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

OPEN SESSION:

RESOLUTIONS

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

2. Consider and take necessary action to approve a resolution proclaiming October 3, 2026, as “Suzy Belle Day” in Smith County.

PRESENTATIONS

3. Presentation of employee recognition, longevity certificates, and service pins.

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

Comments:

The burn ban ordered on August 18, 2026, is still in place. Fire Marshal Chad Hogue reported the KBDI at an average of 717, with a low of 611 and a high of 778. The scale tops out at 800, so we are still in extreme conditions.

Fire Marshal Hogue reported 28 calls and they issued 2 citations. He also clarified a point I want to pass along: the numbers he has been giving us are reported wildfires, not outdoor-burning calls.

Rain was in the forecast, with a real chance of meaningful depth — possibly three inches or more. We will have to wait and see what actually falls before anyone should assume the ban is coming off. Until the Fire Marshal brings a recommendation back, do not burn.

COURT ORDERS

COMMISSIONERS COURT

5. Consider and take necessary action to approve the acceptance of donations of funds and/or labor for the expense related to the placement of a Ten Commandments Monument outside the new Smith County Courthouse.

Comments:

Mrs. Sharon Guthrie asked the Court to accept a Ten Commandments monument for the grounds of the new courthouse, and bronze Ten Commandments plaques for the inside. She is a committee member of The American History & Heritage Foundation, Inc. That foundation is donating the monument and the plaques. The funds and the labor are being raised privately. The project will be at no cost to Smith County, and the exact location will be set later. This is a wonderful blessing to the county, our courthouse and our citizens. With much appreciation, we accepted this beautiful donation. 

Beyond the agenda item: 
Let’s breakdown the “Separation of Church & State” argument.

I am a Christian, and I am not going to dance around that. This country was founded on Christian beliefs. Our founding documents name God. They talk about Nature’s God and rights endowed by our Creator. The Ten Commandments are the basis of the laws we enforce in that building: Do not kill. Do not steal. Do not lie. 

Those are not slogans for one church. They are the rules of a moral people, and they have been under American law from the beginning. A new courthouse is the right place to say that out loud.

Some of the opposition leaned on “separation of church and state.” That phrase is not in the Constitution.

It comes from a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote on January 1, 1802, to the Danbury Baptists in Connecticut. They were a minority in a state that still had an established church, and they were worried the government would interfere with their worship. 

Jefferson pointed them to the First Amendment. Congress shall make no law setting up a religion, and no law stopping the free exercise of religion.

He called that a wall between church and state. The wall was there to keep the national government from building a national church and from meddling in a man’s faith. 

It was not a rule that God has to be kept out of public life. The same generation hired chaplains, called for days of thanksgiving, and wrote in the Northwest Ordinance that religion and morality are necessary to good government. Jefferson went to worship services held in the Capitol.

That wall was built to keep the state out of THE CHURCH.
It was not built to keep the church out of civil government.

The church has a righteous duty to be involved.
Salt that stays in the shaker does nobody any good.

When believers and their churches step back from public life, that is not neutrality. Somebody else will govern, and they will govern without God.

That is surrender, not faithfulness. The church is supposed to tell the truth about right and wrong, including in the courthouse square.

A privately funded monument on the grounds, and plaques inside, does not set up a church. It tells the truth about where our law came from. I am glad we accepted it, and I appreciate The American History & Heritage Foundation for putting it there at no cost to the taxpayer.

6. Consider and take necessary action to approve an Order setting an inspection fee pursuant to Texas Health and Safety Code, Section 751.013 (Texas Mass Gathering Act).

Comments:

We set a $500 inspection fee on Mass Gathering Act applications under Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 751.

Civil District Attorney Thomas Wilson explained that these events — generally gatherings running into the overnight hours, with attendance thresholds that can run from the dozens up into the thousands depending on the type of event — require inspections by the Fire Marshal, the Sheriff’s Office, and other agencies. Staff estimated $150 to $180 per inspection for each office involved, and some sites take two or three trips before they pass. The fee is collected with the application and deposited to the General Fund so those inspection costs can be offset.

