Here we're going to go. Yeah. activated. I'll do it. Hello. Tuesday. Just text her and say what we did in preparation.
>> How are you? >> Glory to prayer. So I so he's already there. So I think it'll >> Yes, you are correct. And if you tap it, the presentation will come up and you tap that
screen right there. Perfect. Thank you. >> Hey, why is it not showing up there? Why is it not showing up on the Oh, okay. >> Good morning. Welcome to the Tuesday, April 14th, Tarant County Commissioner Court meeting. I now call the meeting to order.
>> Tim O'Hare County Judge, >> present. >> Rodri Miles Jr., Commissioner Precinct One, >> here. >> Alisa Simmons, Commissioner Precinct 2, >> here. >> Matt Krauss, Commissioner Precinct 3, >> here. Manny RmIrez, Commissioner Precinct 4. Y >> constitutes a quorum. >> All right. Thank you very much. Uh
today's invocation will be led by Haime Hernandez, pastor of Eagle Mountain International Church. Please rise for the invocation and pledges to our flags. Let us pray. Dear heavenly father, your word teaches us that our duty is to pray for all who
are in authority. That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. Today we humbly come to you and present before you this court and all it represents for this wonderful county. We pray for every officer, representative, commissioner
that works diligently to seek the well-being of the citizens and residents of Taran County. specifically lift up Judge O'Hare and all the commission commissioners to you and ask that you divine your divine providence would continue to help them and guide them in
all the important decisions that touch millions of people in this county that divine wisdom be granted to them and that all those who help them to do this important work. We now pray for all the first responders and law enforcement officers that keep all of the 41 cities
and municipalities safe. May your grace and safety be upon them so that they are sacrificial sacrificial work that keeps us all safe and free from harm. We're thankful for them and ask you to also guide them and protect them and their
families. And now Lord, we pray that as the prophet Jeremiah wrote long ago when inspired by your spirit, he said, "Ask, seek the peace of the city where have caused you to be and pray to the Lord for it. For it is in his peace that we will have peace. We seek and pray for
the peace, the prosperity of this city and this county. And we call them blessed. Thank you for allowing us the privilege of being part of such significant area in this great country. Finally, Lord, we pray this blessing over our city and our county as you
instructed in the book of Numbers. May the Lord bless you and keep you and may the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. Thank you. We Lord we Lord we lift up this this count your countenance upon us and give us
peace. We pray all these things and we thank you for this opportunity in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen. >> Amen. >> Thank you pastor. Please join me in the pledge of allegiance to our flags. I aliance to the flag of the United States
of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> And now the Texas flag. >> Texas flag. I aliance to thee Texas. One
state under God, one and indivisible. >> Thank you. You may be seated. >> All right. Agenda announcements. Morning judge and commissioners. Just a few announcements this morning. Uh we have two items which we are going to hold until after closed sections. Uh
those are both under section 10. Items B1 and F1. And then court members, we have five items uh with which we are pulling from consent. Uh those items are all under section 9. Those are items C1,
F1, K3, N5, and R4. >> All right. Thank you, sir. >> All right. Now, we come to commissioner's court announcements. I wanted toh start off this morning uh
recognizing National Crime Victim's Rights Week. Next week is National Crime Victim's Rights Week for April 19th through the 25th. And we have uh quite a few folks from our DA's office here today. Uh we
presented him a plaque this morning in my office. Uh we have of course our DA Phil Sorrels. And I would like as I call your name if you would uh stand please. So Phil you can stand. Um, but also we have is I
didn't see Elena. Is Elena Bangs here? No. Okay. Jason Peters, Christy Garcia, CC Jones, Elizabeth Garcia, Laura Medina,
is it Naomi Rodriguez? Yeah. Uh Carrie Farley, Christina Wrangler, Clara Salvatier, Candace Bernett, Angela Stevens, Alda Lopez,
Ivonne Guerrero, and Karma Anderson. Uh they are all victim assistance coordinators and people that work with the victims of crimes and the services they provide, the things that they do. It's truly remarkable and you are a blessing to our community. We thank you
all very very much. How about a big round of applause for our victims? I know speaking for Judge Sorrels, he is incredibly grateful for y'all and proud of you. So, thank you all for what you do and let us know what we can do to help you and help our victims. Thank you.
Um, also we have our third annual National Day of Prayer lunchon on May 7th, which is the National Day of Prayer, uh, from 11:30 to 1 at the Hurst Conference Center. Tickets are on sale now, uh, at tc day of prayer.com. And that's all I have for announcements.
>> I have a few. >> Thank you, judge. Good morning, Taran County, and good morning to all those assembled. >> Okay, I'm going to say that again. Good morning, Taran County and all those assembled. It's a good day. >> Good morning.
>> All right. I want to first start off by acknowledging that April is National County Government Month. >> Um we we want to encourage boosting civic engagement and education particularly among our youth. The
precinct one summer college internship application portal is open now. So if you have any college age students or college students seeking internship opportunities, our office historically provides a number of internship
opportunities where college students can learn about different departments within the county and work in those departments and get an idea of what county government looks like and feels like from a uh a bird's eye view. So our internship application is open. You can
go to the Taran County website, click on precinct one and you will see the application there. I also want to give congratulations to a young scholar's name is Steven Sanders Jr. I want to congratulate him. He won
the boys 10 to11 division at the 2026 drive chip and putt national uh finals which was held in Augusta at the National Golf Club. He secured the win with a 245
point drive. That's impressive >> for a youngster to hit 245 yards off the tea. So, we want to just celebrate him and congratulate him. He is one of our Grand Prairie residents and he is a part of Grand Prairie's finest. Also want to
congratulate those North Crowley Panthers, the basketball team which are now state champions. Uh they won the 6A state championship. We were able to present them with a proclamation at their celebration at the high school and man
it was jam-packed and everybody was excited. I told y'all North Crowley was going to repeat. >> That's right. >> They came back and took it. Uh I would also like to say that April 17th is End Alzheimer's Day.
is dedicated to unite us against the Alzheimer's disease and all forms of dementia through fundraising and advocacy. And I want to shout out one of my community outreach coordinators, Leon Poke, who was recognized earlier this month by the Alzheimer's Assoc
Association, North Central Texas chapter for his dedication and advocacy work. Alzheimer's is near and dear, the work is near and dear to my heart. uh my father succumbed to Alzheimer's disease.
It's important work and it's important that we make sure that our community members know about all of the resources that are available to families and caregivers who are walking the Alzheimer's journey. It is a very very difficult journey and nobody should walk
that journey alone. So we want to celebrate April 17th. If you have a loved one or a friend who has a family member who is suffering uh from Alzheimer's or dementia on April 17th, why don't you just go on your social media platforms, post a picture or a
story of a loved one who is struggling with Alzheimer's or dementia or who has passed and use the hashtag endz. And finally, I am really excited about this last one, y'all.
My inaugural trauma and resiliency program symposium is happening on May the 2nd. It will be held at the Taran County College Trinity River campus. It's from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. It is a free event, free to the county and
free to the residents. All you have to do is register. Um you can go to the Taran County website and click on precinct one and you can register there. It's important for us to recognize the
impacts and the effects of trauma on not only ourselves but those who are connected to us, our families, and our communities. One thing that I've learned in my uh work around trauma is that we need to elevate what trauma is and what trauma
isn't. We also need to communicate to people just because that event or that happened to you that does not define who you are. And when you run across a person who has experienced some behavioral challenges,
learn how to ask the right questions. And the right question is this. not what's wrong with you, but rather what happened to you to cause you to respond the way that you're responding.
It's our opportunity and privilege to be able to share valuable resources, tips, tools that the community can use to respond to trauma in a way that does not lead to death or incarceration, but respond to it in a way that will
produce life. My desire and my goal with this work that we're doing centered around trauma is to begin to heal our communities from the inside out and not from the outside in. So I would encourage you to come
out, join with us as we learn about trauma as we unpack it, unpack it and then get some skills and some tools that we can put in our toolbox to change our life and the lives of those connected to us. Thank you, Judge. >> Thank you.
Yes. Um I have got coming up my annual precinct 2 free community shred day that is happening Saturday, April 18th at the Mansfield subcourthouse. Uh
it's from 9 to noon. The address is 1100 East Broad. You may shred up to two boxes of paper such as medical records, credit card offers, old tax returns, pass utility
bills, or junk mail. Um, my office held two paper shredding events last year. We filled two humongous trucks to the brim. Um, all that material was recycled and did not go to the dumps in our cities.
So, you're welcome to stop by. Last year, we saw county employees stop by and just folks from uh the Arlington community and the Mansfield community. This uh goound, we're just doing it at the Mansfield subcours. Um so, my
sorority chapter, Alphacapa Alpha, is joining me and so we'll be there collecting your uh boxes and putting them in the big shred trucks. So, everybody's welcome. And it's free. That's it. >> Okay. All right. Yeah. Uh first of all,
next week, uh April 21st will be the 190th anniversary of the Battle of San Justinto. So, uh a big day in Texas independence in Texas history. So, I hope we can all celebrate accordingly uh that momentous day. Um June 10th, we are going to host the 16th annual
transportation summit. As many of you know, uh Gary Ficus, who sat in this seat for 18 years, uh started that 16 years ago. And so we're continuing to carry on his legacy. It should be a great program. Got some great panels, great keynote. And so if you're interested at all, please June 10th, uh,
check out the transportation summit and get with Ron Ford in our office about participating and sponsoring, but uh, would love to see you there and I think you'd really enjoy it. >> Thanks, sir. >> I've got nothing.
Uh, all right. We now move to proclamations, resolutions, and presentations. And with our new policy, we have five speakers. Your time here counts against your time if you are
signed up to speak on the next one. It's two minutes. And the first is Lorine Seagull. No Loren Seagull. Next is Jolen Patenza. No, Jolen Patza. Do we have a spillover?
We did. >> Okay. All right. I'll go back to them in a second. Mark Christensen, Mark Christensen, uh, Nidia Cardinis, Elizabeth Miller. All right, I'll read those names again.
Who Who are we communicating with anybody? >> I saw at least one person get up that's probably headed this way. Okay. Loren Seagull, Jolen Patenza, Mark Christensen, Nidia Cardinus, and Elizabeth Miller. You know, in the
future, having these names in advance, we should have someone in that room. >> We do >> telling these folks to come in here for when we get to this point. >> We do, but we'll get them in faster next time. >> Call like get them in here before it starts.
>> Sure. Come on up. You have two minutes. >> Okay. Uh, thank you very much. I didn't realize I'd be this uh early in the program. Is an overflow. Sorry about that, sir. >> Uh, first of all, I wanted to try and speak on the uh
uh resolution 10. E.1 and speak in favor of the resolution to screen the agenda items. >> Just a second here. is that >> we're we need to make it very clear from a IT
online thing what people are signing up for because we had this last time I think. >> Okay. >> Uh your part is actually coming up in a bit because you doesn't sound like you're wanting to speak about any of these proclamations or resolutions. >> No, it looks like I signed up for the wrong >> That's okay.
>> Wrong one, sir. I'll go and step back. >> Yeah, we'll get you back in a minute when that comes. >> Thank you very much. Okay, that was Mark Christensen. I need to remember that. All right, Seagull, Patenza, Cardinus, or Miller.
All right, we will then go to employee recognition and uh we uh do this obviously every month and recognize our employees in Tarant County who are a big family and do incredibly valuable work. Uh, as
usual, I'm going to call out the five-year employees. Uh, please stand as I call your name so we can recognize you as a group. Uh, Bonnie Arbuckle, Victoria Barrera, Verne Cross, Lori Delgado,
Dakota Drummond, Caroline Godfrey, Joseph Jackson. Could you play a little music while I read the rest of the names here? Uh, Tyler Jennings, Tiffany Johnson,
Leendendrick Lily, Jonathan Mlin, Alexandra Miranda, Paul Patterson, Mary Rivas,
Jasmo Jasmine Stevenson. That's a cool spelling. Dearis Valencia. Hi. Stanley Zamora and Manuel Zamora Jr. Those are our five-year employees. Thank
you for five years. Give them a round of applause. All right. Now, for our tenure employees, uh, please stand as I call your name. Justin Hbert. Amy Montano. Montano. Hi. You're not
Justin, are you? You're Amy. Okay, good. Janice O'Neal. Katherine Owens. The old school spelling. I like it. That's how my mom spelled her name. Gary Payton. Hi, Gary. Esmeralda Sanchez.
Kelly Sears. And Christopher Stanley. Okay. Thank you for a decade. We appreciate you very much. Now for our 15-year employees, please stand as I call your name. Larry Bell,
Marisol, Bonia, Michelle Charles. Wonder if Marisol gets any part of Bobby Bonia Day. >> I know. Uh Michelle Charles, Robert Johnson, Richard Rodac, Deborah Singleton,
Linda Vera. Thank you all for 15 years. We appreciate you very much. Now for our 20-year employees, two decades. Lucas Allen, Rob Judge Rob Catalano,
Joshua Douglas, Cornelia Embry, Randall Plate, hi. And Jonathan Webb, hello there. Thank you all very much for two decades. We greatly appreciate.
All right. Now for our 25-year employees, we will start with Felicia Guerrero. Felicia, are you here with us? Hello there. How are you? >> Felicia brought her fan club. >> I know. All right. >> Uh, so she is a probation officer, does
court intake in juvenile, born in Fort Worth, graduated from Green B Trimbletech. >> Okay. In Fort Worth. Um, and she attended the school of hard knocks. All right.
um got her bachelor's in psychology at UTA and got a master's in sociology at at TWWU. Uh she has two children, Jacob who's in college and Jet is her youngest who starts high school this year and her
husband is usually her third child. Her her words, not mine. So fact no one knows about her. This year they celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. Congratulations on that. >> Uh what she likes to do for fun, travel
to New York City, Mexico City, Los Angeles, and New Orleans. All those cities are foodie meccas. Uh I love the high energy culinary scene. If you had to pick only one you could go to, what would it be? >> Mexico City. >> Okay. Uh other job titles she's had with
the county, she began as a receptionist at the DA's office with Tim Curry in 94. Left Tarant County for four years to finish college. Worked for attorney Charlie Smith for one year. 2001, she returned to Tarant County as a field probation officer for juvenile services. Also worked as a diversion officer and
finally became a court officer for juvenile services. Uh most memorable moment, she says the 25 years have gone by so fast, it's all a blur. Uh the best thing is the people she's met at Tarant County at this point. They're not only co-workers, but also
her second family. They celebrate highs and handle lows together. And having a work family to lean on through the highs and lows makes all the difference in the world. Uh after 25 years, what she likes the most is the rewarding and lasting relationship she has made here. She has
worked for 25 years at Tarant County, which is 300 months of dedication and helping others. and she has survived 25 years of meetings and deadlines. Uh so thank you very much Felicia for your Felicia for your work.
Thank you. Uh is Juan Laara here? Okay, Juan could not make it. Juan has been with us 25 years and is in juvenile. So thank let's give Juan a big round of applause. All right. Next, we have Max. Is it Likenburgger?
Is Max here with us? Okay. Um, he's been with us 25 years. He's a building tech, born in Fort Worth, went to high school at AEL, and he just got back from vacation, so he didn't have time to fill this out, which is okay. We appreciate
Max for making the effort and for his 25 years of service. Thank you very much. Let's give him a round of applause. All right. Next, we have Channy Price. Is Channy with us? >> No. Okay. Channy is the court coordinator of County Criminal Court
Number Six. Uh, born in Kansas City, Kansas. Went to Crowley High School. Has two kids, Lance and Britney. Uh, in fact, no one knows about her. Her daughter Brittany is the court coordinator for the 360th District Court. and her sister Tina Hodnet is the
court coordinator for the 372nd Criminal District Court. >> Wow. >> Uh what she likes to do for fun, spend time with her granddaughter Zoe and Crafting. Other job titles, she's held with the county, 10 years with the court clerk's office, two years as auxiliary court coordinator, and 10 years as court
coordinator in county criminal court number five. And most memorable moment, the day Judge Jamie Cummings uh hired me to be the coordinator in county criminal court number five. And Judge Randy Harton agreed to hire me for county criminal court number six.
And she likes the most spending time with her family. That is what that means everything to her. So thank you Channy for 25 years. We appreciate you very much. Next we have Keandrea Young. Hi there. How are you?
>> Uh 25 years. Uh she is a legal secretary. Also born in Fort Worth. OD Wyatt High School. >> Go Shafts. >> Um, attended uh, college at Angelo State University, San Angelo. Ram, go Rams.
Uh, has a daughter, Grace. What she likes to do for fun? Read and travel. What's your favorite place to travel to? >> Anywhere where? Oh, >> okay. Cool. Um, other job titles she's had with the county, Tarant County Sheriff's Office, booking clerk, jailer,
and warrant clerk. And what she likes the most is that in this job she gets to help people. And you seem like you just have a great spirit about you. Keandrea, thank you for 25 years. We appreciate you. All right. Next, we have uh Michael
Kumer. He couldn't be here today, but he is with CSC and is celebrating 30 years of service to Tarant County. So, Michael, wherever you are, we are grateful for your three decades of service. Let's give Mr.Kummer a round of applause.
Uh, next we have Brian Taylor, also with CSC. Hi, Brian. How are you? Also, three decades. He's a senior court officer in community supervision and corrections department, CSC. Born in Dallas, what hospital?
>> Baylor. >> Baylor. Okay. Uh, moved to Plano as an infant. Y'all y'all didn't like that question. Uh, moved to Plano as an infant. Uh, just one stoplight in Plano at that time. Went to Plano East Senior High School. Went to college at UTA. Uh,
has a son, Dustin, who is an engineer here in Tarant County. In fact, no one knows about him. Well, plenty of people know, but he was a founding father of the Delta SAI chapter of Pyappa. Is it FI or Fee?
Five fraternity at UTA. What he likes to do for fun, spend time with family and friends, travel, air shows and car shows, and weekly trivia at the brewery. Cool. What other job titles he's had with the county? Field supervision officer with cases out of
then Judge Gills and then Judge Wilson's courts and the sex offender unit. Supervision officer two at the boot camp and substance abuse treatment facility in Mansfield. Senior court officer for Judge Young. supervisor of the felony courts unit, court officer for Judge
Gallagher, and currently senior court officer for Judge Cook. He's also been involved with the search and seizure team, officer trainer, leadership council, mentor program, and various contract selection committees have been a and has been a GPS after
hours on call officer since the inception of the department's 24-hour active monitoring of defendants, probationers with GPS devices. and he's on call this week, which that's a uh that's a heavy load. I know. Thank you for doing that. Uh most memorable moment, too many to list, but we'll say
getting to work with true professionals through the most difficult of situations and with truly outstanding people in the criminal courts. And what he likes the most, lifelong friendships with his CSC family members and court personnel. Brian, thank you for three decades. We greatly appreciate you.
