we really don't want to
[3:02:17] know what that number is this and I
[3:02:20] really appreciate you putting up the
[3:02:21] dashboards for the other dashboards that
[3:02:24] are out there I I actually pulled these
[3:02:26] two pages in uh that I just handed out
[3:02:30] this is from the public safety report
[3:02:32] system at the very bottom is a citation
[3:02:34] if you can pull it up for yourself uh
[3:02:36] you can I just chose Taran County and I
[3:02:39] chose two month one month and then the
[3:02:41] last year what I'd really like you to to
[3:02:43] see is this bottom number Class C
[3:02:46] misdemeanor thank you why are we
[3:02:47] spending 136 for Class C misdemeanors
[3:02:51] which have a $500 time time is up we're
[3:02:53] confing thank
[3:02:55] you uh we'll have we'll just start
[3:02:57] turning off the microphones we have to
[3:02:59] please respect the time um Daniel
[3:03:02] Bennett is
[3:03:10] next Daniel Bennett White Settlement uh
[3:03:14] judge uh
[3:03:16] Court let's review the Tad election
[3:03:19] shall we we had seven candidates one
[3:03:21] candidate argued values for homeowners
[3:03:24] with as far as I could discern uh
[3:03:28] through open records request he didn't
[3:03:29] file agent uh of record form and receive
[3:03:33] donations for his efforts potentially uh
[3:03:35] sending it to a nonprofit another
[3:03:38] candidate elected as an elected official
[3:03:41] potentially used his office to earn
[3:03:44] their position on the Tad board which is
[3:03:46] against the government code then we had
[3:03:49] a gentleman school
[3:03:51] system uh Arlington ISD who cast their
[3:03:55] ballot on their third open meeting which
[3:03:58] is a violation of property tax code and
[3:04:00] their 453 votes shouldn't count but I
[3:04:03] understand through Janice Joplin the
[3:04:05] mayor of kennel showing me her letter
[3:04:07] yesterday all of Arlington's ISD votes
[3:04:10] counted how nice and then we had a
[3:04:14] sitting director at that meeting on that
[3:04:17] third meeting asking for those illegal
[3:04:19] votes which which is shocking because
[3:04:23] they're they pledge of fidelity to the
[3:04:25] property tax system they're sitting on
[3:04:26] the dis we go to these meetings with the
[3:04:30] understanding they're protecting our
[3:04:31] rights because you guys elect them all
[3:04:35] right not Stellar for the incoming
[3:04:37] directors we're trying to restore
[3:04:39] transparency and accountability here
[3:04:42] this is not a very good start gentlemen
[3:04:44] but let's move forward because we need
[3:04:46] to restore confidence in our appraisal
[3:04:48] district that's why I'm here today not
[3:04:51] to bore out all the inconsistency and
[3:04:54] lack of fidelity that I've witnessed
[3:04:55] over the last seven years we're going to
[3:04:57] start with the DA's
[3:04:59] office back in February 23 of 2018 I
[3:05:03] asked for
[3:05:04] four interviews four
[3:05:07] whistleblowers it was in the summer of
[3:05:09] 2018 I asked for this uh in 2016 they
[3:05:12] gave interviews in 2018 I asked for the
[3:05:15] interviews they shot a letter to the
[3:05:17] Attorney General's office that
[3:05:21] 78846 was the Attorney General number
[3:05:23] given to the request it was to
[3:05:27] suppress the documentation from me so I
[3:05:30] could not make it public they sought
[3:05:32] relief under
[3:05:43] tigation that did not result in a
[3:05:45] conviction or defer adjudication they
[3:05:47] didn't investigate it they never opened
[3:05:49] an investigation so they falsely sought
[3:05:51] relief from the Attorney General's
[3:05:53] office on a false premise so my
[3:05:57] my my beest of you
[3:06:00] today have the District Attorney's
[3:06:02] Office release all four 16 hours so we
[3:06:06] can say a snapshot in time what was
[3:06:08] going on at the appraisal district and
[3:06:10] we can start to become transparent and
[3:06:12] accountable to the people that pay our
[3:06:14] taxes and hold property values thank
[3:06:16] thank you uh next and last signed up is
[3:06:19] lon
[3:06:22] [Music]
[3:06:27] Burnham good afternoon I want to back up
[3:06:30] to 10:00 this morning it's the Court's
[3:06:33] custom to congratulate people on their
[3:06:35] anniversary date and I don't think
[3:06:37] anybody's congratulated the three of you
[3:06:39] on your first anniversary date so I want
[3:06:41] to thank you for your service
[3:06:43] um I particularly want to thank uh the
[3:06:46] Applause is
[3:06:49] deafening you took seconds away from me
[3:06:52] judge so let's get on with it look I
[3:06:55] hope your first year has been as
[3:06:56] interesting to you as it's been to me I
[3:06:59] started to come to the court last fall
[3:07:01] before you be began your service here
[3:07:03] talking about my concerns about the way
[3:07:05] the sheriff's department has run talking
[3:07:07] about my concerns about the excessive
[3:07:09] death rate concerns about excessive
[3:07:12] incarceration over excessive period of
[3:07:14] times uh we all know it's used is the
[3:07:16] largest Mental Health institution here
[3:07:19] which is really
[3:07:20] unfortunate I really appreciate
[3:07:22] Russell's work I think this represents
[3:07:25] progress for all of us I really
[3:07:27] appreciate commissioner Simmons uh
[3:07:29] public town hall meeting I hope my
[3:07:31] commissioner will do the same thing um
[3:07:33] because I think we need some broad
[3:07:36] public discussion about the problems in
[3:07:38] our jail not cutting off citizen