I asked how many of these permits we usually see. The answer was roughly one a month, a little more in the summer. If someone holds a mass gathering without a permit, law enforcement responds and they are cited.

Smith County is about 85% rural. Cities do not cover most of these sites, so the county has to step in. A fee that covers the actual inspection work is fairer than sending the whole bill to every taxpayer.

7. Consider and take necessary action to approve the two-year bond renewal for Smith County Justice of the Peace 5, Judge Danny Brown, effective October 1, 2026 through October 1, 2028, and authorize the county judge to sign all related documentation.

Comments:

This is the required two-year bond renewal for Justice of the Peace 5, Judge Danny Brown. The fiscal note was left off the agenda item. The cost to the taxpayer is $92.50.

The cost was only in the backup. The agenda line the public sees did not include it.

8. Consider and take necessary action to approve the two-year bond renewal for Smith County Precinct 5 Constable Wesley Hicks, effective October 6, 2026 through October 6, 2028, and authorize the county judge to sign all related documentation.

Comments:

Same required bond renewal for Precinct 5 Constable Wesley Hicks, October 6, 2026, through October 6, 2028. The fiscal note was left off this item as well. The cost is $92.56.

Same problem here. The agenda item did not tell the public the cost.

9. Consider and take necessary action to approve an order designating the regular meeting times of the Commissioners Court for fiscal year 2027 pursuant to Texas Local Government Code § 81.005.

Comments:

State law requires the Court to designate its regular meeting time each year. We kept the regular meeting on Tuesday at 9:30AM.

Kristy Freeman spoke during Public Comment and asked us to move Court to the evening. She said taking off work to attend is a hardship, and she pointed to the turnout at the evening meeting on August 25.

I agree with her. Working people should be able to watch their government and air a grievance without burning a vacation day to do it. We are spending the people’s money. We should do everything in our power to accommodate them. That includes an occasional evening meeting when an item of great public interest is on the agenda. We do not have to take a vote to have a meeting. It can be for public discussion. I support having evening meetings.

The way we get more of those meetings is to show the interest is real. If the people who can come at 9:30AM actually came — the folks who are retired, the ones who work from home, the ones who set their own schedule — the County Judge and the Commissioners would be more convinced that the public wants more than just the budget season evening meeting. Right now, the benches have a lot of room for the citizens on Tuesdays. Empty benches make it easy for someone to say nobody cares. Show up for the regular meeting, and the case for a few more evening meetings gets a lot stronger. I want that case to be strong.

I also want people to know why “it costs overtime” gets said. It is not a cover. An evening meeting is more than the Judge and four Commissioners staying late. At least ten other employees have to be there to run it. We need bailiffs in the courtroom and at the security scanner. We need a deputy clerk to take the minutes. We need IT for the audio and visual, and to put the meeting on Facebook Live and live on the county website. Civil DA Thomas Wilson has to be there as our counsel. Purchasing, Human Resources, and the Auditor may need to be there to answer questions. That overtime is real. I do not think the people mind it if they get a real chance to engage. That is money well spent.

The law requires a regular meeting. It does not require that meeting to be in the morning, and it does not prohibit an evening session. What it does not allow is a second meeting that redoes a vote already taken that morning. I support an evening meeting for public discussion when the item is of great public interest. The regular business meeting stays Tuesday at 9:30AM for FY2027.

TAX OFFICE

10. Consider and take necessary action to approve the purchase of annual maintenance for Spindlemedia Tax Collection Software and issue a discretionary exemption in accordance with Texas Local Government Code 262.024(a)(7)(D); and authorize the county judge to sign all related documentation.

Comments:

We approved the annual maintenance for the Tax Office’s Spindlemedia tax collection software and issued a discretionary exemption under Local Government Code. The current agreement expires October 1, 2026. Tax Assessor-Collector Gary Barber said the platform is captive — the updates and support only run on Spindlemedia, and switching systems before October 1 was not feasible. Without the renewal, Tax Office operations stop.

The invoice in the packet is $120,728.96 for October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2027.