All right. Next we have Lechandra's Jackson but not able to make it today. And juvenile services for 30 years goes by Chan. So Chan, thank you for your 30 years. We greatly appreciate you. Round
of applause and hands. Is Judge Sutter here today? All right. Well, Bonnie Sutter, who is the uh what do they the chief justice of the court of appeals, used to be a district court judge, is celebrating 30 years with the county. So, let's give a
round of applause to Judge. And last, but certainly not least, Debbie Connor. >> Let's give it up for Debbie. Yes, that's uh the most applause a financial manager's ever received, I think. Uh 30
years, Debbie, thank you for that. New accounts and financial manager, born in Fort Worth, went to Pascal High School. She wrote Go Panthers on here, so you can't jump in. Uh went to Tarant County College, back then called TCJC, of course. Now, this Well, this is cool.
Five kids, 16 grandchildren, and five greatg grandandchildren. and another one on the way. >> Very cool. Congratulations. >> That's a that's a neat legacy. Just that right there. Um there's not a single thing that she can think of that people do not
know about her after 30 years here. So, uh she likes to garden, travel, kayak, decorating, and activities with kids and grandkids. other job titles she's had with the county. She's had several, but she's always been with the child support office, admin clerk, cashier, child
support officer, modification manager, and customer service manager. Most memorable moment, the one that significantly sticks out was helping a very, very distraught parents with their case at the end at the end of their modification. She thought they were going to get back together.
And what she likes the most, they see people at one of the most vulnerable times in their life. helping them navigate through the child support process has been very rewarding. And Debbie, we thank you for 30 years. Very much appreciate you. >> All right, Debbie with the most popular
employee of the month award. And uh All right. Well, we thank you all again and I will make a motion to receive and file employee recognition. >> Second. >> A motion and a second. All right, please cast your votes. That looks like uh sounded a little bit more
like Rodri making that second. Um okay. All right. Passes unanimously. Uh next we have a Oh, by the way, thank you all again. And we have a reception, your honor, on the fourth floor. If you would like, you may get up now and head down
there. You don't have to. There you go. All right. Now we will go on to item two under proclamations, resolutions, and presentations. This one is a memorial resolution honoring Theophilus Aaron Sims, Senior, TA Sims, Commissioner Moss.
>> Thank you, Judge. Our community lost another giant. Dr. Theophilles Aaron Sims, Senior, was a fierce advocate for education and
youth. He served over 30 years on the Fort Worth Independent School District School Board. We laid his remains to rest this weekend. And I learned something about him that I
didn't know, which was which was interesting because I've been connected to the Sims family for as long as I can remember. They were charter members of my father's church, Campus Drive United Methodist Church. But what I learned that was so
refreshing and profound was the meaning of his name, Theophilles. Theophilles means friend of God. And TA Sims was indeed a reflection of God's love and friendship to everybody that he came
across. So, I'm going to read into the record this memorial resolution. Whereas the family and friends of Dr. Theophilles Aaron Sims, Senior were
deeply saddened by his death on Monday, March 23rd, 2026. And whereas the passing of Dr. TA Sims took from our community an exceptional educator, husband, father, and public servant who
touched the lives of many. And whereas Dr. Sims was born on March 17, 1938 in Loi, Texas to Charlie Edward Sims Jr. and Sammy Harper Sims. And whereas Dr. Sims graduated from
Frederick Douglas High School in Sherman, Texas, where he distinguished himself as both a scholar and athlete and continued his education at Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas, where he earned his pharmacy degree.
And whereas after moving to Fort Worth, Texas, Dr. Sims built a successful career as a pharmacist, entrepreneur, and investor, owning Sims Enterprises, and engaging in
retail pharmacy, real estate, and the stock market. And whereas in 1983, Dr. Dr. Sims was elected as the first African-American to serve on the Fort Worth Independent School District Board of Trustees, serving as president, vice
president, and secretary while fulfilling a historic tenure of more than 35 years of dedicated service. And whereas Dr. Sims's extraordinary contributions were widely recognized by
the proclaiming of Sims Drive and Dr. TA Sims Day by the city of Fort Worth. And in 1989, TA Sims Elementary School was named in his honor. And whereas Dr. Sims's civic engagement included his
appointment to the National Institute of Health Cickle Cell Anemia Advisory Board by President Ronald Reagan in 1984. A proud life member of Kappa Alphasai Fraternity Incorporated and a charter member of Campus Drive
United Methodist Church where his faith remained central throughout his life. And whereas a man of wisdom and perseverance, Dr. Sims championed vocational education, advocated for students of all academic levels, worked
tirelessly to strengthen community involvement in schools and and was honored as a public servant with unwavering commitment to education and to the citizens of Taran County. And whereas Dr. Sims's legacy lives on through the countless students he
inspired, the community he uplifted, and the enduring example of a dedicated service of a life dedicated to service, leadership, and faith. Whereas Dr. Theophilus Aaron Sims, Senior, leaves a legacy of love as he
has survived by his wife of 54 years, Nancy Wattley Sims. Children, Theophilles Aaron Sims, Jr., Shannon Sims Alfred Stephanie Sims Cipho and a host of other relatives,
colleagues, and many friends. Now there therefore be it resolved that we, the Commissioner's Court of Taran County, pay tribute to the me memory and legacy of a beloved and honorable man, and extend our deepest sympathy to the members of his family and his many
friends for their great loss. In witness whereof, we have here unto set our hands and caused the seal of Taran County to be affixed this 14th day of April, 2026. This is for ratification only. I move approval. >> Second.
>> All right, we have a motion and a second. Please cast your votes. >> All right, passes unanimously. Uh, is that it for this item? Yes, sir. >> Okay. All right. Next, we move to a congratulatory resolution recognizing
Dr. Gwindelyn Caldwell Morrison, PhD, for 50 years of service to the Tarant County College District Board of Trustees. Commissioner Miles. Thank you, Judge. I'm excited about this one because we actually have the GOAT, the greatest of all time, Dr.Windelyn
Cogwell Brook Morrison, forgive me, in the room this morning. I would like to acknowledge and recognize those who are present to celebrate her historic tenure, the Taran County College District Board of Trustees, and they are
Reginald Gates, Vice Chancellor for Communications and External Affairs, Board Trustee Terresa Ayala, uh Dr. Anthony Walker, lead administrative services chancellor's
office and Laura Forner Pritchette, also a board member. If you would stand and be recognized before I read this resolution, what can I say about Dr. Morrison? She is a rare breed,
one of a kind, and probably one of the most unassuming but influential leaders that I've had the privilege of knowing. Dr. Morrison has always been a champion for education.
She's always been on the front lines making sure that every student at Taran County College, especially those in her district, are advocated for and get the resources and the support that they need. One of the things that always tickles me
about my mentor, Dr. Morrison is whenever she needs something, she'll send a text and it starts out with hello and then she'll give you a laundry list of things that she needs you to do and she will follow up to make sure that you
did everything on that list. The other thing that impresses me and I'm so grateful for if she ever sees me moving in the wrong de direction, she's quickly to correct me in love and help me pivot
in the right direction. Dr. Morrison, I'm indebted to you. Our county and this community is better because of the service that you render and your very presence among us. You are
a living legend. We love you. We honor you. And we celebrate you today. And at this time, I will read this resolution. Whereas Dr. Gwindelyn Caldwell Morrison has faithfully and tirelessly served on
the Taran County College District Board of Trustees for 50 years. Let that sink in, y'all. 50 years. making her one of the longest serving higher education trustees in the state of Texas. And whereas since first being elected to the
board in 1976, Dr. Morrison has devoted her leadership, expertise, and deep commitment to ensuring that Tarant County College remains an accessible, affordable, and highquality institution that empowers
students from all backgrounds. And whereas throughout her distinguished tenure, Dr. Morrison has championed academic excellence, community engagement, and equitable access to education, contributing to TCC's
expansion, its nationally recognized programs, and its ongoing mission to serve as a cornerstone of opportunity for Tarant County residents. And whereas Dr. Morrison's leadership has strengthened partnerships among
local governments, school districts, community organizations, and industry partners, helping create pathways to workforce readiness and lifelong learning for countless students. And whereas her steadfast dedication,
institutional knowledge, and spirit of public service have had a lasting and transformative impact on the Taran County College District, the community, and generations of students and families. Now, therefore, be it resolved that we,
the Commissioner's Court of Taran County, hereby extend its heartfelt congratulations to Dr. Dr. Gwindelyn Caldwell Morrison in recognition of 50 years of service on the Taran County College District Board of Trustees and
expresses profound appreciation for her extraordinary five decades of service, leadership, and commitment to advancing education in Taran County. In witness whereof, we have here unto set our hands
and caused the seal of Taran County to be affixed this 14th day of April, 2026. I move for its approval. >> Second. >> All right. We have a motion and a second to approve this resolution.
Please cast your votes. All right. Passes unanimously. Dr. Morrison, if you will come up and receive this token of our gratitude and appreciation for your service. Can we all give Dr.
How are you? >> Congratulations. >> Thank you so much. Trustees, if you would come and join us. Thank you so much. It makes me think it's >> No, that's it.
What else could you say? >> Good morning and thank you this recognition. What a joy it is to join you today to share just brief comments. More than
60 years ago, it was the vision of the voters of Taran County to have affordable quality education available to all residents of Tarant County. And I am grateful to God and the citizens and voters of Taran County who have gifted
me the opportunity to further that vision over these past 50 years into the mission that is the reality of Tarant County College today. In regard to student impact today,
Tarant County College annually serves more than 100,000 students. We awarded over 8,500 degrees and certificates in 2025, a record high with about 30%
being in high demand occupational fields. In the past decade, TCC's dualenrolled student population has grown from 90% about 90% increasing from 6,500 students
to over 12,000 in 2025. And dual enrollment means that students were enrolled in high school and in community college at the same time. And in fact, they received their associates degree a few weeks ahead of receiving their high
school diploma. And I might add, at no cost to their families. For each Tarant County Independent School District senior class, an estimated onethird attended TCC by the end of their senior year.
We've had tremendous economic impact. TCC generates $2.3 billion in added annual income for Tarant County. TCC returned 64.4 4 million to Tarant County
taxpayers in 2025 and we invested 5 million in Tarant County tax increment reinvestment districts in 2025 and over 15 million in area independent school districts through the dual credit
tuition waiverss. We believe in community. I believe in community and I've been grateful to be a part of Tarant County for more than 53 years having moved here in the summer of 73.
We view Taran County College as a shared investment between the community students and the college. Today, I want to thank you, Commissioner Miles, for always taking my texts and responding, for always taking my phone calls and
listening before you start to explain. Commissioner Simmons, I want to thank you for your kind encouragements in your smiles and also lessons in getting tough when necessary. I want to thank you for initiating this
recognition today and I want to thank the entire commissioner's court for welcoming me. It's been my privilege to have known all of the county judges since Judge Howard Green and I'm privileged to stand before you today as
do we the board of Taran County College. Though we are elected by a few in districts, you on this court also serve all of the citizens of Tarant County. And I want to thank you for that service and for keeping that in mind as you cast your
votes today and every day. Your votes are not merely an approval or disapproval of an agenda item. The items you pass or don't pass affect the lives of generations to come.
I'm deeply honored and privileged to celebrate 50 years of service to the people of Taran County and to Taran County College. And as a a moment of personal privilege, I wanted to acknowledge the persons who are
supporting me and are not here. My husband of 53 years, Ben Morrison. Um, my children, Jonathan, who is on duty at Dunar High School and wanted to be here, but he works at a school, so we know what that means. Uh, my son Brandon, who
lives in Flugerville with his family and is somewhere connecting somebody's internet in central Texas, my grandson Griffin, who's a third grader and is having a great time with his classmates today, and my daughter
Betsy, who lives in Houston. other family and friends. I'm so grateful to my fellow trustees um Miss Ayala and Miss Pritchette for joining me here today. And I want to share that
in 1965 the board consisted of seven people that were elected. There was one female and six males. And today, in fact, next Thursday, if you tune in and take a look at the board, it has flipped. We now
consist of six females and one male. Now, I'm just saying no. Um, it's been great. It has not been easy. Life is not easy. All of you know that. But
it is the journey that brings us the joy in the moments that we celebrate. And so today I want you to u to say thank you, but I want to ask you to reflect on your journey
and to realize that it's really not about you. It's about all of the people that we serve, many of whom we'll never meet. But it does bring great pleasure to know that somewhere along your way, you
affected someone's life in a positive way and made a big difference. And that is my hope. And I've already um won my last election. I was elected um a year ago to a six-year term. And so I'm
continuing to serve. By God's grace, I will continue to serve as he allows me to. And I hope that the service that I have brought and I will continue to bring brings honor not only to God but to the people that we serve. Thank you
so much. I'm so grateful to be with you today. God bless you. >> Thank you, Dr. Morris. take a picture of me standing here. Thank you. >> So, I met someone this morning who said that I hired him 40 something years ago
for his first job. >> I didn't remember, but it was heartwarming that he did. >> Thank you. Amen. >> Thank you so much. >> Will be excused. Thank you. >> You must remain until 2 p.m.
>> She knows how it goes. >> That's right. >> All right. Next up, we have a resolution congratulating Summit High School boys basketball team on winning a state championship, the UIL 5A Division 2
state championship. Commissioner Simmons, thank you. So, Mansville Summit High School boys basketball team is the 2026 UIL 5A Division 2 state champion for the
second year in a row. I am very proud of this as your commissioner in precinct 2. This is the fifth year they've won the district championship. Talk about being a powerhouse. They are
that. Every exceptional team has great coaching. So today I recognize Summit's head basketball coach Eman Pritchette. Mr. Pritchette, will you stand? Coach Pritchette was just named Star
Telegram's coach of the year on Friday. Congratulations, coach, on this welldeserved distinction. So, this resolution celebrates coach Bridgetette and the Mansfield Summit boys basketball team for their history making 2026 run.
And it reads as follows. Whereas the Summit High School boys basketball team of Mansfield ISD concluded a historic season by capturing the 202526 University Intercolastic League 5A
Division 2 state championship, earning the program's second state title back-to-back championships. And whereas the Jaguars begin their remarkable journey with a dominant regular season despite major changes to their roster,
securing their fifth straight district championship and building momentum that carried into an impressive playoff run. And whereas Summit defeated Fort Polytenic, Sagenov, El Paso, Andress, and the they beat the Mustangs of El
Paso to advance to the state tournament, marking their third appearance in the past four years. And whereas the team secured its place in the championship game with a dominant 5235 semi-final victory over Love Joy, showcasing
determination and discipline. And whereas on March 14, 2026, Summit faced Bumont United High School and delivered a commanding defensive performance. And at the Alamo Dome in San Antonio, the Jaguars maintained their scoring advantage and closed out with a
thrilling 5240 victory to secure the state championship in class 5A division 2. And whereas this achievement reflects the dedication of the student athletes, the leadership of their coaches, and the
unwavering support of families, faculty, and the Mansfield ISD community. Now therefore, be it resolved that we, the Commissioner's Court of Taran County, do hereby proudly congratulate Mansville Summit High School 202526 boys basketball team on their
outstanding accomplishment and commencement for bringing honor and distinction to Taran County. In witness whereof, we have here to set our hands and cause the seal of Taran County to be affixed this 14th day of April, 2026. I
move approval. >> Second. >> All right. We have a motion and a second on this item. Please cast your votes. >> Passes unanimously. >> Thank you, coach. And uh young men, if you would join me down front.
>> And how about a big round of applause. snaking through there. >> Commissioner Simmons, while the team is coming up, you know, we have listed here who's with us all the time. Uh and you listed the uh the players, but you also listed the man uh ball boys, assistants, trainers, and managers. And I thought
that was a great touch because I know you guys know it takes a team effort. So, it's not just the ones on the court, everybody else. Yeah. You got to fill those up. >> Congrats, fellas. >> Very big ring. Normally, >> not this time.
All right. One, two, three. Big smile. One, two, three. Thank you. Only three seniors. >> Oh, they're going to keep going. >> Three repeat guys. We'll see you next year. Wow, that's fantastic. >> Thanks, guys.
>> Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> Oh, yeah. Great. That was a great touch. I am not I'm not sure that Tarant County has produced more state champions in different sports >> in such a short window. >> We got to get a count.
>> Yeah. Very cool. Uh okay. Next is a resolution recognizing the venerable monks of the Kang Dao Vasana Bahavana Center in Texas on their successful pilgrimage from Fort Worth to Washington DC. Commissioner Simmons.
>> Thank you, sir. I am greatly humbled to recognize and celebrate the venerable monks of Fort Worth today. These men led by their beliefs undertook
a pilgrimage to walk from Fort Worth to walk from Fort Worth to Washington DC to let us all know that peace is possible. They begin walking from their worship center at Fort Worth on October 2025. They walked through Louisiana,
Mississippi, and South Carolina, 108 days, 2,300 miles in all before they reached the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC in February of 2026. And as you might expect, this pilgrimage
had its challenges. One of the venerable monks was hit by a car. His leg was amputated. >> Oh gosh. Aloca, the once stray dog who walked alongside the venerable monks, also had leg surgery along the route.
Still, they persevered. By the end of the peace walk, the venerable monks had gathered more than 3 million followers on Facebook alone. Their beloved peace dog, Aloca himself, gained more than 1.1
million Facebook friends. Clearly, people are desiring peace in our world. Today I want to publicly commend and thank each of the monks for demonstrating extraordinary dedication and commitment to promoting and
spreading kindness and peace. The Peace Walk has brought honor and distinction to Taran County through your message of understanding and goodwill. So the resolution reads
I'm gonna have to read it from here. Whereas the venerable monks of the Hunga Vipashon Bavana Center in Fort Worth, Texas have long served as spiritual leaders and devoted practitioners of the Buddhist
tradition, promoting mindfulness, compassion, peace, and service within Taran County and beyond. Whereas the practice of a pashana bana or insight meditation emphasizes
discipline, perseverance, loving kindness and inner transformation for the benefit of all beings. And whereas the venerable monks undertook a remarkable, inspiring 100day, 2300 mile walk for peace from Fort Worth, Texas to
the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC, demonstrating extraordinary dedication, faith, and commitment to spiritual growth and the promotion of peace. And whereas this pilgrimage started in October 2025 and traveled through Louisiana, Mississippi, and South
Carolina before reaching Washington DC in February 2026. It was purpose. Its purpose was not a protest, but a meditation in motion to spread loving kindness and promote inner peace rather
than focusing on political change. And whereas the pilgrimage of the 19 monks reflects the highest ideals of unity, humility, and harmony among diverse communities and brings honor and distinction to Taran County
through its message of goodwill and understanding. Whereas the Hunga Deep Pasana Bavana Center continues to serve as a beacon of cultural enrichment, spiritual education, and community engagement within Fort Worth and greater Taran
County. Now therefore, be it resolved that we, the commissioner's court of Taran County, do hereby recognize and commend the venerable monks of the Hunga Pashana Bavana Center for their successful pilgrimage from Fort Worth to Washington DC and extends
its sincere congratulations and appreciation for their dedication to peace, mindfulness, and service to humanity. In witness whereof, we have here unto set our hands and cause the seal of Taran County to be affixed this 14th day
of April, 2026. I move approval. >> Second. >> All right, we have a motion and a second. >> Maybe. There we go. All right, please cast your votes. All right, it passes four to zero with one abstension.
