The Commissioners Court discussed four items Monday afternoon during a workshop that had all been tabled at last week’s regular meeting. No decisions were made Monday because it was only a workshop, but all four items will be back on the agenda for Tuesday’s regular meeting this week.
The most stimulated discussions concerned the final item on the workshop agenda which was employees’ pay during emergencies and declared disasters. County Judge Brint Carlton wants to promote a flat rate for all county employees that work during a disaster or at least until the employees accumulate overtime. Commissioner Johnny Trahan expressed his dissatisfaction with the Court even considering a change in emergency pay since the Commissioners approved a new plan two weeks ago that he and Commissioner Barry Burton spent weeks receiving input about and preparing before the vote was taken.
There did seem to be agreement between the Court on the creation of two new positions to deal with disaster recovery efforts following Tropical Storm Harvey or future disasters. The two positions would be a coordinator of Public Assistance and a coordinator of Community Relations.
There was less consensus on the restructuring of the Emergency Management Department. Whether the two new positions would be put under the Emergency Management Department or directly under the Commissioners Court will have to be decided at the next meeting.
What to do with the Parks Department also seemed to still be up in the air. There has been no Parks Department director for over a year. The Commissioners were somewhat divided on whether to transfer the Parks to the Maintenance Department or put it under the Convention and Expo Center, or just leave it as a separate department.
The Commissioners Court meets in a special session Tuesday at 2:00 PM and will consider taking action on all four items. The meeting will be in the Commissioners Courtroom of the Administration Building.
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