Note: That dollar amount was not in the agenda item. It was only on the invoice in the packet. The current agreement expires October 1, two days after this meeting. That is not enough time to pick another system, which is why this came to us as a take-it-or-the-Tax-Office-stops vote. My hope is that the new Contract Specialist we authorized in the budget will improve the timeliness of contracts being presented to the Commissioners Court.

This is the software that collects your property taxes and handles vehicle registration. I asked Mr. Barber about this year’s cost compared to last year’s so the Court can see the increase, not just approve a renewal because the clock is running out. He said it is a 10% increase each year. I think that is important information to know, don’t you?

If the County is capped on tax increases at 3.5%, why are we not negotiating contracts that have built-in increases to not exceed 3.5%?

11. Receive the Smith County Tax Office’s Restricted Special Funds Special Inventory Tax estimated budget for FY27 in accordance with Texas Local Government Code, Section 111.095.

Comments:

This is a receive-only item. State law requires the Tax Assessor-Collector to submit the Special Inventory Tax fund budget. The Court does not approve it.

The FY27 estimate in the packet:
Income (penalty and interest): $40,000
Expenses: $111,000 — office equipment $20,000, office furniture $20,000, office improvements $10,000, office security $30,000, training $15,000, and a salary supplement of $16,000.

12. Receive certification of continuing education completion for Smith County Tax-Assessor Collector, Gary Barber pursuant to Texas Tax Code 6.231.

FINANCIAL CRIMES INTELLIGENCE CENTER

13. Consider and take necessary action to approve an agreement between the Texas Financial Crimes Intelligence Center (FCIC) and Carasoft Technology Corp., for Flashpoint Platform services, DIR-CPO-5687.

Comments:

We approved the FCIC agreement with Carahsoft Technology Corp. for Flashpoint platform services under DIR contract DIR-CPO-5687. This is state-funded. It is not Smith County property tax money. It is still taxpayer money that went to Austin and came back.

The Carahsoft quote in the packet totals $372,643.63:
Flashpoint Intelligence Platform, 5 users: $44,227.50
Curated alerting, 5 users: $3,804.50
Customer Success Representative: $12,483.55
Senior Analyst: $312,128.08

I flagged the discrepancy between the purchase order issued to the county and the quote. The requisition’s total line shows $312,128.08, which is only the Senior Analyst line, not the full quote. No local tax dollars on this item, but the paperwork should still reconcile before anybody treats it as clean.

The agenda item also left the cost out of the language the public sees. The quote and the purchase order should have matched before this reached the Court. We were told that the quote was an old quote.

SHERIFF’S OFFICE

14. Consider and take necessary action to approve the annual FY2026 US Department of Justice Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant (JAG) for the Sheriff’s Office and authorize the county judge to sign all related documentation.

Comments:

We accepted the FY2026 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant for the Sheriff’s Office. Chief Tim Jones said this is a 100% grant, filed jointly with the Tyler Police Department, and the funds will buy ammunition for the firearms training TCOLE requires of peace officers.

The backup lists a total of $64,490, “split evenly,” between the Sheriff’s Office and Tyler PD.

The grant backup was not in the packet. It was sent Monday at 2:46PM. The agenda line did not include the amount either.

Ammunition supply was also discussed. Chief Jones said 9mm is available and .223 has had delays, but the office can meet its training needs.

ROAD AND BRIDGE

15. Consider and take necessary action to accept the roadways of Peacock Estates into the Smith County Road Maintenance System.

Comments:

We accepted the Peacock Estates roadways into the county maintenance system.

Molina Drive: 0.320 miles / 1,672 feet
Poloxavier Drive: 0.06 miles / 294 feet

Proposed County Road 4239 was platted in May 2025 through the City of Tyler. The City signed off on construction on December 17, 2025. The subdivision goes on a two-year maintenance bond. The developer’s application places it on Highway 110 north of Loop 323, in the City of Tyler’s extraterritorial jurisdiction (ETJ), with 20 or more homes.