>> Okay. Um Albert, if you would guide them up here and I want to say that the day they arrived back, um I I stopped by the center and uh there was the biggest celebration
and I just wanted to lay eyes on them. Um, and it was just remarkable to see all of the community support that they had there. I was privileged to be invited. Thank you, uh, Mr. David Deng.
I'm not sure if he's here, but I was privileged to be invited inside uh while they had their meal and to just observe um and and it it's it's just a whole
different um spirit, a whole different environment uh being around them and amongst them. So, I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to do that. So, I'll let uh Albert bring them around before I
come down. And there's that famous. It's a lo a loca, right? and I posted a few pictures with them on my Facebook page. I think it's the uh highest engaged post I ever got.
Thank you. Let's give them a hand for their Um respected uh government officials and uh everybody here today, they are very honored to be here this morning. um
when we get invited uh from uh Commissioner Alisa and um we try our best to uh make it happen here because today our venerable monks will leave to Sri Lanka. >> Okay. >> Uh this evening we will have a short walk in in in Sri Lanka to bring the
Buddha relics to uh Fort Texas for the Versac event in May 2nd. That will be the big uh parade from the DFW airport to the temple and there will be a uh a peace walk from 8:20 and East Rosedale
to the temple as well. And so um uh we are ready to uh go to Sri Lanka to receive uh the relics and the body tree from the president of uh Sri Lanka. And so uh we uh have time to be here today
to receive the recognition from the count county from uh um commissioners Alisa and uh we are very grateful. I hope that uh with our message of peace that can um spread all over the world.
Uh because peace is something that is always begins from within and uh every it's been decades that um we think about peace is something that is very uh is impossible to reach. Mhm.
>> is because um we trying to bring peace to the world but it's been decades that so many people so many uh ancestor have tried to bring peace to the world and it happened but for a portion of the world only and same thing as our venerable
monks we walk but we are not the one who bring peace to the world. We are just the one who uh use our legs and strength to walk to raise this awareness to all people. And for that reason if everybody are practicing mindfulness together and
to have peace for themselves and their family and that is how peace spread out from one family to another and to the society to this nation and to the whole world. And one of the message that I always share along the road uh when I
when we walk I said every morning when we wake up our mind is still fresh and pure. >> Mhm. >> So if we don't have anything for our mind to do is automatically pick up all the trash to chew it over and over. Why
I use the term trash is because our mind is full of defilements >> and it always pick up all the bad things, all the old habits and suffering things to think about it and then when we h we are overwhelmed with all those
bad thoughts then we suffer and our days will be ruined messed up. >> Yeah. >> For that reason when we wake up the first thing we should do is not to reach for the phone. The phone is something that I always share that I say is a
lover and we all all have the lovers beside us and we encourage people not to reach for the phone when we wake up. Instead just make the bed and go to the bathroom without the phone
and then after that come out get a piece of paper write out the statement say today is going to be my peaceful day. M >> just write that down and then read it over and over with our eyes. When our eyes and our mind is pairing together,
we practice mindfulness. And then after that, read it out loud to say that to tell the universe that today is going to be my peaceful day so that no one can mess it up except oursel. We are the only person who can mess our days up. No
one else. Regardless of what people say, what people do, what the world throwing at us, if we be able to manage our emotion without react, we will stay, we will have a peaceful day. And so for that reason, after we write that down
and state that that to your universe, throughout the day, we practice to be mindful and we practice to do one thing at a time because we always multitask. because of multitask we cannot stay focused.
So um if we can do that our family will be at peace and then we can share it to our friends our neighbors our society our nation and the whole world. Imagine if every day in the morning all the human beings wake up and do the same
thing to spread that peace message to the universe instead of hatred instead of anger and delusion and things like that. So the universe will return with peace and kindness to all of us. That will the world will be the better place
for all of us to live. That is our message and today we are very grateful to have a chance to share with uh you here and hopefully that we continue walking on this path to bring peace to oursel and to the the world. Thank you so much.
>> Thank you so much. That is a wonderful message for this place that you are in today. Thank you. >> All right. Next, we have a resolution honoring James P. Thompson Jr. on the occasion of his retirement and in recognition of 41 years of ministry.
Commissioner Simmons, >> I want to introduce to some and reacquaint others the Reverend Dr. James P. Thompson. He's not a native Texan, but Pastor Thompson got here as fast as he could, and I'll tell you, Texas is all the better for his presence and his
community work. Dr. Thompson stepped into huge shoes when he took the baton from the Reverend Enl Robinson at Arlington's historic Mount Olive Baptist Church. He and his wife Lolita
have served in ministry at Mount Olive for 41 years and this re resolution commends them for their service. Whereas Dr. James P. Thompson Jr. has devoted most of his life to faith
service and community leadership. And whereas Dr. Thompson and his wife Lolita null Thompson together with their loving family began pastoral ministry in February 1984 at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Arlington, Texas under the
legendary pastor Enl Robinson. >> And whereas Dr. Thompson initially served as Mount Valhalla's associate pastor and youth director. Then in February 1994, the church's leadership unanimously confirmed him as sole
pastor, a role he has continuously filled for more than four decades. And whereas Pastor Thompson's leadership has strengthened the Mount Holllet Baptist Church family and community through steadfast preaching, pastoral care, and
dedicated outreach. and his service extends beyond the church to include roles as chairman of the board of directors at Southern Bible Institute and College, which is now Foster College, and other leadership roles at
Mount Olive Bible Institute, Water from the Rock, Success Connection, and the Advisory Board at Texas Wesleyan University. And whereas Pastor Thompson will retire has retired effective March 31st,
2026, concluding 41 years of impactful faithful ministry. Now therefore, be it resolved that we, the commissioner's court of Taran County, hereby recognize Dr. James P. Thompson Jr. and Mrs. Lolita Null Thompson for their
exceptional community service and for their lasting contributions to the faith community and to Tarant County. In witness whereof we have here unto set our hands and cause the seal of Tarant County to be affixed this 14th day of
April 2026. I move approval. >> Second. >> All right. We have a motion and a second. Please cast your votes. All right, passes unanimously. >> Okay, Pastor Thompson and uh everyone
you brought with you, you want to come on down? I see some familiar faces. Hi, how are you? Congratulations is an accomplishment. Congratulations. Hi. >> And it's accomplishment for your wife, too. I know how hard it can be on the
wives. Yeah. Are you John Look at this. >> This is why he was there 41 years. I can't. No, I got you. You know I got you, chap. >> Somebody's got to have an offering plate
somewhere. Yeah. >> Is this where he goes? >> No, I don't think so. Oh, maybe it is. SP come out this way. All right. >> Linda, you go first, then we'll take the
picture with the phone. Okay. Let her go first, then we'll take a picture of the phone. The knee's good. You still got it. Please turn to 112 in your himnil. >> So good to see you. Take care. Make some comments.
>> Yeah. Yes. Yes, ma'am. The famous words of every preacher is that I won't be long. I want to thank uh sis commissioner for sharing, sister whom I've known for years and I want to thank the judge
commissioner judge Tim O'Hare for allowing us to do this and to the other members of the court. Uh this is a great honor. Uh I have no words to express uh my deep appreciation for the members who came out to support me. >> And uh my ticket says that my time was
11:04 and so I'll be passing that ticket on to the court after I get to my car. But anyway, I want to thank you so much for this wonderful privilege serving. I hope that in some kind of way what you do here and what we do in the in the
church has a point where they meet for we both want to do what's best for the world and I trust that some kind of way that what we've served will do you a better job than what you do and uh as uh as we move forward because in the end only what you do for Christ will last
and I trust that you will keep that in mind as all that you do. God bless you. Keep you pastor. >> Thank you Patrick. Okay, next we have a resolution recognizing Mrs. Basnot Phillips Williams for 37 years of service at JPS
in the psychology department. Commissioner Simmons. >> Yeah, I figured when he was calling their names out. >> Glenn Lewis. >> All right. >> Hello, Bassnot.
>> Hi, One of the great pleasures of sitting on this day is is the opportunity to highlight individuals who offer exceptional service to our county and to our residents with absolutely no expectation of
anything in return. Basnod Phillips Williams is one of those individuals. Miss Williams, Phillips Williams began her work as a psychiatric nurse at JPS Health Network in March 1989.
The same year, she helped open JPS's Trinity Spring Psychiatric Hospital. Since then, she has been a constant presence within the health network. She brought new modalities of patient centered and compassionate care to individuals diagnosed with mental
illnesses. She provided free mental health screenings for depression and anxiety each year at community health events. She helped to start the NAMI Tarant County Mental Health Walk and she created committees at the hospital that
allowed patients and families to be heard. Mrs. Phillips Williams retired at the beginning of this month after 37 years of service at JPS Health Network. she can be largely credited with creating the caring, respectful, and hopeful
environment that Trinity Springs is today. So, this resolution recognizing Baz as she's affectionately called uh reads as follows. Whereas Basnog Phillips Williams has
devoted seven 37 years of extraordinary and compassionate service to the residents of Taran County through her work at JPS Health Network. And whereas Miss Phillips Williams began her distinguished nursing career in England,
earning her nursing degree in 1976, becoming a certified midwife in 1977, and a registered mental health nurse in 1979 before bringing her expertise and dedication to these United States. and whereas she joined JPS Health Network in
March 1989 and participated in opening Trinity Springs Pavilion Psychiatric Unit, helping to expand access to critical behavioral health services. And whereas throughout her tenure, she championed innovative approaches to
mental health care, including partnering with the Hog Foundation to bring recovery to practice to JPS behavioral health, creating weekly family support groups and the JPS behavioral health patient and family advisory council to
shift focus to patient centered recovery oriented care. And whereas she worked tirelessly to reduce stigma and expand awareness by initiating JPS's support of the NAMI Tarant County Mental
Health Fundraising Walk, providing free community screenings, and fostering open dialogue at events such as the African-American Health Expo, DFW, and whereas her leadership in training staff to deliver patient centered care has
left a lasting impact on the culture of care within JPS. Now therefore, be it resolved that we, the Commissioner's Court of Taran County, do hereby honor the remarkable career, enduring legacy, and profound influence on the lives of countless
individuals and families of Bassnot Williams, and do extend deep gratitude for her 37 years of service to the community. The witness whereof, we have here unto set our hands and caused the seal of Taran
County to be affixed this 14th day of April, 2026. I move approval. >> Second. All right, we have a motion and a second. Please cast your vote. Passes unanimously. >> Thank you, sir. Miss Baznaugh, if you
would join me down front. All right, Baz brought a cheering section with her. Y'all come on down. Everybody, Michelle, whoever you name
>> where you >> congratulations. Absolutely. Amanda. I can see. Thank you for coming to support. She said a few words on my behalf. >> I support you. >> Thank you.
Thank you for recognizing Bass, not Phillips Williams. She is the epitome of a good and faithful servant to the mental health
community and to Taran County and the world. It is my privilege to know her and also my good friend Alisa Simmons.
Thank you for recognizing all that she has done in this community to make mental health healthier in a world that seems to be terribly
unhealthy. Thank you, Bass. I do appreciate everything that you have done. >> Thank you. >> Two words and that is I support the peace walk 100%.
And above all of that, I support love from the heart for our families and friends, community, people that live every day with mental illness. their journey. It's not just a mere walk from Fort
Worth to Washington. It's a lifelong challenge. And a lot of the families that I have met, they do it with dignity, with grace, and with honor. And the privilege really truly is mine in that they have allowed me into their
homes through the family support. and that the organization that I worked for, John Petersmith Hospital, absolutely support patient and family advisory council. The voices of the people we serve
is the only thing that really matters. A lot of us in here wouldn't survive an hour in the shoes that they walk in every day. and stigma for people with a mental illness. Stigma needs to go
in this room with all these faces. I guarantee you their families in here today that are supporting someone. >> Yeah. >> Living with a mental illness. >> There are brothers and sisters and we need to love them genuinely and we need
to support them and be there for them. It's not the aunt that you invite to Thanksgiving dinner 4 days before Thanksgiving and then you have your friends and family at Thanksgiving. They're human. >> Yes.
>> And they live with a challenge that you may not survive for an hour or so. Love them and support them and just be there for them. Thank you. I appreciate all that you have done for me. This is huge. It's kind of heavy, too. Shannon,
Amanda, Michelle, John Peter Smith Hospital. Bass loves you. All right. Next up, we have a resolution honoring Samantha Steves of Bedford for her efforts in establishing God's own children ministry. Commissioner Krauss. >> Thank you, Judge. you know, in in our
county, we have uh unsung, unseen heroes walking amongst us all the time. And so, every now and then, we get a glimpse into those incredible lives. And so, I really appreciate Ron Ford in our office bringing uh Samantha to my attention. And I think you're going to be inspired
by her uh story. And so, I want to read this proclamation and then we will make sure we honor Samantha. Uh whereas Samantha Steves of Bedford, Texas has transformed personal hardship into a powerful ministry of hope, belonging, and spiritual connection for individuals
with disabilities throughout Taran County. And whereas in 2021, during a season of difficulty, Samantha, who lives with Down syndrome, found herself longing for fellowship and purpose within her church community. And whereas recognizing that many similarly situated
young adults face comparable challenges, Samantha and her mother, Sandy Steves, joined with another parish family to establish God's own children ministry and mass at St. Michael Catholic Church in Bedford in 2022. And whereas this
ministry was intentionally created for and led by individuals with disabilities, empowering members to serve as ushers, altar servers, canours, readers, and volunteers, while parents provide only minimal logistical support. And whereas God's own children ministry
has become a model of courage, grace, and hospitality, incorporating sign language for the Lord's prayer, offering sensory friendly accommodations, and ensuring that every person, regardless of ability, can participate meaningfully in worship. And whereas Samantha and the
ministries members extend their services beyond the church walls by volunteering in parish ministries, organizing annual school supply drives and donating more than 90 filled back backpacks to local nonprofits and schools. And whereas Samantha's journey from the hardships
she once described to a life filled with purpose, leadership, and community stands as a testament to the power of love, understanding, and the belief that every person is created with gifts to share. And whereas today at 26, Samantha continues to inspire others with her
joyful declaration that her ministry is more than about friends, it's about family. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Tarant County Commissioner's Court does hereby honor Samantha Steves for her extraordinary leadership, her advocacy for individuals with disabilities, and her profound
contributions to the spiritual and social life of Tarant County. And I move adoption of this resolution. >> Second. All right, we have a motion and a second. Please cast your vote. >> So, please help me welcome Samantha. >> Pass.
You want me to watch? Great job, Samantha. While if Samantha knew you, she would talk her your ear off. She's a little nervous in front of all this big crowd, but we truly are very humbled that you have recognized our small little group. Um, we can't wait to take it back and
share it with the rest of our members this evening. So, thank you very much. >> We're proud of you. Great job. All right. Next, we have a proclamation for the AEL High School Lady Hornet and men's uh Hornet boys Hornet wrestling
teams. Commissioner Mirs. >> Yeah, we are very excited uh to have the Ail High School wrestling team here. Uh Commissioner Krauss said something earlier and I think he might be right. We have to do a little research. Tarant County has so many high school championships this year alone. Y we have
to have some sort of a record. So Chandler, please look into that. Uh and we like to see the Commissioner Cup awarded uh to Tarant County, Texas. That's right. >> But today is about Ail uh and Ail's high school wrestling team. I will say this before I start reading this. You've chosen a phenomenal sport uh that's
going to build character and grip for the rest of your lives. uh I wrestled and I'll tell you uh it is instrumental um in in every aspect of your life going forward whether it's business, ministry, anything that you decide to do, raising a family. Um wrestling is a team sport
because you practice together and you rely on each other. Uh but it's also very individual. It's you versus you. You know if you put in the work, you know if you did it. Uh and it shows on the mat. So in any case, I'll get on with it. Whereas the AEL High School
Lady Hornet and Hornet wrestling teams have completed a historic and monumental 2025 2026 season characterized by unmatched grit, technical mastery, and an unwavering Hornet pride spirit. And whereas these superior athletes
dominated the match throughout the year, amassing records in dual meets of 11-2 for girls and 25-2 for boys. And whereas this success was fueled by a combined total match wins of 848 with an astounding 607 victories coming by way
of pin, demonstrating the aggressive and dominant style of Aasil wrestling. And whereas the program sent 12 regional qualifiers to the postseason, resulting in five individual state championships, one runner up, one third place, and one
fifth place medalist, further cementing Ail's reputation as a powerhouse in the sport. And whereas the Hornets reached the pinnacle of Texas wrestling by earning the 2026 girls 5A team state championship and the boys 5A team state
runner-up titles. The latter marking the first boys wrestling team trophy in school history. Now therefore be it resolved that we the commissioner's court of Tarant County do hereby issue this proclamation to the 2026 Ail High School Lady Hornets and Hornets
wrestling team. the coaching staff and support personnel in formal recognition of their record-breaking achievements and for their historic contribution to the legacy of Azo athletics. In witness whereof, we have here unto set our hand and cause the great seal of Tarant County to be affixed this 10th day of
March 2026. I move for approval. >> Second. >> Second. >> All right, we have a motion and a second. Please cast your votes. And with us today to receive this proclamation. >> And with us today to receive this proclamation, we have athletes Noah
Kovatch, McKenzie Harris, Sage Moer, Zalen Woods, Elizabeth Yell, Ellie, Colobby Morland, Cameron Laam, Tyler Yansy, Chase Yansy, Wyatt Hicks, and Jordan Durret. And we have coaches Jason
Conger, Tyler Harrison, Dakota Bradshaw, Michael Mitchell, and school district administration. Todd Smith, the Azo ISD superintendent, Jessica Hansen, assistant superintendent, Michael Sain, director of athletics, Nate Driver,
principal of Azo High School, and Mr. Brandon Giri from the school board. If you would all please come on down and accept this proclamation. So I I don't know. Wrestling is a pin like a knockout in boxing. Is that mean you've kind of like just dominated on? That's basically what that is. I love
that. >> Yeah. >> Pretty comparable to like a knockout. >> Knock. Okay. So, so, so, so you're going for the jugular. You're not just surviving. You're >> I love that. One, two.
