Please note: All agenda items are considered PASSED unless indicated otherwise.

OPEN SESSION:

OPEN SESSION:

RESOLUTION

1. Consider and take necessary action to approve a resolution proclaiming September 2026, as “Deaf Awareness Month” in Smith County.

PRESENTATION

2. Receive burn ban update from Fire Marshal Chad Hogue.

Comments:

Fire Marshal Chad Hogue updated the Court on the countywide burn ban ordered on August 18, 2026. He reported 37 fires since the ban went into place and said those fires have been harder to put out in the current conditions.

A tropical system may bring rain, but the worst case is no rain and more wind. Based on what he is seeing on the ground, Marshal Hogue does not see an end to the burn ban at this time and recommended leaving it in place. 

COURT ORDERS

SHERIFF’S OFFICE

3. Consider and take necessary action to approve a revised Texas Anti-Gang Center (TAG) Resolution for FY2027 adding financial officer, Timothy Hollis, and authorize the county judge to sign all related documentation.

Comments:

We approved a revised Texas Anti-Gang Center (TAG) Resolution for FY2027. The original resolution was approved by the Court on February 24, 2026. The Office of the Governor added a new requirement: the grant’s financial officer must be named on the resolution.
This revision adds County Auditor Timothy Hollis as the financial officer. This is a paperwork change required by the grantor.

4. Consider and take necessary action to accept the Office of the Governor Public Safety Office Body Worn Camera Program FY2027 Grant Award, in the amount of $138,687.61, with a cash match of $46,229.21, for the benefit of the Smith County Sheriff’s Office and authorize the county judge to sign all related documentation.

Comments:

We accepted the Office of the Governor Public Safety Office Body Worn Camera Program FY2027 grant award for the Sheriff’s Office. 

Grant details:

• State award: $138,687.61
• County cash match (25%): $46,229.21 
• Total project cost: $184,916.82
• Grant period: October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027
• Equipment: 95 body cameras for 63 patrol officers and 32 Criminal Investigation Division officers, plus related digital storage

COMMISSIONERS COURT

5. Consider and take necessary action to approve a Resolution for the online auction of personal property seized pursuant to a tax warrant issued as authorized by Texas Tax Code, §33.25 (b & c).

Comments:

We approved the resolution. Kevin Dutton and John Thomas with Linebarger, the firm that handles delinquent-tax collections for the county, explained why this item was needed.

A couple of years ago the Court authorized online sales of real property seized through tax foreclosure. They reported that those online sales have brought a larger pool of bidders and better results for the taxing entities. This resolution does the same thing for business personal property seized under a tax warrant—items such as high-end office furniture, conference tables, and equipment.

They told the Court that unique or expensive personal property often brings less money at a local in-person sale because the audience is small. A licensed online auctioneer can advertise to buyers who actually want that kind of property. The goal is not for the county to get into the furniture business. The goal is to collect the taxes that are owed.

How the money is handled:

• Sale proceeds go first to taxes, penalties, interest, and costs legally owed.
• If the sale brings in more than what is owed, the extra is placed in the registry of the court.
• The owner has two years to claim that surplus. After two years, unclaimed funds can benefit the taxing entities.

People who pay their taxes on time should not have to carry the load for those who do not. Collecting what is owed—efficiently and lawfully—is part of protecting the rest of us.

DISTRICT CLERK’S OFFICE

6. Consider and take necessary action to approve the District Clerks request for a part-time position using the Clerks Records Management fund.

Comments:

We approved District Clerk Gaye Boynton’s request for a part-time records preservation clerk paid from the Clerk’s Records Management and Preservation fund (Fund 49.34435). 

Ms. Boynton was clear this is not a general deputy clerk. The job description is limited to records management, preservation, retention, digitization, inventory, exhibits, and disposal. Last week her office shredded about 100 boxes and she said it barely made a dent. She has at least three decades of records in storage that should have been disposed of under the retention schedule. The move into the new courthouse makes that backlog an operational problem, not just a housekeeping problem—we cannot haul all of it across town.

Texas Local Government Code treats records management broadly, and Attorney General guidance allows these dedicated fees to pay the portion of an employee’s time that is actually spent on qualifying records work. After the immediate purge and move, she said there is ongoing inventory, digitization, and quality-control work that fits the same job description.

This is a smart way to prepare for the new courthouse. I appreciate that she came with a narrow job description and a dedicated fee account instead of asking the general fund to create another full-time deputy. Part-time is the responsible place to start. 

RECURRING BUSINESS

ROAD AND BRIDGE

7. Consider and take necessary action to authorize the county judge to sign the:

1. Final Plat for the H and J Subdivision, Unit 2, Precinct 3; and
2. Re-Plat for Star Mountain Ranch, Phase 1, Precinct 3.

AUDITOR’S OFFICE

8. Consider and take necessary action to approve and/or ratify payment of accounts, bills, payroll, transfer of funds, amendments, and health claims.

SHERIFF’S OFFICE

9. Receive report on status of Smith County jail operations, inmate population, employee overtime, and employee vacancies.

Comments:

The Sheriff’s Office presented the regular jail operations report covering inmate population, overtime, and vacancies. Jail staffing and overtime remain two of the larger cost drivers in the budget, so these numbers deserve regular public review.

Chief Pinkerton explained that some of the openings are the result of deputies promoting from within or moving into other assignments after the academy. The department is sending two to three recruits to each academy class and is using a high school partnership to build a pipeline. 

During public comment, Dalila Reynoso with Texas Jail Project asked for numbers the Court and the public should be able to see without a fight:

• How many inmates are currently on the forensic / competency-restoration waitlist?
• What is the average wait, and what is the longest current wait?
• How many were referred to jail-based competency restoration and refused, declined, or could not engage—and what happens next?
• How many have gone to a state hospital, been restored, come back to our jail, and later been found incompetent again?

Those are taxpayer questions. Every day someone sits in our jail waiting on a hospital bed is a day Smith County is paying jail costs for a person the system has already said needs treatment, not just a cell. Our jail is not a behavioral hospital. I am requesting that those waitlist numbers get reported with the regular jail report so we are measuring the problem instead of guessing at it.

ADJOURN