I asked County Engineer Frank Davis whether the county independently inspected the drainage and the road surface, or whether we were relying on the City of Tyler’s inspection.
Development in the ETJ is outside the city limits. Tyler does not run that area, but under the county-city agreement the city reviews the plat in part of its ETJ. That is what happened here. The county still has to vote to accept the roads before we maintain them.

If we are going to add even a short stretch to the system, I want our own inspection, not just a city sign-off, before the two-year bond clock starts. He verified that the county did inspect the road.

TREASURER’S OFFICE

16. Consider and take necessary action to accept the Smith County Investment Policy for October 2026-September 2027.

Comments:

We accepted the Investment Policy for October 2026 through September 2027, with corrections before it was signed into the record. There were no changes from last year in the policy.

The order in the packet, page 10 of that item, was still dated 2025. My name and Commissioner Herod’s name are both misspelled. I asked that both be fixed before the signed copy becomes the official policy. The Court approved it with that caveat.

A policy order with the wrong year and misspelled names should have been caught before it was printed. Striving for Excellence includes proper and accurate documentation.

HUMAN RESOURCES

17. Consider and take necessary action to approve submission of the 2027 Texas Association of Counties (TAC) Workers’ Compensation Renewal Questionnaire and authorize the county judge to sign all related documentation.

Comments:

We approved submission of the Texas Association of Counties Workers’ Compensation Renewal Questionnaire so TAC can quote coverage for January 1, 2027, through January 1, 2028. This is the annual underwriting form. It is not the premium vote. The quote still has to come back.

One number in the supporting payroll table jumped out at me: the juror class lists an estimated 17,073 jurors for 2027, with estimated payroll of $700,000.

I appreciate that the supporting documents were actually in the packet.

The questionnaire was due the next day. Submit it, or the quote does not get started. That is another item with no time left to do anything else. What if it had errors that needed to be corrected prior to submission?

AUDITOR’S OFFICE

18. Consider and take necessary action to approve the FY27 Discretionary Budgets and State Budgets.

Comments:

We approved the FY27 discretionary budgets and state budgets so those funds are consistent going into the new fiscal year. These are not new General Fund programs. They are the budgets tied to discretionary and state revenue that have to be set before those offices can spend what the law already restricts them to. They are not set in stone – amendments and transfers can be made.

RECURRING BUSINESS

ROAD AND BRIDGE

19. Receive pipe and/or utility line installation request (notice only):

1. County Road 187, Brightspeed, install aerial cable, Precinct 1,
   
2. County Road 1170, Brightspeed, install aerial cable, Precinct 1,
   
3. County Road 1171, Brightspeed, install aerial cable, Precinct 1,
   
4. County Road 1313, Brightspeed, install total cable footage, Precinct 1,
   
5. County Road 366, Starville-Friendship Water Supply Corporation, install service line and two road bores, Precinct 3,
   
6. County Road 420, Spectrum, install fiber optic cable with road bore, Precinct 4, and
   
7. County Road 1162, 1139 and 1241, Metronet, install fiber optic cable with road bore, Precinct 4.

Comments:

Brightspeed of Texas, working through contractor SQUAN, has Road & Bridge permits to put cable in the county right-of-way on four of our roads. This is their project, not a county paving job. The applications list a proposed start of September 8 and a proposed finish of December 30, so you may already be seeing trucks and crews. Traffic control is required, and at least half the road is supposed to stay open.

• CR 187: 6,357 feet of aerial cable
• CR 1170: 1,445 feet of aerial cable
• CR 1171: 1,565 feet of aerial cable
• CR 1313: 5,151 feet total, listed as 4,326 feet of new aerial cable and 825 feet of new conduit

If they schedule a closure or a service interruption, they are supposed to notify affected residents and businesses 48 hours ahead. Damage to the road or the right-of-way is on Brightspeed to fix, not on you.

Here is the part I need from you. If something looks wrong, or if your fence, driveway, ditch, yard, or road gets torn up, email me and take pictures if you can. Date, road, and what you saw. I cannot hold them accountable for damage I never hear about.