>> Congratulations. >> Yeah, congratulations. I can't move. >> Good morning. I just want to take a second to say thank you guys. Thanks to the court. Thank you judge um commissioners for the recognition. Uh I
think you touched on it very uh very keen point when you said that wrestling is like none other and we talk about that with the kids all the time how it prepares you for so much more than than just um the sport. It prepares you for life and uh Dan Gable a famous wrestler
said uh once you wrestle everything in life is easy and I think that that encompasses uh what the sport is about. And something to add to that, this is the second state title in school history for the girls, first state trophy for the boys as it was said. And additionally,
um, all of these athletes are back again next year on the girls side. So, it's pretty special for them. >> And, uh, individually, there was a lot of accomplishments as well, um, which have been pointed out on social media. So, we invite you to go check out and follow our AO wrestling social media
pages on Instagram, Facebook, and X. And um lastly uh thank you very much again and a reminder that it's Asel verse everybody. >> Yeah. >> All right. Next up, we have a proclamation uh to honor the Lake Country Christian
School Lady Eagles basketball team, the TAPS Class 4A girls basketball champions, Commissioner Ramirez. Yeah, we have another very exciting championship to celebrate from Lake Country Christian School. It seems like all they do is win titles nowadays. Um,
and whereas on February 27th, 2026, the Lake Country Christian School Lady Eagles demonstrated exceptional skill in sportsmanship and securing a 6747 victory over the Austin Hill Country Knights, thereby clinching the Taps Class 4 girls basketball state
championship. And whereas this prestigious triumph signifies the program's second state title win within a three-year period and marks the eighth state championship in the esteemed history of the Lady Eagles basketball program. And whereas the Lady Eagles exhibited extraordinary offensive
precision throughout the postseason, recording seven successful three-point baskets in the state semi-final before delivering a remarkable 10 three-point performance in the championship game. And whereas this championship season further solidifies the program's legacy of excellence, representing the Lady
Eagles 19th appearance in the state final four. And whereas the individual members of this roster have garnered significant accolades for their performance on and off the court with seven athletes earning all district honors, four selected to the all-state team, three named to the tournament
team, and four achieving academic all-state recognition. And whereas the Tarant County Commissioner's Court commends these athletes for their unwavering dedication, industrious spirit, and composure under pressure, all attributes that have earned them the enduring respect of the Lake Country
community and the citizens of Tarant County. Whereas, Tarant County also acknowledges the outstanding and collective achievements and the disciplined leadership provided by the team's coaching staff. Now therefore, be it resolved that we, the Commissioner's Court of Tarant County, do hereby issue
this proclamation to the 2025 2026 Lake Country Christian Lady Eagles basketball team, coaches, and staff in recognition of their historic accomplishments, and extend our most sincere congratulations on their championship season. In witness whereof, we have here unto set our hand,
and caused the great seal of Tarant County to be affixed this 14th day of April, 2026. And I would move for approval. >> Second. >> All right. All right, we have a motion and a second on this item. Please cast your votes. Passes unanimously. And joining us today, we have student athletes Avery
Collie, Kate Lively, London Chandler, Erica Hancock, Sadie Goff, McKenna Grella, Jordan Green, McKenzie Norton, Carol Wilson, and Finley Young. And we have coaches coach Rachel James, coach
Mattie Collie, and head coach Josh Blah. And from the school, we have head of school Sarah Deckert and athletic director Wade Whites. If you would please all come down and congratulate Congratulations ladies. Congratulations.
Again, I'm WDE Weise, athletic director at Lake Country Christian School. And uh just to talk about our coaches uh really quick, our our three coaches were also named coaches of the year for 4A for TAP. So, that's pretty big accomplishment for
them. We're super blessed to have them. I want to thank the entire commissioner's court and judge. Thank you so much for having us here and recognizing us. And I also want to recognize the fact that Northwest Fort Worth really appreciates Manny Ramirez and the things that he does for us. So again, thank you for having us. Thank
you for the the uh job that you guys do and the commitment that you make to our entire county. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And Mr. whites. I'll say my kids play in your uh Thanksgiving tournament every year and it's always a very well-run tournament. You guys do a great job over
there. I just need one of those uh parking spaces with my name on it. So, I keep if we can do that next year, that'd be awesome. >> Yeah. >> All right. Next up on the agenda is a proclamation for Every Kid Healthy Week 2026. Commissioner Ramirez. Yes, we have
a very exciting uh proclamation today for every kid healthy to to accept this. We've got our community partners here. If you would please stand up uh whenever I read your name. We've got Dora Garcia, program coordinator with Cook Children's Healthc Care System. We've got Chris
Christa Dephano, Tarant County Extension Agent for for family and community health. Courtney Washington, healthy Texas youth ambassador with Tarant County 4. and Courtney Davis, the Tarant County Extension Director. Uh, now
whereas it is very important to keep your family members and students healthy during this time, which includes all health and whereas healthy kids are better prepared to learn and to thrive. And whereas there is a need for continuing education in a widescale effort to enhance healthy practices. And
whereas Texas A&M Agro Life Extension and Cook Children's Center for Community Health through their unique partnership and prevention-based approaches to serving children are effectively addressing the healthy lifestyle needs of children, youth, and families in our community. Now therefore, be it resolved
that we, the Tarant County Commissioner's Court, who hereby proclaim April 21st through the 25th, 2026, as Every Kidalthy Week in Tarant County, and encourage all citizens to join the campaign, and encourage families to continue this week with scheduled activities to complete and
have fun while staying healthy. In witness whereof, we here unto set our hand and cause the seal of Tarant County to be affixed this 14th day of April, 2026. And I would move for approval. Second. All right, we have a motion and a second on this item.
>> Please cast your votes. >> Passes unanimously. Ladies, please come down. >> I'm just going to take the picture. No, nothing happen. >> Thank you. body. >> I think so.
>> And I'll just say Courtney is in Keller Precinct 3. It's great to have you and her mom is on the school board in Keller ISD. And it's great to see you, Heather. So, thanks for being here. >> Howdy. My name is Christa Stephano and I have the privilege of serving you and all of
Tarant County as the Texas&M Agro Life Extension Agent for Family and Community Health. Joining here with me today, Wordor Garcia from the Cook Children's Center for Community Health and Tarant County's very own Courtney Washington,
who is a state level healthy Texas youth ambassador. Through the delivery of research and evidence-based programs targeting critical health needs, we are working to improve the lives of every person in Tarant County. In December, I was
elected by Cook Children's Thriving Communities Collaborative to chair their healthy lifestyles action team, a unit of Cook Children's Center for Community Health. The healthy lifestyles action team is an 8ount strong collaboration
whose largest initiative is the national recognition of every kidalthy week. This is celebrated annually during the last week of full week of April. This year, Texas&M Agra Life Extension and Cook Children's have partnered once again to
bring awareness to the following identified issues impacting youth across the North Texas region. Mental health and wellness, nutrition education, encouraging physical activity behaviors, vaping and nicotine use prevention, and
family engagement support. The continued support of the Tarant County Commissioner's Court underscores our commitment to addressing these issues not only during every kid healthy week, but every day for the youth that we work together to serve. Thank you,
Commissioner Ramirez, Commissioner Krauss, Commissioner Simmons, Commissioner Miles, and Judge O'Hare. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. All right, that's a good two hours of proclaiming and resolving. So, we will take a break until 12:15.
Please be back here at the DS 12:15. We are in recess until then. if you want to call it that. There's some food in me. So, >> I wouldn't really call it eating. >> Yeah. Yeah. Much better.
>> Excellent choice. What is that? Where is he? >> All right, we are back live. We are going to move an item a briefing item up due to a scheduling issue.
So the item that is listed as 122 briefing on tech share strategic review uh will take place now and Wade Meyers uh I don't know if you're up or if Commissioner Miridge you're going to talk about this or
introduce it at all or is it just straight Wade? Now, sure. I'll introduce it. And I'll tell you, I'm I'm very very excited to receive this update and briefing. Um, it's a long time coming. Um, you know, we've made significant changes in tech share in the last 6 to9 months that we've been really hard
charging at looking at a uh is it salvageable? Was this a great program to begin with? Do we have great products? And then working with Andre who stepped into an interim leadership role there uh for the organization. But you you answered a lot of those questions for us
uh that we really needed answers not only to see if the technology was great but look at the business case going forwards uh and really how to extract the best value for Tarant County. Um so I appreciate everything that you did. You and I have sat together for several hours and discussed this. Um, you know,
according to Andre's feedback and others in the industry, the work product that you provided, um, was incredible and I think adds, uh, a great layer of clarity for what we need to do to make decisions going forward. uh and for this court's uh information, everybody involved in
the TechShare project and enterprise across the state of Texas and some of our crossstate partners uh are very excited uh and they're very encouraged by the changes that have been made uh and they're very excited for the prospects going forward. We've got great commercial partners that are on the
horizon uh and the products themselves uh are are unparalleled. So, uh, with that, Wade, I'll turn it over to you, but I did want to introduce him and say thank you for what you've done, uh, to help this project and to help Techshare, uh, LGC. >> Thank you, Commissioner. Uh, good afternoon, judge, commissioners, and
everyone. U, yeah, we had a an opportunity to take a deep look at TechShare. If we could advance the slide, please. >> Yeah. So the um and many of you ran um for office saying you wanted to look into this because obviously it's been a big budget item and there was there was
considerable amount of angst and concern over tech share and what had been spent and what has actually delivered. So this is what we started off with. We wanted to understand what is the value that it's delivered to the county. Uh obviously Tarant County being the biggest shareholder in techshare and uh
the value of it as an entity and also just what do we do to improve things. So, if we advance the slide, please. So, I I'll admit that as a prolific uh software entrepreneur and investor, I didn't think it was a good idea for a county to own a software company. So, I
kind of entered into this analysis as a long-term Tarant County resident with probably that same kind of angst and concern over, okay, let's take a look at this, right? Uh and here's some of the initial hypotheses. Uh perhaps it was a bad idea. Uh resources potentially hadn't been stewarded well. it hasn't
delivered sufficient value potentially and maybe we should shut it down or or sell it off. So this is kind of what we started with. Next slide please. So we launched a detailed strategic review that took about three and a half months to complete. I won't dive into the detail here. What I'm going to do is
just provide a quick summary. There is a 150 pages of deep analysis that goes behind this but we're just going to touch on the high points today. Next slide please. So here were some foundational principles. uh we didn't worry about sunk cost all the money that had been spent. We were worried about
where are we at right now? What is the deliver that's valued? What's the value that's delivered and what do we do going forward? And so and there's a couple of key principles uh beyond that which is investment in technology is strategic. It is important. It is critical. We've
seen that in just our general lives and es especially recently with AI and uh investment technology is ongoing. It's recurring. You're never done. You know, oftentimes someone that's a non-technical, non-software person might think, well, surely the software is
done. No, you're never done. It's a continual investment to keep it going to add functionality, etc. And there's there's multiple methods of measuring this, not just how much of cost is there and can we sell it. So, we dug into several of those and we wanted to benchmark performance uh to against
other large counties to provide additional insight. Next slide, please. So, sunk cost there has been a lot of money spent on tax share. I think everybody's fairly aware of that over 15 years almost $62 million and uh there's estimates by the current leadership that
you know quite a bit of that was not stewarded well and that's certainly um seems to be the case but the analysis like I said focused on going forward not trying to dig into the past and so if we move to the next slide please uh there's here's a couple of principles I want to
dive into uh for anyone that may not understand the power technology it is strategic as I mentioned here's some numbers uh writ large of how technology makes an impact usually is a massive reduction in operational expense much faster cycle times a reduction in errors
overall better service for the residents of Tarant County by using technology normally uh tech investment if I look at any large company whether it's a bank an insurance company any large company spends about 15% of their entire budget
on technology And that usually returns a two to 4x return in those reduced costs. And so typically we should expect that the more a county invests in technology then the the more efficient the budget performance will be. So let's see how
Tarant County is doing with texture. Next slide please. Couple more principles. One is that normally if we think about getting great service as a resident of Tarant County that's going to cost more than if we got poor service
which is going to cost less. Think of it as Nordstrom's in the upper right and Walmart in the lower left. This is a typical service trade-off that Harvard Business Review did a great job of explaining years ago. Normally you cannot provide really high service at a
lower cost. However, on the next slide, technology is the only way of investing in a process that actually lowers the cost and increases the service in this case to residents of the county. So, next slide, please. And as we've all
experienced with Amazon, great technology. And notice that if you go back, Amazon not only provides a better level of service, I even had drone deliver something to my house recently um but they uh are much lower cost and
they also have higher net income. So this is a core principle that we need to keep in mind when we dig into the analysis of tech share. Next slide please, Chandler. Okay, so again one more principle. It's recurring. It's never done. It's never perfect. uh there's always user feedback
to improve things always change and there integrations change databases change so there's it's it's an ongoing expense and we should expect that so when we look at this large expenditure over the years we need to understand how much that was passed development how much is going forward expense etc and as
an example there are many add-on investments that need to be made here in this case changes in regulation requires changes in software code and software capability to keep up with those changes. So you would generally expect
even more software expense because of that because this is a fast-moving environment that changes do happen. We have to react to next slide please. So we focus on four methods of measuring tech share success and the return on investment of that 62 million
distributions to shareholders like Tarant County being the largest the cost of technology that the county pays for compared to what the county would pay for from other vendors efficiency of Tarant County's budget relative to other large counties and user experience
feedback. Oh, let's dig into each one of these really quickly and again then we'll provide a summary. So next slide please. All right. So, distributions, how has that gone? Well, very little has been distributed. And this is the one measure that many residents of Tarant County would focus on and and past
leadership and to say, "Wow, we we've spent all this money, didn't get hardly any back." So, that benchmarks very poorly. Let's go on to the second way of of measuring. We talked about 15% of a budget is typical of technology
expenditure. Well, how is Tarant County done? Well, this benchmarks very favorably. Only 5.9% of the total Tarant County budget goes to technology. And you can see a couple of the departments there. And so Tarant County would appear
to be very efficient compared to any organization, even the finest companies in the world. So that's that's good to know. Now, I have to, you know, hats off like like Commissioner Ramirez says to new county leadership, uh, a a
world-class chief information officer, a new CEO, a tech share. So, the benefit of having new leadership across the board is the willingness and ability to look into this really objectively. And so, this benchmarks very favorably. Let's look at the second or the third
benchmark, please. Next slide, please. Thank you. So how efficient is Tarant County compared to other large counties? So these are the largest counties in the US except for New York. New York combines county and city budgets. It's really hard to tease
that apart. So we have all the large counties except for New York-based counties including you can see Travis County at $1,445 per capita. So think of this as the the expense of tech enablement um or you know per capita of the general
budget and the impact that tech enablement has. Tarant County is second to lowest at only 378 basically 14th of Travis County. Now I just heard about all these wonderful sports teams and the
all the wonderful awards and hey Tarant County is competitive right? That kind of all that kind of got me like why is Dallas better than Tarant County, right? Bothers everybody in the room I assume. But we do benchmark very favorably. I want to point that out. It's extremely efficient. So if we go to the next slide
and we dig into Dallas County, ah they spent 1.7 times more on technology. Now they have a 12% lower cost per capita for budget, but they spent 70% more to
get that 12% gain. So the bottom line here is that Tarant County is of all large counties in the US the most efficient county when it comes to technology investment. And when we can't claim all of the the budget uh expense
savings on tech share, we can't take all the credit for that. Clearly there's process improvements, new leadership, etc. But in part, tech share certainly had a lot to do with its efficiency. Let's go on to the fourth measure of of Oh, there I'm sorry. There's a there's a
go back one slide, please. Digging into this and looking at the Tarant County budget and what's happened under the new leadership of Commissioner's Court is you can see the overall budget is down and it took select departments, etc. So
this and again it's not all due to tech share but a lot of it is when we survey users um you'll you'll see that in spades but in general this is a very good story and and Tarant County benchmarks very favorably and again I'm I'm probably the most surprised person
in the room to go wow government can own software and perform very well. Uh kind of goes against my capitalist you know private enterprise mentality. Next slide please. So we also did an extensive survey of Tarant County users about the
software because again part of the history has been complaints about the software and hasn't worked well etc. Well it's important to know that it's been fully deployed um you know all the core features and so 100% use it you know twothirds of the time of the day
you see a lot of favorable feedback. The only negatives are, hey, I've requested changes. I've caught some bugs. They're not getting fixed very quickly. What's going on there? And that's because the budget has been reduced. And so, it's
hard for text share to respond to the user feedback. But most of the feedback is very positive. It saves a lot of time, you know, saves from making mistakes, all the kind of things we talked about with technology. Okay, next slide, please. So, nine quick summary
findings. If this is all all you hear, a lot of money has been spent, not necessarily wisely in the past, but Tarant County should be very pleased with what's going on based on all the benchmarks. Next slide, please. Uh, it's been fully implemented and enabled and
again, significant efficiency gains and that's been passed on to residents. Next slide, please. Um the the leadership has a lot to do with this of accountability and again most of you ran to for office on this. We're going to look into this. We're going to hold this accountable.
We're going to see what's going on here. But this is one of the most efficient counties in the US. Next slide. And it's paying off in two primary ways. Not all the measures, not in returns. The return of all of that investment has been in lower software costs. Uh next slide,
please. and Taran County should continue to invest in the software as we've talked about. It's a recurring expense to gain even more operational savings. Next slide, please. Uh it it on you can see on it's very efficient in terms of how
it operates. Next slide, please. It's one of the lowest per capita budgets. And by the way, when we benchmark against other vendors and other software, it's would cost two to three times more. And so that's an important u part of the analysis here is looking at
what it would cost to switch and just pay the for the same kind of capability. Next slide please. And finally, you know, there's u I we suggested a budget. We suggested a few changes and I think over the next several years techshare
could turn into a very valuable asset that could be sold with a long-term service contract and license agreement to Tarant County because Tarant County would not want to pull tech share out by the roots and change. That would be extremely disruptive and extremely expensive. It would cost
three times more to do that. And so ideally, if there is um you know any kind of effort to try to sell tech share, that could be done with a long-term license back to the county so you don't lose the capability, but you could get a return. But right now, the
returns are being passed along in savings on the software, which costs quite a bit less than other vendors and on lower budgets due to the efficiency. So again, there's very extensive analysis on that. Most of the commissioners have seen that. Um, I'll
I'll pause there for any questions. >> So, I have a question. Thank you for the presentation. My first question is regardless of what it would cost to invest in software somewhere else.