[3:07:41] participation after 3 minutes I want to
[3:07:45] make it real
[3:07:46] clear I'm pissed about the waste of my
[3:07:50] time on October 30th when I went to the
[3:07:53] central Jury Room with over 200 other
[3:07:56] people when I was informed that oh your
[3:07:59] services are not needed you're dismissed
[3:08:02] because there are 30 judges that are not
[3:08:03] holding court today that speaks to the
[3:08:07] very real issue that a lot of people
[3:08:09] know the judges are not working a
[3:08:11] 40-hour work week and they're getting
[3:08:13] paid way too much for the the time that
[3:08:16] they don't spend on the bench getting
[3:08:19] the job done I also want to make another
[3:08:21] point that self-evident to most of us
[3:08:24] that if tried to deal with a loved one
[3:08:28] or a friend who has a drinking problem
[3:08:31] you cannot get an alcoholic to recognize
[3:08:35] your problem and do something about it
[3:08:37] until they're willing to admit there is
[3:08:40] a huge problem here I want you all to
[3:08:44] recognize that you are not doing an
[3:08:46] adequate job admitting that we have a
[3:08:49] huge problem here and we are not going
[3:08:52] to fix it until you guys get more
[3:08:53] serious about it because the citizens
[3:08:55] can come up here and talk for three
[3:08:56] minutes and be rudely interrupted at
[3:08:58] about three minute
[3:09:00] point from now to Kingdom come but we're
[3:09:03] not going to fix the problem till the
[3:09:04] sheriff's department and Leadership
[3:09:06] recognizes it we're not going to fix the
[3:09:08] problem until the judges recognize
[3:09:09] they're not doing their job and we're
[3:09:11] not going to fix it until the
[3:09:12] commissioners Court recognizes the same
[3:09:14] problem I'm going to give you 15 14 13
[3:09:16] seconds
[3:09:18] back all right that's all that we have
[3:09:20] signed up to speak is there anyone else
[3:09:21] in the audience who would like to
[3:09:24] [Music]
[3:09:39] speak good afternoon my name is Billy
[3:09:42] Wilson from Arlington
[3:09:44] Texas humans be
[3:09:46] human a fact of life while we are
[3:09:49] capable of great Humanity we are all
[3:09:51] equally capable of great inh Humanity to
[3:09:53] govern with these two capabilities we
[3:09:55] create rules laws and institutions our
[3:09:57] democracy rest on the government by the
[3:09:59] people and for the people you are the by
[3:10:02] the people we are the for the people you
[3:10:05] are uh there should not be enity between
[3:10:07] the two groups we come recognizing it is
[3:10:09] our duty to engage with you to inform a
[3:10:11] more perfect union in that Spirit we
[3:10:13] have come and will continue to come and
[3:10:15] we will not not just as critic but as
[3:10:18] partners we wish to engage you in the
[3:10:20] dialogue of problem solving problems
[3:10:22] like chasty kanes she was implematic of
[3:10:25] the property of our County Jail
[3:10:26] Administration who on April 17th was
[3:10:28] granted the right to proceed with a
[3:10:30] civil rights lawsuit against Taran
[3:10:31] County Jail it began with the person
[3:10:33] diagnosed with mental disorders was
[3:10:35] instead of being transported to JPS was
[3:10:37] jailed in several months without
[3:10:39] adequate care or mental treatment a
[3:10:41] child named z CH in court document died
[3:10:45] after birth in the jail cell the mother
[3:10:47] was then denied the request to attend a
[3:10:49] child's
[3:10:51] funeral humans be
[3:10:53] human we feel that this is not just the
[3:10:55] failure of our protocols but Community
[3:10:57] oversight of our institutions I'm very
[3:10:59] happy to see the work that you're doing
[3:11:01] and we hope to work with you to try to
[3:11:03] work through all this data to come up
[3:11:04] with Solutions so we've come to do our
[3:11:07] part raise concerns and offer Solutions
[3:11:10] we ask for a shift from investment to
[3:11:11] prisons into an investment in programs
[3:11:14] my research shows that 30% of the
[3:11:16] offenses in our are fall into two
[3:11:18] categories DWI and Family Violence We
[3:11:22] Believe to focus on addressing the
[3:11:23] mental health issues fully implementing
[3:11:25] the diversion program efficient
[3:11:27] magistration and proper attorney to
[3:11:29] discretion uh district attorney to
[3:11:31] discretion will go far in eleviating our
[3:11:33] jail overcrowding and we have we can cut
[3:11:37] off the flow but we need less buckets we
[3:11:41] can do better we Dem man to do better
[3:11:43] and we will do better thank you thank
[3:11:46] you is there anyone else who wishes to
[3:11:48] speak all right seeing
[3:11:49] [Music]
[3:11:51] none uh we will please remain silent
[3:11:54] while I read the following statement the
[3:11:57] Commissioner's Court will now recess the
[3:11:58] Open Session and proceed to close
[3:11:59] session to discuss items exempt under
[3:12:02] 55171 072 074 076 087 and 0725 of the
[3:12:09] Texas government code we are in
[3:12:11] recess
[3:48:08] e
[4:00:03] all right good afternoon we are back
[4:00:04] from executive session there are no
[4:00:06] items that need to be addressed now that
[4:00:08] we've reconvened so I'll entertain a
[4:00:10] motion to adjourn so move have a motion
[4:00:12] a second please cast your
[4:00:15] votes all right we have our three at
[4:00:17] least so passes three to Zero from those
[4:00:20] present we are now adjourned happy New
[4:00:22] Year thank you for
[4:00:26] watching all
[4:00:37] right