Email me at CDrewry@Smith-County.com
Or file it here: Report a Road Issue

Give the crews room, watch for flaggers, and let me know what you see.

AUDITOR’S OFFICE

20. Receive County Auditor’s Report and Executive Summary for August 2026.

Comments:

Budget Officer Timothy Hollis walked through the August report. Sales-tax revenue lags, so the last two periods of the year are when about $7 to $8 million comes in. The year-to-date line looks low because of timing, not because the money is missing. He said he verified it with the Comptroller, and we are on track for about 1.56% more than last year.

This report was not in the packet. We received the 148-page report Monday at 10:51AM and the supporting documents at 4:25PM. That is not enough time to read an Auditor’s Report before Court. I understand that our Auditor is new in the role and there is still a lot to be done to finish the Fiscal Year. I do not think the late submissions will be standard operating procedure but this was quite unfortunate that we did not have much time to review the large document and prepare questions for Court.

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

Comments:

We approved the bills, with items I flagged on the U.S. Bank card report to be corrected:

Fire Marshal PIO training, $395, posted twice. Fire Marshal Hogue took to the mic in Court to clarify that one charge was canceled and is being refunded. I am glad he was there to give us some understanding for the duplication.

Purchasing Department, NIGP training, Hilton Hotel Columbus, $1,090.48, posted twice — once on page 1 and again on page 5.

NIGP is the Institute for Public Procurement. The letters used to stand for National Institute of Governmental Purchasing. This charge is the hotel for the NIGP Forum, the annual National Conference for public-sector purchasing staff. In 2026 it was held August 23–26 in Columbus, Ohio, at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. NIGP also offered a virtual option for the same forum.

After Court, Mrs. Latch, Purchasing Director, said both she and Christina Haney attended the conference in Columbus. That explains the two Hilton charges. The report lists only one flight, and it is tied to Mrs. Latch.

Constable Precinct 2, NLECCC training conference, $1,485, posted to Utilities making that line item over budget. That is a coding error and has to be moved.

Constable Precinct 1 bought a trailer at Lowe’s for $2,818.65 on the purchasing card. Purchasing said that can be done when a vendor will not take a purchase order, or in a special circumstance, if the office calls first.

Other items:
The Sheriff’s Office insurance claims budget amendment came Monday at 2:05PM. Three Insurance Settlement Claim payouts for damaged Tahoes totaling $19,547.74.

The Health Plan payment backup came Monday at 2:23PM in the amount of $318,915.29.

Bills and amendments that arrive the afternoon before the vote do not give the Court time to send anything back.

COURT ORDERS

COMMISSIONERS COURT

22. Consider and take necessary action to approve an Interlocal Agreement between Smith County and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler for inmate health care services and authorize the county judge to sign all related documentation.

Comments:

We approved the interlocal agreement with the University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler for inmate health care. The contract in the packet is effective October 1, 2026. In Court I was told it expires September 30 — the day after this meeting.

What the packet does spell out:
Estimated contract value: $4,200,000. It is not valid above $5,000,000 without approval of the UT System Board of Regents. Last year’s contract value: $3,600,000

This is cost-based. UT Health does not take the financial risk. We pay actual cost, with no markup, plus a fixed general-and-administrative fee of $180,000 a year, billed at $15,000 a month.

Services cover the Main Jail, the Low/Minimum Risk facility, and the Juvenile Attention Center: intake screenings, TB testing, sick call, on-site x-rays, dental, labs, emergency response, medical-waste disposal, and medications. Psychiatry is to be phased in. Hospitalization, off-site specialty care, surgeries, and inmate transportation are excluded. The county pays those separately.

I asked Purchasing when we would have to start if this were ever put out for proposals. Inmate medical is one of the costs that keeps growing, and I have noted in Court multiple times that we should put this out to bid. Here we are at the expiration date, again. She said it would take a year.

This approval keeps care in place. It is not a decision because we have shopped the market and found the best price for the taxpayer.

This contract was on the agenda the day before it expired. Pass it, or inmate medical stops. That is not a real choice, and it is the opposite of Striving for Excellence.

ADJOURN