One of the biggest issues I have with the whole process is when there is a new software or changes to the software or whatever it
may be. Tarant County pays the entire cost of the development and then when it when we do it, it goes to market. We're paying tech share based on our population. Other counties, whoever
is using it, paying it on based on their population, but unless something has changed in the last six to eight months, there is no recapture of the initial investment. So basically the other counties in our county pay the same
thing based price per person population but there's never a way to recoup the money. And so what we're doing unless I don't understand the process or something has changed in the process
where I have the biggest issue is we're developing the software paying to develop the software and then no one else participates in the development of the software. They just hey we well they they buy in and here's our annual license fee. That's what I would say has
to change. Have you done any work in your analysis to get tech share to a spot where it can do what I'm describing? >> Yes, sir. Obviously, Taran County has been subsidizing all the other counties. I think there's 58 counties in Texas that use TechShare and and most of those
prices are far below what they would pay for the alternative. So part of the recommendations in the budget was price increases for non-shareholder counties and showing the impact of that in the budget and not not to take advantage of smaller counties but they are paying far
less than market value. So we benchmark prices by module and showed in some of the modules we're we're not even breaking even on. We're not even making money. So much of the pricing has been underpriced from what it should be and that will correct the subsidy situation
so that Tarant County will start to benefit from its investment rather than just subsidizing all the other counties. So, that's part of the recommended budget in the analysis. >> And and I'll add um just as they did contemplate and pass the the latest tech share budget, uh there was substantial
increases in the SAS uh service charges to those other counties. On the development side, since most of these products that are out in the market have been fully developed, uh now it's just tweaks and fixes and the rest. A lot of that front-end engineering has been
completed. And there's a full suite that's out there on the market right now. Uh that is that as uh Way Wade articulated the the biggest lever we needed to pull was to get market correct in the pricing uh in order to operate as uh an efficient system that actually
provided returns back to Taran County. And so the ultimate payback as he mentioned is the reduced IT costs that we don't have to to look at over the next 10 years. And Andre, I know that you've looked at, you know, what it would cost had we not do had we not uh
continue to operate with TechShare and what it looks like with other other products. Um, and it's vast and substantial. So, I I I think that was a major focus uh for the new tech share group uh was making sure that we looked at right sizing that so that we weren't throwing money into development where
essentially Tarant County would be taken advantage of. I I don't believe that's any longer the case. uh and there will be escalating uh price increases in future contracts uh not just with new counties but existing. >> Okay. And one one other point of
clarification on that, the organizational docs of tech share does tie techshar's hands on pricing. And so we wrote resolutions for the board and put them in the analysis to recommend the resolutions to make that change, present that to the
tech share board to to really enable tech share to manage pricing better because right now it's it's it's it's rather cumbersome and difficult to change pricing. All counties are supposed to pay the same rate. So that's that's been recommended and put forth with the texture. >> Okay. So the another major issue that I
had with it when we first got here was and I I I believe it's a good product or and I say it's there's so many different pieces of it, but I think it's a a a good product or a good set of products, but there was basically no effort to
sell it. it was show up to a Niko or show up to a TAC meeting and uh hopefully word of mouth will spread. Well, I got news for you. I don't have a lot of county judges or commissioners calling me saying, "Hey, can you give me a recommendation on which software to
use?" So, it's not happening that way. um what have we done or what is in your recommendations to actually go market it and sell it in a real business-like manner, not just hope that people will learn how great it is and buy it.
>> Yeah, that's a great question, Judge. And about 20% of all the analysis are the recommendations on sales and marketing. And there's a lot of great news. There's a lot of built-in customers. Many of those 58 counties only have one module, but TechShare has the unique ability to turn up and just
basically light up other modules at no cost to pilot them with those counties, whereas a competitor like a Tyler Technologies, for example, would have to come in and do a full-on integration. So, Techshare is well positioned to cross-ell other modules. There's several
modules into all the counties that only have one or two module. And so, we put that in place in terms of a cross-ell campaign. We uh we wrote new brochures, improved messaging, and put all of that together for the techshare team so they could go to market much more effectively. And I don't think it it's
it's at all about going to trade shows and and and putting up a booth and that kind of expense. It's really more reaching out to current customers and saying, "Hey, you're using this module. Uh we can light up another one. Would you like to try that for a month or two, get them hooked on, get some data in there, and then light up the price?" And
so there's a there's a whole section on sales and marketing to improve the revenue and grow the revenue dramatically over the next several years which will improve the value of the of Techshare as a company >> and specifically the sales and marketing recommendations. Have any of them been implemented yet?
>> That I'm not sure. You'd have to ask Techshare that. >> Okay. >> But they were built into the recommended budget for 26 >> which was la you're talking about last year's budget. >> No, the current the current year. Well, I put it forth the budget we're in now >> for next year. Yes. >> Okay. All right.
>> And we have from TechShare uh Rebecca Troy Picket and Andre if there are specific questions for kind of go forward business planning how they're doing it. Are you done with your presentation part? >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. I I'm sure others have questions, but I would like an answer to my
question from a sales cross-selling marketing standpoint. Tech share. What have we changed or added or improved? >> We have Thank you, sir. >> Good afternoon. Rebecca Lewis, executive director for TechShare. Pleasure to see
you all. Uh we have started to implement some of the recommendations on the marketing side. We're pulling together testimonials that are going to be necessary for the return on investment sort of discussion to make sure that everybody understands the success that's out there. We've also started the
cross-selling campaign across Texas working with our counties that are currently using systems one way or another uh to try to bring those forward and that's just in the first few months of this year. >> Who is doing that? We have a third party consultant and then internally we're also doing the work
>> like the different product managers myself all taking it upon ourselves to make sure that we get out there and sell the system. >> Well, so and I don't know the intricate inner workings of tech share but that doesn't
sound different than what it was three years ago. There's program managers and we're making them be program managers and salespeople. It doesn't strike me as the best salespeople are program managers. So, do we have any salespeople we are hiring
or doing anything with? >> We do have an open position for that. We have not hired anybody, but we do have dollars set aside for that purpose this year. just specifically to try to use maybe a third party marketing agent or some sort of representative that could
then, you know, uh I don't know if it's necessarily sales that we talked about, but as much as um you know, a more intimate relationship with these particular counties on the different systems. So, it might just be a little bit deeper than sales in general. But yes, >> we did re did you recommend hiring
outside salespeople or was that not part of your recommendations? three three full-time equivalents, right? A lot of it is customer service, user experience, and reaching out to counties that are current users. It's it's more cross-ell marketing and customer success more than just sales. So, it's not dialing up a
county and trying to sell them over the phone. It's really more customer experience managers that help manage the experience and help cross-ell them into another module. >> And are you planning to put those recommended positions in the 27 budget? >> Absolutely.
>> Okay. All right. Other questions? >> I'll just say Wade, I appreciated the time you spent coming over to our office and Andre after that meeting, I felt more encouraged and confident that TechShare was going to be a viable long-term uh effort and solution in
Tarant County than we had. So, thank you all. I know it's taken a lot of work and a lot of uh effort to get to where we are today. So, thank you for that and appreciate all the work y'all have been doing diligently. Yes. So, I've got some questions.
You You said and we all know that Taran County is the biggest shareholder in Techshare, correct? >> Yes, ma'am. >> So, we use how many modules of this? >> I believe there's nine modules and Taran
County as a shareholder, I think, is uh 80%. >> Oh, or 90%. Yeah. by far the largest shareholder. >> Okay. So, I contend we're never going to recoup
the development cost. I say that because tell me if there is another of the big five counties. We're one of the big fives. Five. So Harris, Dallas,
uh, Terren, Bayer, Travis using a large number of the modules. Are they using >> no >> one module, two, 10 or eight modules? >> For the most part, Commissioner Simmons, they are using competitor software and
paying much more for it. So like we saw with Dallas County, they they pay almost twice as much for the software from Tyler Technologies as Tarant County pays for tech share. >> I understand that. But um Tyler Technologies
is a known entity and I I don't want to go back too far, but as soon as I came on, I learned about Techshare Court.
Um and it became a huge red flag that we were sinking money into a software that was still being developed after I think at that time 11 years. Um, and so I brought it to this this
court. Um, to say, and I mean, you you said it a couple times and you're kind of right that we're not going to worry about the money that has
already been spent. Um, you're right. It's spent. You said it was not stewarded. Well, your words, not mine, but I I I could have said that too. Um, but I contend the best
predictor of uh future behavior and performance and processes um is past behavior, past practices and performance. So, we can't just not not speaking to you. I'll
look elsewhere. I'll look at Andre. I'll look at my court members. We can't just say uh you know we spent60 million or whatever it was developing this stuff didn't implement it until I start
raising noise about it and then we rush to implement it. Um so I don't think we'll ever recoup any of the development costs. I you know we can market this to the cows come home but if those uh other
big fines are not using these modules or any of it we're just crap out of luck on recouping cost we can market it of the 58 counties what what size counties are those
>> oh there they're various size but I want to point out that in the detailed analysis there is if you if you look at each module and and the total expense that Tarant County put into a module. Some of them was 4 million, some was 10 million, for example. So take the 62 million
across 15 years and then look at by module and then look at what's happened to the department efficiency of that module. Tarant County has more than paid back the 62 million. It just hasn't been paid back in distributions. It's been
paid back in lower license fees and more operational performance. And so rather than digging back 15 years of what happened with the money, when we did the analysis, it's clear that it actually is paying off right now. And no other Texas
county is getting that kind of payback. And so and and an ongoing cost is far lower. So I I talked to Tyler Technologies. I got proposals for Tarant County. It's three times higher. And of course, they're a multi-billion dollar company. They spend over a billion
dollars on their their software. So they're much larger and they have really high margins and so all the other counties are paying for those high margins whereas Tarant County owns this software >> and you compare it apples to apples. So >> absolutely module by module. Yes, it's
in the it's in the detailed analysis. >> So a couple questions. What are the gaps in actual deliverables of tech share? Are there gaps? >> Are certainly there's always gaps. Yeah, it's either >> tell me about some of >> Well, the main thing are integration gaps right now. So, the user feedback
pointed this out. Uh they'll say, well, I I have to have three or four or five modules open at the same time and there is some duplication of entry. That's an example where a little additional investment closes that gap by fully integrating and it makes everyone's job
easier and and creates more efficiency. and uh um you know Andre as a CIO and Rebecca as a CEO of TechShare. Andre is a C CIO obviously of the county, they have a list of the additional features to add and the integrations to add to
make it even more efficient. >> And that's where I contend if you use Tyler Technologies, those integrations are already there. We're still uh appears that we would have to figure that out or develop it. that's not
necessarily the case. Um there have been entire states that have implemented Tyler Technologies and have failed miserably and spent a hundred million dollars on that. And so it's uh Tyler Technology has just as much if not more negative feedback from users than
TechShare has historically. And so software again is very very complex and the complexity of county by county, state by state makes it very very difficult. The beauty of Techshare has primarily been built just for Texas and primarily built just for Tarant County.
So Tarant County got almost exactly what the county needs as opposed to trying to take some offthe-shelf software and make it fit. So you know because one of the things that one of the first things I considered Commissioner Simmons was we should sell this to Tyler Technologies
and and you know cut over to them and have a worldclass platform. Well, the first thing they said is, "Well, we wouldn't we wouldn't pay you hardly anything for tech share because we would just throw out the software and we would switch you and then we would charge you the market rate." So, you'd go way
deeper in the hole and you'd have a product that was built for California or other states primarily and you'd lose all the customizations and the features that Tarant County has greatly influenced. But I I totally agree. It's one of those things you look at this and you say, "Wait a minute. There's there's
a massive software platform out there. Why can't we just adopt that and and you could it would be extremely disruptive. So all that disruption of the last three or four years of implementing techshare you would the whole county would relive that in every department and they still have a lot of gaps. There are two apps
or modules that Tyler Technologies does not have for example but they have also modules that TechShare doesn't offer yet. Um so I I would imagine cost for software updates would go down and the
speed of updates should be increasing. Are we is AI been integrated implemented at any fades in this? >> That was one of our recommendations. Yes. Is to use AI in several areas of tech share. Absolutely.
>> Because AI is currently able to replace developers at a much faster pace. Don't you agree? >> Yeah. It's incredible capability. >> And so is TechShare ready or already asking again. Utilizing AI coding to speed up development and
lower costs for updates. >> Absolutely. We are we reacted right away to this. Uh we invested in some technology uh to create those efficiencies not only with the developers but also with producing information that we need to then extend out to the user community. So we have already started. There are guardrails in
place. Texas has statute that was written last year for the purposes of how you use AI in development, but we are off and running on that. Okay. Um I I agree with you, Wade. Uh was paying
attention to your presentation. Um investing in technology must be a priority. It just has to be. Um we can't keep being chintzy with it.
Um we've we've got to continue to invest in software um and all the upgrades that come with it. So I I think your chart were you trying to show us that we were eicient
in not spending money on soft software and the upgrades or that we're lagging behind which >> the county has been very efficient. However, in the budget, the recommendation was to spend more to fill in these gaps to make it even more
efficient and to to answer all the user questions about, you know, the known bugs, the known lack of integration, etc. So, yes, there needs to be continued investment and uh and and potentially one could look at the budget that the counties approved for tech share and say it's too low. And so part
of part of this switch over was recommending adding sales and marketing resources using AI and eliminating some development resources, be more efficient on development with with wonderful AI coding tools and um and so there's a number of changes to try to do both
better serve Tarant County but at a lower cost. >> Okay. So all right I again I remember all this from the beginning I just heard your presentation you said that the uh user enduser
community is pleased with um techshare um I >> it was a mixed bag commissioner >> I'd like to see the survey results if you >> Oh absolutely it's it's in the analysis survey >> and so yeah it was kind of a mixed bag
so They use it all the time. They say it's it reduces errors and they really like how it speeds up processes, but the frustration is we've known about these bugs. We've known about the lack of integration. Why isn't that happening? And so that's the mixed bag. So generally they're happy with how it how
it improves their their role but not happy with the un you know kind of open bugs that haven't yet been fixed and that's because of a lack of budget to do that. So that was part of the recommendation is to add to the budget to fix the bugs to add the integration
and then all overall you know user surveys would would would show a more favorable result. So we haven't been able to build a sustainable product but
we want want more money. Um, and now we're to trust you guys with I'm looking at Andre uh or tech share um with AI. I'm we're
to believe that we're prepared, ready, we're using AI and it will integrate with these modules that we have for tech share. it just, you know, I
thank you for your presentation. Thank you for the good try. Um, I remember from the beginning and throughout and I still continue to hear from people, end users, employees of this county who have
problems with tech share uh, a number of the modules. And so I I'm just not convinced that we need to keep investing and um sinking money into techshare.
Three years ago, we bit the bullet, got rid of the mainframe, and they implemented uh texture court. Um it had lots of problems of course like any
implementation would uh and those problems persist today. Um go with a known entity. I don't want to keep saying the other company because I'm sure there are other vendors out there. Uh Tyler Technology I'm sure
there are others. Um we just need to cut it at some point. you cut it and go go with with offtheshelf stuff that counties across this state, across this country use and let this
um let this go. Now, I've got a couple of housekeeping things. Uh Andre, uh first of all, can you explain your background, Wade? What's what is your background? How did we hire you? >> I started 35 software companies and invested in 100 software companies.
>> I'm sorry I cut you off. post still talk. >> That's okay. Yeah, I've started 35 software companies and invested in a hundred software companies. I have eight venture capital firms. It's a global far firm and all we do is invest and build software companies. >> Okay. >> And hence my my own sort of going, wait
a minute, why is government owning software? Right. >> Right. And did um we we're paying you, right? You're not a volunteer. Are we paying him? >> Yes, there was a fee for the work. Did
we go out for bid on um software consultant? >> Techshare does not have the same fulfillment requirements as parent county and this is a tech share report. >> Okay. So Wade was hired
>> by tax >> by tech share. So we're not paying for way. >> No. >> Okay. All right. Got it. cuz I it way back when before you quade before you Andre um I wanted to I agendaized an
item so that we could go out for bid to bring in software consultants to come and evaluate I guess what you had done um evaluate texture court at the time um
and uh I put it on um what is it request to go out for bid that agenda item and it was it was removed by uh a colleague. So, um I was just wondering if we went through the process, but it doesn't
sound like we had to because he is employed by or retained by texture. All right. Okay. Thank you all. >> Anybody you have something, Andre? Sure. Anybody else here have any questions?
>> No. can wrap up. Um, earlier in my career, I would have remained seated and basically put all the risk on the consultant.
At this stage in my career, I feel like that would be dereliction of duty on my part. Um, first let me uh refer uh to the work that Mr. Meyers has performed
uh having been in the IT business for 46 years um and having consulted having hired consultants to the tune of billions of dollars including the best known players
in the industry such as Accenture, KPMG, Deote uh and so on and so forth. I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt that the price performance ratio that we received from the engagement with Mr. Meyers is
superior to anything I've ever seen in my entire career, including multibillion dollar contracts to run the US census in 2020. Okay, so that ought to give you an idea
of the caliber of the work that was performed. um not only because it abided by all of the requirements and the deliverables but because it went way beyond that into an analysis uh that
was profound uh and that to my belief it reflected the fact that Mr. Meyers is a Taran County uh citizen and as a result he felt compelled to provide the best possible value to the table. Now, if the
court will allow me, um I want to tackle a few things. One, the previous investment. The first thing that you learn in business school is that sunk investment
is not to be considered in any future investments. It is gone. It is either produced some degree of value that you can use going forward or it didn't. But in either case it is totally irrelevant to the equation
as you look to the future. Period. Okay. So in the case of tech share uh and as uh Mr. Meyers uh indicated um there was possibly less than good stewardship.
Nobody really involved in this effort in these failed uh efforts is around anymore. And so to look back and say, okay, you spent here, you spent there, and did this and that that it's really is is totally counterproductive. The current
edition of court, which I believe is 3.0, has nothing to do with the previous two editions, and it is something that is incredibly complex and working exceedingly well. It is running the
county as we speak. As we speak, there are dozens of courtrooms that are using the software to do everything that we need to do from an administrative standpoint. And I can honestly tell you that I have not received a single call
about downtime or problems in well over six months because the pro the process had been totally stabilized. Now, when I first came on board, I had performed a relatively simple analysis, nothing like the the level of depth that Mr. Myers
went through uh and did a landscape assessment of other software that performs equal functionality. And I came in front of this court in April of 2024 and told you that tech share was an
exceptional value and that there was no competitor that could even come close in price performance ratio period. that indic that that that evaluation at that time has only been made enormously more
uh you know uh effective by virtue of everything that I've learned over the two and a quarter years that I've been around. Now I want to share with you something and then and then I'll I'll I'll conclude. Uh about two weeks ago, we visited Denton County and presented to
their technical and county leadership. Uh and I can tell you that they were extremely impressed and that every feedback that I've gotten since and continued conversations has indicated that uh that they could be very
interested in the very near future in undertaking a transformation into techshare. A week ago, we did a two-hour presentation to Travis County with about 17 people from Travis County attending
uh and uh and presented the current state of the software and of the organization. That was very wellreceived and I literally received a a uh a request for a meeting from their CIO less than 15 minutes after the meeting
concluded. And last but not least, we are on track now to meet with Harris County. I expect that to take place in the next two weeks uh with their leadership so that we can present tech share as it is
today and how it could be a gamecher for them because they are in the process of looking at uh at going out for bids for an integrated criminal justice system. And I can honestly tell you that in an RFP process from both a capability
standpoint and a price standpoint there is nobody in the industry that it can even come close to providing the type of results that TechShare will provide. So if you ask me over the next six months I expect major developments from a sales
standpoint and I'm going on a limb with that because of course it has subject to all kinds of approvals commissioner courts and all of that stuff right um that that sometimes throws things into the
but I expect that what you will see over the next six months is a dramatic evolution of uh the image and the financial prospects of the organization. And all of that is due to the extreme hard work of the people at Techshare
uh that have taken it on themselves to turn this product around and turn this company around. And I have nothing but the highest praise for them. And also for the support from Commissioner Ramirez, which from the moment he took over introduced a dynamism into the
equation uh that was absolutely necessary. And when you put together that type of team uh and that type of dedication uh the results will uh pay for it for for themselves. But the value that the county is deriving today from
TechShare is nothing short of spectacular. Thank you. >> Thank you, Andre. Uh Rebecca and Troy, uh I think you guys do an exceptional job at what you do. I wanted to say that to you and I would love to see you implement
the recommendations from Wade. Uh knowing Wade, uh what often happens in government is you go to the government consultants >> that make their living doing consulting and overcharging and underdelivering.
And this is an example of going to somebody who doesn't do consulting with governments that knows what they're doing and knows how to build software companies and knows what it's all about. So, thank you for what you have done. Uh any other questions or comments? >> I I'll just mention that, you know, I
think we all started in the same place three years ago uh with an incredible distrust for for techshare and what had come before us. Uh but instead of focusing on those uh prior deficiencies, I'll say um we took the emotion out of it and actually looked at the product
and looked at what it what it could be and what it is today. Um we we hired a best-in-class industry expert to tell us what we didn't know about software, somebody completely unbiased from the outset or I would say maybe biased to the negative uh from the outset. And the
result is what it is. Uh and so I'm very encouraged u by the leadership of TechShare for them actually getting on board uh and saying yes, we need to change how we're operating. Yes, we need to to take up this mantle as well. Uh and for doing just that. So I do think that that the best days of tech share
ahead of them. Uh and I'm and I'm proud of the team that that's working very very hard every month. So thank you Rebecca and Troy and everybody else. >> Um yes. Um Go ahead, >> Andre. Do
I would like to get the entire analysis what uh Wade presented. Um I appreciate you guys stopped by the office couple months ago um and got introduced to him. I think we had a PowerPoint presentation
but sounds like the complete study analysis what have you has has um taken place. Um, do you have happen to have information on systems that rate superior in user experience?
Because I know you don't want us to believe that tech share is the most superior uh software out there for courts, for prosecutor, for jail. You don't want us
to believe that in these United States, TechShare offers the most superior product and end user experience. And then if you do, we're
going to take a confidential survey of county employees. Of course, nobody's reached out to you um and said, "I've got problems with this." Nobody. Everybody knows this this has been a hot topic for for three years
since I introduced it. Um so no no our court coordinators are not going to call call you and and say this this stuff is crap. Um not whatever their experience is. Um, and it
seems like we've worked out all the kinks on Taran County >> or we we're working through the kinks on Taran County. Um, judge wants to be compensated, uh, reimbursed for it.
Perhaps we should be. I just don't see it happening. >> So, um, a few a few items there. Uh, first of all, when I first came on board, um, I don't want to say that my phone was burning with calls about TechShare, but it was active, very
active. Court was still not stabilized, and as such, I got calls on a regular basis, including from elected officials. Uh, we went all out in order to stabilize that and I believe that that has been accomplished. Now, I did a
landscape survey uh of integrated criminal justice systems in the United States. I didn't find anything that was even close to be comparable. Now, I do I believe that Mr. Meyers also did a survey of such companies and I do not
believe that he found anything uh that was comparable to the to the uh to the functionality that TechShare brings to the table. Uh and so that is the reason for my confidence. Um I would encourage any employee any employee that has a
problem with tech share that is not you know one of the known issues at integration that u that uh happens on a regular basis and that will not cease to happen until it's properly financed uh to reach out to me and and talk to me uh
and if I find that there's something that needs to be addressed that is not already part of the known issues that we are um trying to address why I financing. I'll be more than glad to uh dive into it and address it. But I can tell you that the number of such calls
to my office has has gone down to zero over the last last 6 months. Um but I would I would be glad to entertain any and everybody uh to come into my office and and deal with such >> or they can contact me and I will take their complaints and get them to you. By
by all means by by all means I mean I'm again I'm at the stage of my career where you know ret retribution would definitely not be part of the equation. I'm interested in impact and resolving problems. So anybody can feel comfortable to come to me um because I have much bigger fish to fry than
somebody complaining to me and me being upset about it. >> Thank you all for the update. >> Did you want to speak? >> May I address for a moment? >> You may. As district clerk for this county for
over 31 years, I've seen a lot and I speak from the position of a user of the software and one that has participated in the building of the software that we use today in the
district courts and the magistrate courts. 68,000 new cases filed last year. Just to give you an idea of the volume, 28 elected judges, 25 associate judges
and magistrates, 53 courts. Now, the previous county judge asked me to come over in 2007 and look at this new software that they had partnered up with Dallas
County on. I did. We proceeded. I mean, that was the choice I was given. This is going to be your new software. Um, we went along and had a real bumpy road.
complain bitterly about it. So the short answer here on that part of it is there is absolutely no difference or let's put it this way. There is a big difference between the old tech share
that we live through, me and my colleague, the county clerk, uh, complaining all the way until Troy and his team came in in the process of
building the criminal case. They literally saved it. Now, I have Miss Gray here who's my accounting manager that lived through all of that with me. She's been with me 25 years.
I can tell you that they pulled the chestnuts of this county out of the fire. So, we have a new ball game with this tech share. I will also tell you that I've sat on the board of directors of two of our state associations
every year I've been in office. I've been on on the one uh currently uh the district court alliance for over 20 years. There is interest in this. Believe me. One last thing.
the aforementioned company that is the competitor on this. Um, I will just point out one difference. When we implemented techshare court in the criminal courts,
I went up to the courts and sat with the judges in the courtroom on the three courts that had the biggest dockets, over a hundred. These were plea dockets where my clerks have to prepare the
judgment and then verify it for the judge's signature. There's a lot of work to do on these cases. It worked the first day. The competitor that has been mentioned up here, if you believe the Dallas news,
it crashed and burned. Same way down in Bear County. So, I could give you several other stories about that, but I won't take up the court's time. Uh, there was a a real
spirited discussion in close session one day about the competitor, but I won't reveal all of that here. So, I would urge you to consider this because now we've got the civil, family,
and juvenile to do um with some software that we built, we own the county, never paid a seat license, this can be done. Plus, I volunteered a long time ago. If there is any marketing that
needs to be done, I'll go on the road with them and take my staff. I've already sent Miss Gray up to Amarillo to work with Potter County up there. She did a great job with them. They really appreciated her involvement.
We have built into texture court Tarant County business processes. That's another big attractant to my colleagues because even Dallas County acknowledged in one meeting that our business processes are better than theirs. That's
how we handle things and save money. So, I recommend fully that we proceed with some kind of deeper dive on this and see if we can't uh come back uh with a real
great product for our taxpayers. Thank you. >> Thank you, Commissioner Maris. Thank you, Tom. And I'll just wrap up by saying we've talked a lot about the the products themselves, the use cases, the user experience. Uh but I'll say as the largest shareholder in the tech share corporation uh since we've taken control
a year ago, we've been cash flow positive and you know in prior years we weren't. And the people that are on the hook when you're not are the largest shareholders. Uh and so we've been cash flow positive or revenue positive this coming year uh in projections. And so as far as a business case goes uh you've
done what you're supposed to do when you take over a bleeding uh situation. We've triaged it and we've turned it around and put it on a correct course. Uh and again that that's due in large part to the folks on this dis uh for for making it a priority and the people actually
implementing. So thank you very much folks from TechShare. >> Okay. >> I have a comment on comment on it. >> I wasn't here when techshare was implemented. I mean I wasn't on this
disc when that happened. I appreciated my meeting with Wade and Andre. You answered a lot of questions and you gave some good insight and perspective and information, but I don't think any of us are fortune tellers. We can't determine whether or not this is
going to be successful. We can't determine whether or not there isn't another product on the market who can do what TechShare does and even better. Uh I would to uh Commissioner Simmonson's point, I would like to know if there is
a software company out there that does provide superior service and has demonstrated ability of doing that over several years. Uh if that information can't be provided, I would love to see it and I'd love to know who they are. Um
however, I don't know if that exists. There are flaws in everything >> and so we have got to do what's best in in the best interest of Taran County to move the county forward to be able to generate revenue which they have said that that is something that will happen
with the tech share program the way it is currently constructed. We can't do anything to change what happened in the past. It is it's already done. In the words of my mother, there's no use crying over spilled milk.
However, I think we need to be hypervigilant in making sure that whatever promises and guarantees are being given to us by Techshare are actually adhered to and they produce results. If not, we need to, to
Commissioner Simmons's point, put it on the shelf and go look for something else. >> Okay. Now we will move to the the public comments. Uh let me make an announcement before we begin. It'll be two minutes per person. Uh there were
five people. I cannot remember the fifth name, but there were five people that signed up to speak on the proclamations and resolution section. If somebody will look up for me, not Christensen, Seagal, Cardinus,
Patenza, I remembered those four. There was another one I don't remember. I'm going to call those names out now. First, this will be the last meeting where I will call you during this section. If you signed up for
proclamation speaking and didn't mean to, I'm not going to let you go later at that time. You got to figure out the right one to sign up for. So, but this time Mark Christensen, I don't remember the order, somebody named
Seagull, Nidia Cardinus, Jolyn Patenza, and what was the fifth one? >> Elizabeth Miller. >> Elizabeth Miller. So, the five of you can go. You can figure out your own order. Mr. Christensen, go ahead.
>> Okay. Uh, thank you. And I did make a mistake with the uh signing up and I will make note of that. >> Sorry for that. I'm speaking in favor of uh >> commissioner of the U resolution 10.E.1 for uh having the resolutions to screen
agenda for items of transparency and clarity. Um the way you run the court I think is excellent. I love how you run the the uh the county uh here. And I should see that if we have an agenda items that are unclear and lead to
confusion that this is not uh doing things decently and in order. And so I would encourage uh the passing of that resolution and making sure that we have a good agenda that we can run this uh meetings efficiently. Thank you sir.
>> Thank you. All right. Is Seagull here? I think that was how you pronounce it. How about Cardinus? Okay. And then how about Patenza? And then how about Miller? Is Miller present? >> Okay. All right. Yes. My name is Nidia
Cardinus and I live in precinct 4. We speak with one voice because of your attempts to silence us. This item is about language. What makes something misleading? misleading implies you're headed somewhere and that certain information will make it harder to get there. And so I want to say good. I want it to be very hard to get where you're
taking us. A county okay with ICE terrorizing our immigrant neighbors. A county where people die in mental health crisis inside our jails and their families are treated without dignity. A county that funnels our black youth into an ineffective prison system. That is that is the direction that this agenda
item is designed to protect. And here's what we need to understand about misleading information. It happens not just in what is stated. It happens most powerfully in what is withheld. Earlier this year, you voted to prohibit commissioners from even requesting public briefings on certain topics like ongoing jail deaths and pending civil
lawsuits. As a voter, I prefer more information, not less. At least stated information can be corrected. Can the same be said for what you keep from us? This item claims no fiscal impact on the agenda. But you but when you tell Commissioner Simmons, a democratically
elected leader with an equal vote to yours, to sit there and be quiet in a public meeting, I can only imagine what is said to staff behind closed doors. You couldn't even bring yourself, Judge O'Hare, to vote for a proclamation appreciating monks who walked 2,300 miles for peace today. You have built a
culture hostile to dialogue and critical thinking and inclusion. And that actually costs our county every single day. We remember the names of those who have died in the Tarant County Jail. Shante Levette Brous. >> Okay, we have Christensen, Seagull,
Cardinus. No, Christian Cardinus Seagull, Patenza, Miller. I think that's it for those five. If you signed up for the next one, you you will not be called again, by the way. >> Okay. >> Um, Elizabeth Miller, precinct 3. I um
I'm not sure. I was confused by this item. The misleading putting misleading in there I think sort of begs the question. I'm not really sure what all y'all have exactly going on that this is aimed at, but I encourage you to maybe work it out
without an agenda item. Um, since this is my only opportunity to speak, I also wanted to encourage y'all on the Sean Pacio issue. And we know if P's out there, there are others. So, I'm asking y'all as a group, Behold Deas, if y'all
could think of a potential legislative solution. I will make sure it gets drafted. I will make sure it happens. I'm telling y'all, I will do that. I'm going to be in convention season on other stuff, talking to everybody, and I've already found a lot of people who
are I'm sure y'all have not enjoyed this issue, and other people who have their hair on fire about it, who will help us. So, please uh think of something and I'll try to make it happen. Um I think we can get this done. There are a lot of people that are eager to fix
this problem. So, thanks. >> All right. Thank you. Uh now, okay. First up is Dolores Phillips. Following Miss Phillips is Mindy Tacket. >> Dolores Phillips. Thank you for allowing me to speak. Judge Harrier O'Hare, you
do have handouts. When the exhibits were targeted and stolen from Deli Law Library, it was intentionally done to obstruct justice.
and judge your hair. If I come before you and I speak to you and I I'm dishonest with you and you rule and consider my dishonesty, not knowing that is dishonest, then your order will
inevitably reflect dishonesty. When they did the retaliatory eviction, they took binders of exhibits from my dad. He's the only man I know. And I'm speaking to you in
humility. I don't come to play with your time. It's invaluable. My dad, as many other men and women, it takes men and women with big hearts to raise children that's not their biological children.
My dad's demise was caused before his time to take his estate. For one, let us put that on the record. When they took the binders, you held the pictures. They took out items out of my chest in my living room. Took binders. The ones that
were left, they put them in the chest. They stayed in there hours. Those exhibits I've asked for an investigation at the DA's office. They said it wasn't criminal. Mayor uh Parker said, "Uh, this is your business.
What I'm asking you is for an investigation as to who targeted and stole my exhibits. Secondly, keep in mind DF-92-11850. It's robbery by way of the courts. I see you next month. Thank you, Judge. Go ahead.
>> Thank you. Uh following Miss Tacket, we have Chris Wood. Today you're being asked to use county resources to defend a deputy constable being sued over a private offduty security job at a Waffle House for
personal pay. He was not on duty for Tarant County. He was hired privately and paid privately. Texas Local Government Code 157.901 covers actions arising from public duty. Moonlighting at a Waffle House as a
security guard is not a public duty. Taxpayers who never hired him, never authorized that work, and never benefited from it should not foot that bill. But this is part of a pattern. Commissioner Krauss, you installed a religious monument on public property,
then steered the county's legal defense to a firm for which you are an attorney without disclosing that conflict. And as Commissioner Simmons warned, if the county loses, taxpayers will pay those damages.
Speaking of Commissioner Simmons, when she requested a briefing on our financial reserves, the public learned this court dipped nearly $8 million into the rainy day fund just one month into the fiscal year with another $10 million
draw coming. That's the kind of transparency this court is trying to suppress. Tim now wants the power to block agenda items he labels as misleading, which based on the record means any item
that holds this majority accountable. Three issues, one pattern. Protecting insiders while the voices demanding answers get silenced. Again, you three boys seem to think this
court is yours to do what you want for whomever you want, however you want. It belongs to the people. >> Thank you. >> All right. Is Chris Wood. Then we have I've called those two. After Chris Wood,
we have TK Campbell. >> I'm Chris Wood. I request special training be given to district attorneys on stalking behaviors and victim dynamics. Personally, false allegations were made against me by a person who was
stalking me. After my arrest, I provided documents to the DA through my public defender explaining the broader pattern. I did not receive a response and charges were dropped only after a period of good behavior. I share this to highlight a
systemic issue. Stalking is patternbased behavior. Yet cases are often evaluated as isolated incidents. When this happens, the justice system can unintentionally misidentify the victim. Like many stalking victims, I did not
immediately file a report because I believed I could deescalate the situation on my own. Police were called on multiple occasions, but responses reflected uncertainty about how to address the situation effectively. I've
also seen other stalking victims rely on protective measures such as restraining orders only to find the stalking behavior continues. Prosecutor training is crucial to address the following. Stalking is patternbased behavior, not a single
incident. Stalkers misuse the system by filing false reports. Trauma affects how victims present themselves. Seemingly minor events only make sense when viewed collectively.
Misunderstanding these dynamics leaves risk that the justice system unintentionally empowers the individual causing harm and leaving the true victim unprotected. Please support special training for the DAs so cases are evaluated accurately,
future harm will be prevented. Thank you. >> Thank you. Is Miss Campbell present? All right. All right. Next is Buff Kaiser. Is Buff Kaiser present? All right. Then
we have Reed Bills and Charles Bills. >> Not quite yet. Miss Bills. >> Miss Bills, if you will sit down for one second. He's first behind you. >> Thank you. I'm Buff Kaiser, resident of Fort Worth. Um, chain of custody means
keeping a continuous documented record of who has handled election ballots, when they are handled, and how those ballots were secured at every step from issuance to counting.
I've got copies for you of the eight Texas chain of custody and ballot bag controlling laws and the three secretary of state advisories that apply to us. I've also brought examples for you of the official ballot bag seal and lock certificates that have been filled out
incorrectly at various Tarant County early voting locations, plus a location by location analysis showing that less than 15% of our early voting ballots had identifiable chain of custody.
Of our 40 primary early voting sites, only 29 official chain of custody forms were received. Only eight early vot voting sites were identified and not one form was signed by a Tarant County elections employee taking custody. Also,
the Sagenol Public Library transferred, 1496 more ballots than tallied by Tarant County elections. Clint Lwick and Troy Hav need to be reporting such key um performance indicators to you and the
public. They also need to be providing their stats on the equipment breakdowns that occurred during the primary that so inconvenienced electric judges, volunteers, and voters. Finally, I've got a one-page summary for you describing Denton and Colin County's
simpler, more auditable handmarked paper ballot systems that we think and hope you are also taking a look at. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. All right. Now, we have Miss Bills. Following Miss Bills is Charles Bills.
Okay, my first public comment is about an agenda item posted by the county judge regarding agenda items proposed by unnamed commissioners. There is no accompanying explanation to clarify his
complaint. I can only assume that instead he is providing us with an example of a misleading, unclear, or inaccurate agenda topic description. My second comment concerns the district
attorney's request to provide legal representation for deputy constable Donnie Redell. The petition in this case states clearly that defendant was working as an independent contractor in an offduty
capacity as a private security guard at the time of the incident leading to the suit. I question the obligation of the county to pay for his defense. Mr. Bills and then Katherine Godby. Okay. So, today we've had two hours of
uh proclamations. We had a one-hour briefing and apparently there are five more briefings on the agenda. I have to think that you should reconsider having one meeting a month. I
think you would all prefer a two five-hour meetings and rather than one miserable 10-hour meeting, which may even be longer. It's It just doesn't It seems like you're just suffering, too. So, I mean, you're making everyone
suffer because you want to you just want them to suffer and you can Well, that's all I have to say. All right. Next we have Katherine Godby. Following Miss Godby is Bishop Kirkland. >> Then next we have Bishop Kirkland. Following Bishop Kirkland we have Bob
Willoughby. >> The sheriff re the sheriff briefed us last month on a fabricated facade and manipulation of facts. In custody means a person was under the immediate physical control of another authority.
They are the sheriff's responsibility. These people died in that jail. They're worked on until they get vital signs and then go to JPS and are pronounced uh dead. That is nonsense. Now, the numbers of in custody deaths go down while the
numbers of deaths go up. Shame on JPS for playing the role of the puppet in the hand of the master puppeteer via waiver. And Dr. Dickerson, you need to classify those persons as DOA. How could it be possible that they make the rounds
as often as the sheriff said and Chassity Bonner be dead? How could Anthony Johnson be dead if we had the excellent mental health system that he bragged about? Shame on Judge O'Hara as well as the two of you for crippling the
efforts to fix roads in Commissioner Simmons district as well as denying a courthouse with those people simply to spite her. The pre the people of precinct three and four should be ashamed of each of you for pointedly and
purposely hurting the people of district 2 simply to shan commissioner simmon. Shame on judge O'Hara for threatening the large negro and latino communities because uh you couldn't have your super quorum. Latino community, I hope you
paid attention. In the last meeting, the judge O'Hara and Matt Krauss abstrained from the voting for Caesar Chavez. Caesar Chavez, the activist, the the nonviolent protester who stood in the
light of Dr. King. I dare you deny to vote. Latinos, pay attention. We need to get together. We need to walk together. We need to stay together because that must be attained together. >> Uh following Mr. Willoughby, we have
Andrew Grub. >> Well, first, can I request that the cameras be on y'all and not me at the bill because you're the ones that are elected. You're the ones that work for us. Okay. If you can uh what I want to say is that I'd like for you to take the
page from the new school board. I I I think it was like a gift from God when they came in and moved the school board all out one way and put in a new group in. I wish someone did that to city council. The new board has changed something automatic, which is good. It's three minutes for comment speaking for
the public regardless how many people are there. And that's the way it should be because when you're doing good, you don't have a large people here. And when you're doing bad, you do have a large people. But instead of addressing the bad, you reduce the time. That's not right. Now Tim, I got to thank you more
than ever for bringing up the comment meeting to the top of the these are the most important things to me and I know you didn't do it because I asked you because it had merit. Anybody asking you do it for merit, you should. I want to ask you this. Make this three minutes and I agree with the other person. We should have two meetings a month, not
one. You should get back to the people. I want to say Tim, you have everything. You have money. You have a nice home, family, car, great life. You know, I want you to sit back and show your appreciation and reflect on that and let
people have three minutes government free. Sit on your hands, bite your tongue, and let them say whatever they want to say for three minutes, let them go home. They wait a lot of time. They spend their money and work to come down here. And when you shut them down early, and you have everything that's not appreciate what you got, okay? And give
us more time. Put back three minutes. Thank you. And I had to change your your sign. You hadn't done anything. Phil store was a real problem. You had done anything, Lisa, so I had to take down your your pit your your thing. Thank you. >> All right. Is Andrew Grub here? All right. Following Mr. Grub, we have
Patricia Jagger. Do we can everybody move your stuff out of the aisles, please? I don't want to see anything in the aisle. That's at least now the second person that's tripped. >> Go ahead. >> All right. Thank you. My name is Andrew Grub. I served on the uh testing and
ballot committee that uh witnessed the recent logic and accuracy test prior to our runoff election coming up in May. Uh summary results, there were no machine or uh software errors found during that test. There
were 4,000 ballots that were part of that test covering 10 runoff elections across Tarant County. So that was the good news. We did have a lot maybe about 20 uh human errors. So the actual results did not match the expected
results built into the model by Tarant County elections. But we did find the reason for every one of those errors. There was an instance that I want to address more involving absentee ballots and considering the uh abuse and concerns about absentee ballots across
the country. I want to talk about that a little bit in my remaining time. Uh this was a surprise to uh members of the testing board that absentee ballots fed into the uh ballot tally uh scanners
that were used at precinct and voting area level were accepted by the machines. Now apparently this is normal for the machines if they're fed in there. But those absentee ballots were
accepted, counted, and tallied as ordinary in-person ballots uh without being flagged and without going through the additional vetting and uh security purposes that we have in place for absentee ballots. That is a
potential problem, but it uh still didn't affect the outcome of the results in this case. Uh, I do have some handouts that I'm going to give you that you can look at with more detail. Um, and so with some reluctance, I have to
say the test should be certified based on state law. >> All right. Patricia Jagger, Paul David Williams, >> Jackie Paul David Williams is here. >> Are you Paul David Williams? Are you
gonna speak? >> Following Mr. Williams is Jackie Johnson. >> I just want to talk about how many people have died in jail. You know, it's more than 70 people since 2017 when we
got our sheriff and we're one of the leading counties for deaths in jail and that's not a good reputation for Tarant County. also want to speak about uh the number of days we can talk to you. Uh we used
to be able to talk four days. You reduced it to two days. Now you reduced it to one day. We used to be able to speak on every subject. Now we can only speak one time on all the subjects. That's not right.
>> Uh Jackie Johnson. Following Miss Johnson is Micah Ryan. >> On April 21st in seven days, it will be two years since the murder of my son in the Taran County Jail. Two years with no accountability.
Commissioner RmIrez, you brought the sheriff here last month to talk about declining custody deaths. Yet, a person died in that jail in December of 2025. That alone collapses the narrative. A system cannot claim progress while
people are still dying under the same conditions that have taken more than 70 lives since the sheriff took office in 2017. And that we've ignored who is being held there. People with severe mental illness, intellectual disabilities, and
serious and serious medical fragility. Some cannot bathe, feed, or medicate themselves without assistance. Doctors have said some cannot be restored to competency. Yet they remain in a facility not designed to keep medical
fragile people alive. That is not improvement. That is neglect. Detectives Commission on Jail Centers has confirmed that for years Tarant County failed to secure the independent investigations required by state law. Fort Worth police acknowledged they were
not conducting their own investigations, only reviewing the sheriff's internal reports. When investigations are compromised, claims of decline become political messaging, not accountability. And after nearly three years of you in
that seat, Commissioner Ramirez, this narrative appears only now. As your re-election approaches, this is why voting matters. Voters deserve answers about why deaths continue, why independent investigations were not conducted, why medical vulnerable people
remain incarcerated, and why accountability surfaces only during an election year. Until those questions are addressed, talk of declining deaths is not progress. It is misleading and deceptive. In the Mets for health alert,
>> thank you. Uh Gail Smith, it's Gail Smith present. Nan Terry then Harriet Harold. >> Good afternoon. I'd like to speak about the severely mentally ill and the
intellectually developmentally disabled or ID housed in our county jail. Sean Harris was one of the ID. Over the last few years, we've had a few. Last month, MHMR reported we have six individual classified as ID in the
Tarant County Jail. Sheriff Wayborn indicated in a media report that we had 62 individuals like Shawn. I am I assume, but I'm not positive that the sheriff had combined the ID and the severely mentally ill.
I want to share another story that you may not know about, but a 30-year-old female who was a member of the ID group. She was diagnosed as ID as a child in the Crowley ISD. She was held for 11 months in Taran County Jail with a charge of assault to a elderly. She
pulled her mother's braid, failed, if that's the right term, the jailbased constipy restoration process. Her mother has told me she has done more at the San Angelo State Supported Living Center than she did in numerous of the group homes where she stayed. She has a
job. She's involved in activities. She attends church. From a county taxpayers's viewpoint, you should be pushing HHSC to find placements for these individuals. 11 months for this woman, $48,000
for Shawn because we have to pay for him when he's in our jail. When he's in SS LLC, state of Texas picks up the tab. These people will never be competent. We can argue about that, but if you
follow or track it, we haven't had one that's become competent. the individual classified as ID have ended up in Tarant jail to languish until the press reports. Do you have a process to be notified when an ID individual is
detained in the county? >> Thank you. Uh following Dr. Harold, we have Melissa or Melissa Perez. Let's reflect on this public comments process. From where I sit, it's a random
listing of unrelated topics. Wouldn't it be far more useful if we could speak to issues when you're actually discussing them so that they help inform decisions? This way, it is simply lip service to citizen input. You have thoughtful,
informed citizens here who want to be helpful. You should be listening, not consistently trying to silence us. So today, I'm addressing the sheriff's briefing from last month because we couldn't speak about it then because we
had to speak before we heard it and now we have to wait a month before we get our two minutes. First, I'm glad the jail deaths are down, but they should be reported proportionately, not in raw numbers. By that measure, Tarant
County's nine-year death rate exceeds Harris, Dallas, Travis, and El Paso. Second, the improvements presented were all attributed to JPS and MHMR.
What improvements has the jail itself made? In detox, the jail told us they have no policies. That raises serious concerns and deaths happen there. Third, when cases like Sha Faragio arise, the
response should not be that's a medical issue. The jail contracts with JPS and MHMR. How are they holding those partners accountable for better outcomes? And
finally, where is the leadership? What are the sheriff and the commissioners doing to lead change in systemic issues that we all agree are terrible for inmates with mental health issues? Let us know. We'll help.
>> Uh, is Miss Perez present? All right. Next, we have Deborah Krakkey followed by Donnie Redell or probably Redell. It's hard to comment about an agenda item when you've moved our comments to
the beginning of the session. I have no idea what you intend to talk about on item 10E1 since there are no attachments and no real explanation. I have no idea what this means and I believe the intention of this it is the intention of this
court. Let me quote one of the members of this court. In mature governance, the winning side listens to the losing side, takes value from the process, and moves forward together. I find this ironic. I've talked to many of the people who come to court to comment about their
concerns. I seldom hear any reference to these comments from the judge who brought this action. I seldom hear any reference to these comments from the commissioner who wrote the article. He also said, "Too many leaders now treat opponents as existential enemies rather
than fellow citizens." And yet at a recent political forum sponsored by Mercy Culture, Don Huffines referred to Democrats as satanic and demons. Perhaps this court could set Mr. Huffine straight. However, I mentioned that at an earlier commission commissioner's
court meeting, and I heard crickets instead. At a recent meeting, a member of the court referred to the same people who always come to meetings to give feedback. It would seem that the court has tried to stand in the breach of these people. So, let me tell you what it takes to come here and stand in the
breach. It starts with reviewing the agenda, which usually takes several hours on the weekend prior to the meeting. We have to prepare our comments and make sure we understand the issues, and that takes several hours. This is no fun. I can think of a dozen places I'd rather be, but still, we come. And
here's a promise. Regardless of who wins in November, we'll still be here, even if you're not. If I were you, I'd start listening instead of complaining. I reach out to the people who care enough to show up. >> Mr. Redell and then David Rodriguez.
>> Good afternoon, county judge commissioners. My name is Donnie Ryell and I have served as law enforcement officer for over 25 years. Currently employed with the ter Taran County's Office, precinct 5. I'm here today regarding civil litigation current
pendently against me in regards to legal action taken in my official duty and a respect and respectively request the county provide me with legal representation and assistance. The incident in question occurred on March 29th of 2025 while I was working off
duty inside of a restaurant within Tarant County's jurisdiction. I was under the color of duty wearing my county issued uniform when I was brought to my attention that two individuals were fighting in the parking lot of the Waffle House. I responded to the parking lot to discover that a person was being actively assaulted. The asalent fled
when I approached them. I contacted dispatch with my county issued radio and multiple agencies responded to the scene. During the incident, I had a public duty to preserve the peace within Taran County per article 2.13, the Texas code of criminal procedure. I acted
within good faith and within the scope of my duties as a deputy of the Taran County Conipal's office precinct 5. My offduty employment was approved by my command staff. I follow the Tarant County constable policies and my department policies for offduty
employment. In today's latigious society, it is paramount that this commissioner's court support their deputies against frivolous lawsuits while they protect the citizens of Taran County. I thank you for your time and continue and your continued support for lock uh law enforcement community. Thank
you. >> Thank you. >> Uh David Rodriguez following Mr. Rodriguez is Jeff Blanchard. >> So there was a quote that according to Kra News you had said last month an item was placed on the agenda and language
you described the item grossly mischaracterized the actual facts and data. The official Tarant Court County Commissioner's agenda is no place for misleading the public to try and scare to score political points, especially not when the facts alleged are false. The public deserves better. Judge Jim
Moer, that's a quote directly from you to KRA News. And so my question is, if the language that is used accurately reflects the data that is being presented to us, the public, how in any way, shape, or form is that a problem?
On top of that, the actual there is no um specific agenda item that was said that you feel was grossly mischaracterized. Now, it concerns me as a resident because as we see, I'm already cut down
to 2 minutes. And there's a proportion that comes that keeps propping up three to two, three to two, three to three to two. that proportion always keeps coming up despite the fact that you say you don't score political points and this apparent court is nonpartisan.
So when I inevitably feel like this proposition will be scored 3 to2 once again I have to ask are you who's going to vet the language that you don't like and is the staff of the Tarant County Commissioner's Court going to be
subjected to Orwillian guidelines where they will be removing old speak and replacing it with new speak that is approved by y'all or whoever. So is the policy and I feel like this is a very
specific and then will this policy then also apply to here in the commissioner's court. So when of course Miss Alisa Simmons, Commissioner Simmons is asking critically engaged, critically thinking questions to your uh propositions, will she then be accused of thought crime?
Thank you >> Jeff Blanchard, Jennifer Blanchard, AJ Carion, Alexander Montalvo. Following Mr. Montavo is Charles Weedmire. All right. So, for my monthly two
minutes, I had a whole theme focused around corruption and all the ways that this county leadership is not serving the people. But holy heck, I cannot believe
this TechShare presentation we had to sit through and all the nonsense that was said during that time. Y'all, TechShare really had hired someone to compare a $2.4 trillion company to
Amazon to evaluate what Tarant County is spending in terms of technology and how good or bad we are doing in that evaluation. That is absurd. And Maggie, you sit on the board for Tarant County for this tech share software company.
So I imagine you want to look this to look as good as possible since you're on the ballot this this election in November. But this was horrendous. And the fact that you had no actual questions in terms of operational metrics, KPIs, what is it doing? What is the impact in terms
of the user experience? It sounds like you're saving money on tech because you have staff and employees doing double data entry. Are you incorporating those labor costs in terms of the tech cost savings that y'all are having right now? It is absurd to think that this county
who cannot even keep people alive in the jail is way too eager to send kids from Taran County to jails and you know places and other counties and ship them off because we don't have the space because we want to imprison as many as
possible that can't actually fund JPS adequately and continues to try to derail the services it does to so many people in our county has the best tech in the country. I'm sorry, y'all's chief information policy person, Andre, is
gaslighting y'all, and it is embarrassing to have to sit through that. That needs to be addressed now. >> Thank you. Uh, Mr. Weedmire here. >> All right, we already went her
Linda Hanratty. Following Miss Hanrrady is James Tras. Is that it? >> Part of the reason some people aren't here is that we had to wait four hours to get to speak.
Um, one of my concerns is that almost 57% of the commissary revenues uh go to salaries. Shouldn't more of the money go to benefit benefiting inmates since they are the they and their families are the one paying for the inflated prices for
junk food provided by the commissary. Um I don't want to pay the legal fees for the the constable and um I'm very my take on the agenda item is that
that people other people have talked about is that everything anything on the agenda now will have to be approved by the county judge and no more briefings or anything that particularly from Melissa Simmons.
This is just another of a neverending series of unacceptable power grabs by the county judge to disenfranchise the citizens of Tarant County. Um, the other thing I wanted to question is
that in purchasing number D10, there were four biders for the purchase of ballot pouches. The contract was first awarded to the low bidder and his was a little over. that person was company was a little over $12,000. There were two
other bids, one for 12,000 something a little bit higher and then one for 28,000. But the but the the county has decided in its wisdom that we need to to uh award it to the highest bidder at 7 over
$73,000. There was no explanation for why we went from the low to the high. Thank you. Thank you. James Tras present. Following Mr. Tras, we have Jimmy Blackwell. >> Hi, my name is James and I've been a a
Tarant County resident since I was 12 years old. I currently live in Fort Worth, Texas in District 4 and I uh am honored to serve at Westside Unitarian Universalist Church, also here in Fort Worth, Texas. As a brief note, uh it was
really good to see a long-erving member of the TCC board recognized for her efforts earlier today. Um I'm very proud of the associates degree I earned there and it helped me jump into my uh long educational career afterward and I'm just really grateful for all of the
people that do so much hard work to make TCC what it is for our county. The main agenda item I wanted to talk about was 10. one, the discussion of possible uh discussion and possible action on misleading agenda topics. As a member of a faith community here in Fort Worth, it
is important to me that our government is an ethical one, and the most ethical forms of government that we human beings have figured out so far are the ones that hear the voices of the people that are being governed. It is the sacred duty of our elected officials to make sure that voices of the people are
heard. This agenda item does not give us details on what may change. If you are going to change the rules again of how this court serves the people, then the people to deserve to know what that change may be before it is made so that we can make our voices heard. This is
another in a long line of actions this court has taken to reduce the opportunities for the people of Tarant County to speak or to vote. So, by all means, please discuss your plan during agenda item 10. on, but please wait for next month to take a vote on it so that
we have a chance to review the proposed changes and make comments if we see the need to. And earlier in today's session, as a member of a faith community in Fort Worth, I was confused, puzzled, and honestly embarrassed to see that there was an abstension to the resolution honoring the monks of Fort Worth. I was
confused, puzzled, and embarrassed, but not surprised. >> Following Mr. Blackwell, we have Mike Oakley. Judge O'Hare. Let me open with a quote by worldrenowned philosopher, rap icon,
and may I add, genius, the late Tupac Shakur. Tupac said, and I quote, "You can find money for war, but can't feed the poor." End quote. what this genius was saying, and I'm
paraphrasing, you can find money to kill, but you can't find money to feed. You can find money to kill elementary school children in a foreign country, but you can't find money to fully fund the SNAP program so children in this
country can start their day with a full stomach. You can't find m You can find money to blow up runways, military bases, bunkers, and alleged enemy headquarters. But you turn around and cut funds to continue to research
childhood cancer, childhood diabetes, and most cruy, you cut veterans benefits to those who put their lives on the line for this country. You spend millions on guided missile
systems, but they are under the control of a person with misguided minds and intentions. When it comes to killing, this country is professional and they do
it at a drop of a dime. They love it. They enjoy killing. But they do not enjoy helping people. Those who are left out, those who are poor, they have no use for it, but will kill anybody.
Thanks, Mr. Shakur. As you speak from the grave, rest in peace, genius. Rest in peace, Mr. Oakley. Mr. Oakley present.
Kimberly Edmonds. It's Kimberly Edmunds here. Paty I don't know if that's a real name. Paty Abbott. Patsy Abbott. Rosemary Prodia. Rosemary Prodia. Shirley Lucas,
Tanner Little. All right, that's all the folks we have signed up. It is currently 2:07. We will reconvene in here at 217. We are in recess until 217. Gentlemen,
>> did you talk to Harold? >> Okay. Okay. Where were where are we? Agenda. >> What? >> Page two. >> Page one. >> Yeah. So, Yeah. >> What?
>> Not at all. >> That's She work. We're back from recess. Apparently, I missed Cassandra Johnson. Miss Johnson, come on up. >> Thank you so much.
>> Alice Alice Louise Wilson, 67, retired AT&T telephone operator, passed away in her home in 2016. Trayon Wormley was her seventh grandchild who died inside of Taran
County Green Bay Jail from apparently a fitnol overdose seven days before his court date. It's been over seven years since Taran County appointed an outside investigation per Sandra Bland Act.
What amazes me is I was able to touch and communicate with Gary Fix and it was seven months approximately seven months that he passed after he retired. Judge O'Hare, can you please give me answers?
God has shifted my mindset. Alicia Wilson is a niece of mine. visiting with her in Lon Evans on Sunday. When I went there, the technology, the the computer wouldn't
even come on. It would blink a glitch off and on. The guard said, I said, "Wait a minute." She said, "Nanny, she was so glad to see me. She'd been there since about seven years plus inside of a box." The the guard tell me, I said,
"How can you help us? I want to see her face." He said, "Well, this is the tech. This is the system we're working with now. If she get on her knees, she can see clearly in that camera and it should work." Who
want to do that? Been locked up seven years. Who wants plus waiting? Who wants to do that? Judge O'Hare. So, are we making it better or worse? Because previously when I went to go see her, it
worked. Did we change the system? Give me answers. Thank you guys for letting me speak. >> I'mma head to see her now. >> Okay. We now go to the consent agenda as amended. Do we have a motion to
approve the consent agenda as amended? >> Move approval. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Second is Ramirez. >> Did you second that? >> Yeah. All right. Cast your votes if
there's no discussion. >> Passes unanimously. >> Okay. Now going in order. The first pulled item is 9C1, consideration of the issuance of series 2026 hospital revenue bonds and
one or more series by the Tarant County Cultural Education Facilities Finance Corporation for Christ Health in an amount not to exceed $150 million. >> Yes. Somebody somebody pulled it. Is there something you want to ask? >> I did not pull it. No, >> somebody did.
>> I got a question to answer. Yes, ma'am. Oh, you did? Okay. Thank you. Uh, all right. Anybody want to make a motion to approve this? >> Approve. >> Second. >> All right. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All right. Cast your vote.
All right. Passes unanimously. Next up is item F1, consideration of fiscal year 2026 appropriation adjustments. I'll move to approve. >> Second.
>> We have a motion to second. Any discussion? >> Yes. >> Um I have a a few questions. What um Hi Helen. >> Hi. >> What are the council fees for criminal
uh county criminal court 6C 6 at 255,000? What? That sticks out to me. What's that? >> It's council fees. I'm sure um for I don't know exactly what the council fees are, but it is just cases that there's
indigent defense for >> indigent. Okay. >> Um is this excessive? It's do we see this regularly? I >> It is earlier in the year that we've had to do this, but that's because they're working on they're working cases through
like crazy over there. >> All right. So, how often >> normally we would see them in previous years. We'd see it about uh in August, uh July or August. Uh and it could be that another case was assigned to this court that we didn't was not
anticipated. I don't know if they move cases from one court to another for uh county court at law, I mean uh county criminal court number six to here. Uh but it's just a it's just the volume of cases that they have. And this is what
uh customary normally. >> Yes, this is very we do this every year. >> Okay. Okay. Um what what is the process for uh forecasting cost and the cost for council fees for for the >> when we're looking at their budget? We look to see what their cases are. We on
the uh felony courts, we look to see if there is going to be an assigned a capital murder case. Uh and then because we don't know what all the cases are going to get to court, we have a separate one that's called uh uh judicial services and we put money aside
over in that for anticipated costs for indigent defense. >> It seems like this would have been budgeted for. >> So we budget in every single court what they did uh the previous year. And sometimes the judges will come back and
say it either needs to be higher or lower because they look at their their uh cases that they're going to have in court. We look at what's been expensed over the last previous year, couple of years, what's its trending and see what we need to put aside to make sure we have money in court's judiciary uh to
move move over into the uh any of the courts that need it. >> All right. So >> for indigent defense >> for for indigent defense. So this happens regularly. This is just the first time it's caught my attention is what we're saying. >> Yeah, it usually starts about July,
August, and September. This is one of the earlier years. I did not look to see specifically if uh county criminal court number six lowered their budget in anticipation of having less cases. Uh but it is indigent defense, which by law
we have to pay for. >> Okay. Um, on the criminal DA rollup, could you clarify the purpose of the outlined criminal DA rollup expenditures?
>> So that is the uh there is another corresponding uh uh communication that will be on under HR. Uh they have ARPA funding is uh diminishing and there were positions
for the narcotics unit that was in the ARPA funding. Moving these positions over because of the diminishing money. We did not have enough money in ARPA to pay for these positions. We requested that they be moved over with offsetting cost for FY26.
There is total offsetting cost. Uh and that is what you see right here. That adds up to 328,500. >> It's also on the court communication that you will see in HR there is elimination of four positions. >> Okay. And it's being applied to the toward the
six carpet positions. >> Excuse me. >> It's being applied towards the six uh carpet positions. >> Right. So reducing if you again the the next court communication will show you that the elimination of the four positions there's a fiscal impact showing the cost of that and then moving
these items over from the general fund into the expenditures from general fund over into uh their narcotics fund uh for the remainder of this FY26 to offset the total cost for them coming over. >> These positions are necessary. They
don't I mean we knew they were temporary so they don't just go away. >> Which positions are you referencing? The ones we're eliminating or the ones we're moving over? >> The ones you're moving over. >> It's a narcotics unit and the DA's office believes that that that those need to be funded for permanent.
>> All right. We knew they were going away. Correct. >> But we didn't budget for them. So their plan was to we have the funds until FY uh December 31st, 2026,
>> but the money that was allocated for the positions within internal positions within the county had diminished uh and the um conversation had been with the DA's office that we would move positions
from the ARPA funding over to into vacant positions. the positions that were eliminated are not qualified for the positions we're moving over. So, they just eliminated the positions and move the six positions over. >> Okay. Um
I'm just going to be very open. If any department head comes to us for additional positions right now, we would likely say no. Um
and and so they're going to see this that we're granting. Not talking to you. I'm talking to the whatever. Um that we're going to approve this when some of these positions should just go away because the money's going away. Uh
and they're going to start asking for positions and I guess we're going to either grant them or tell people no. So all right. Um, that's that's all I had on. >> All right. Anybody else have any questions on that item? >> Thank you'all.
>> All right. Seeing none, please cast your votes. >> All right. Passes unanimously. Now takes us to item K3, which is consideration to amend court order number 141149 to replace the designation of the director of Tarant County Transportation Services
with the Tarant County engineer for review and approval of final plat. Uh, I pulled this item off the agenda. And the reason I pulled this item off the agenda is currently engineering or transportation, whichever one it is, makes the recommendation to
us whether or not to approve plats or not, whether intentional or unintentional, the actual language, if we voted to approve today, would it would not come to court anymore for approval of the plat. I don't know if that's what you intended, but I do not
want to see that taken away from the court. So, we can handle this one of two ways. Three people here can vote to do it exactly as is. You can pull this uh and go back and redo the language, or I
could attempt to craft some type of amendment. Uh, >> do you have any thoughts, >> Judge? I I I think an amendment would be fine. Uh I I wanted to say it's uh ultimately the the court definitely has the authority relating to plat. Um this
this action is something that um that the court approved back in June of 23 for the transportation services director. Um that that now being the engineering services department. So we were trying to do >> but it was to review final plats and then present those to commissioner's
court for final action. the language changed that you get to approve it in this thing you submitted. Am I correct? Yeah. So, I don't know why that's in there. Who came up with that idea? >> I I I don't That was definitely not the
intention is to take that away from the court. >> Okay. So, I have no problem with changing who reviews them and presents them to commissioner's court. I do have a problem with you just now prove it on your own and we never see it. So,
And judge, judge, if I may. Yeah. Uh, one one issue that does come up is there's a statutory 30-day requirement that the the court approve approve with conditions or disapprove. Um, and and the whole reason to that this was put into place was so that um plats couldn't
get just approved through operation of the law. Um, in the in the event that we weren't able to get a plat in front of the commissioner's court to make that decision, um, this this would allow the court's design >> to to approve, approve with conditions or disapprove. >> Yeah, we can always call a special
meeting if we had to to do that. Has there been a time in the last two years where somehow that deadline didn't happen? >> Yes, sir. >> Okay. There there there have been um in fact we have two receiving files on this court today that that we signed um
because we weren't going to meet that 30-day deadline. And I don't know exactly how many. I would say roughly four to five plats per year out of approximately 30 per year that we get. >> We're just unable to to make the next deadline.
>> Okay. So, walk me through the 30-day deadline problem. So whenever our department receives a plat and that application is considered completed and there's a list of those requirements of what what dictates a
complete plat application, um we have a a 30-day clock that starts to approve, approve with conditions or disapprove. >> Okay. >> Um we we typically are able to get comments back to property owner developer within
10 days. um they take as long as it may require for them to answer those comments. And and so the scenario that can come up is is say uh if last week we received a plat ready to sign, we wouldn't have had time to get that on this court and it would have been more
than 30 days before we could get it on the following court. Okay. >> So that that's the scenario where where this typically would come into play for for my position to to sign off on that and then receive and file with the court afterwards. I'm guessing approve with conditions is not approve with the
condition that it commissioner's court approves it at the next meeting or could that legally happen? >> Approve with conditions would be uh more akin to we will approve it if you fix this particular issue that we've identified. So um they then are on a
secondary shock clock to come back and fix that and uh present a plat again for consideration. >> Yeah. So so for example we passed a policy I want to say it was about two years ago. It's before the two new ones
came on where we said, "Yeah, not your fault." Where we said where where it required one acre for all lot residential lot sizes and uh you know people like the rural area. They like the rural feel. Once you start
saying you can have five units per acre takes away from the rural feel. So that part was important to me. It was important to a number of people that I had talked to in in unincorporated areas. Just you're not going to do something evil. You're not going to do something
where you're trying to, you know, rip somebody off or do something wrong. I just don't want to give the staff the power to approve it. And well, we thought this was a good idea to go halfacre. Okay. Well, we didn't. Oh, well, we'll adjust it next time. So, if
you can come up with an an alternative that helps you deal with the 30-day issue, uh, I'm I'm I'm all ears and supportive of it as as long as the court has the final say. So, does anybody have an idea here?
>> Is this time sensitive? >> Um, not not necessarily. It's not something we'd have to get done today. >> So, if we tabled it for a month and brought it back next month, >> that that would be just fine. I I would say especially with anything involving variances um whether it's a lot size or
some kind of variance from the the court adopted regulations that's that's not something we we we always bring those to the court no matter what even if we have to bring the variance prior to the plat coming to court. Um but to answer your question yes we can we can see what we
can come up with. >> Yeah. And the issue is it may be different for each person on here. It may be exactly the same on one thing. So, you approve something that three of us would have never approved and you don't know. You're trying to do your job. That's the issue that I don't want to run into. You had something.
>> Yes. Everything is timesensitive with this court because we just we meet just once a month. Um, so yes, it's timesensitive. Um, we uh la our county
staff every time we meet. I think we um count on the professionals to do their jobs. Um he talked about five occurrences approximately a year. Um I move approval.
>> I second. >> All right. We have a motion and a second. Not one person from the staff has come to me and said, "Hey, we may need to call special meeting here." Uh if we would have, I would have called it. So, uh, I'm not going to vote for
it, but we have a motion in a second. I think we can go back. Y'all can come up with a plan that will work, but ultimately, anybody has anything else, weigh in. If not, we'll go to the vote.
Okay. Motion fails two to three. If you will bring back some ideas and options next month, we'll take a look at it. I'm sure we'll get something done. All right. Thank you, sir. All right. Next is agenda item N5.
N5 is consideration of changes to the table of organization DA's office. So, I will move to approve this item. >> Second. Have a motion and a second. discussion.
>> Yes, I kind of discussed it um on that previous agenda item. I I just want to take a moment to better understand the fiscal impact of this item based on the backup beginning in FY
2027. Um, this created a net impact of over 657,000 to the general fund. Um, to me that raises concerns about the long-term financial commitment we're
taking on. Um, can you walk us through the total cost the county will assume moving forward and whether this will be an ongoing annual expense? >> Well, that's probably a budget question
at this point. >> Ask the question again. I'm sorry. Okay. >> Can you walk us through the total cost the county will assume moving forward and whether this will be an ongoing annual expense?
>> So it would be that fiscal impact of the 657,000. But I would like to state at this particular time, we still have the budget process to go through and there are still conversations that will be had with the DA's office. Um things could change or things could stay the same. Uh
I but we do have the budget process to go through. So, what would be the long-term um financial commitment if we >> Well, with the elimination of the four positions, it offsets the cost, but
again, I'm going to sound like I'm repeating myself, but it's the 657,000 that is stated down there in the fiscal impact for the future. years to come because they will not have the the expenditures that they're moving
over to D87 will come back to the general fund. And D87, excuse me, is there a narcotics uh uh fund. >> Okay. >> All right. Any other questions? Yeah.
Not a question, just a comment. I think that we need to tread lightly here. Although these are necessary given the loss of the ARPA funds fiscal year 2027 general fund impact we should take this into consideration when we're
doing budget deliberations for fiscal year 2027. This cost is 657 138. >> Okay. All right, we're done. All right, please cast your votes unless there's no unless there's other discussion. All
right, passes four to one. Takes us to item, what is this? R4. I think it's R4. Receive and file a letter from the Texas Controller of Public Accounts regarding Tarant County's 2026 Motor Vehicle Sales Tax
Commission. >> Yeah. Uh I pulled that off uh the agenda. I know tax assessor collector and I had talked in the past about some of the things his office was doing. Um and based on the numbers of this year, what they're going to get back compared to what they had last year, it's uh it's
quite an improvement. So, um what what have you guys done that has allowed you know this extra additional revenue? >> Yeah, let me just explain what this is. They um so we register cars every year and everybody in this room's probably been through our offices to register their car. They pay a tax on those car
on those cars and the tax goes to the state. It's not county money. And then the county I mean the comprollers's office turns around and gives us a commission off of that money back to the to the county and or back to our office that ultimately ends up being the county. And last year it was a little
over $31 million in commission. This year it jumped to $33 million in commission. And so whenever we saw this in our office I asked lots of questions about it as well. Like where did that money come from? And what's interesting about it is we did not necessarily register a bunch of new cars. It tells us about the cost of cars
going up. The tax on a car today is very very different than the tax on a car four or five years ago. Um our office the sales tax on the cars is about 6 well 6.25%. We saw uh in Tarant County 4 million car
well register four million cars a year. Uh and so you can do the math backwards and realize that our uh tax revenue on those cars that we collected last year alone uh was 600 and what is it 675
million uh that's coming in that produces that kind of revenue. And so the what I would say about our office is that we when I came into office now 16 months ago, I took a total different approach to how this office may have been run in the past. And that I don't
think of it as a government entity near as much as I think of it from a p perspective of business. Uh when you start thinking about what we do from the concept of business, you think of the what we typically call a taxpayer more like a customer. We think about the
money that they give us is more as something that you really don't have a choice but to pay if you want a car, but we got to treat you a little bit differently than government typically would treat you. Uh we know other government offices that don't care that you have to wait forever to get into their office and we get really upset about that. We measure those times.
Anybody can come by my office and I have a monitor in my office at all times that's monitoring all seven locations to determine how long people are having to wait to get in to get the services that they get done. Uh we also think about the money as being the taxpayers's money. It's not our money. Uh it's money
that comes in and it's money that the taxpayers uh have to pay to to utilize the services. But what it also does is for you guys, I've sat on your side of this conversation when it comes to budgeting that you're going to get to do. When I was sat on a city council and knowing that sometimes we have to cut budgets to get where we want to get,
this is 2 million more dollars that we did not anticipate coming in this year that will come uh to help you as you do your budgeting moving forward. helps you as you determine what the tax rate ought to be moving forward. Uh, and as it relates to that, I also therefore asked,
is this $2 million something we shouldn't be able to anticipate every single year. And if you go back, I got numbers all the way back to 2017. And we've seen growth to this level. Uh, never this extreme. Uh the only time we ever went down in numbers was postco uh
when people were not buying cars and or you couldn't buy new cars because of the issue with the the stuff that that you couldn't get because of postco. Uh but we've seen continual growth, but this year it was 8.3% 8.36% change in the revenue back to the
county off of the commissions from the comprollers office and that's the highest number we've experienced going back to 2020. In 2020 we were 9.02. So, I just hope that as we move forward, you're able to recognize that money uh that's coming in through our office. Uh
we know uh as Miss Simmons brought up a moment ago, that this is going to be a year that we're probably not going to be able to ask for new things. Uh however, uh I can offset almost everything that I need from you, uh with revenue that we're bringing into our office. And so, uh we we will continue to do the service
that we do. I I work with an outstanding staff, not only downstairs in this building, but in each of your offices around the county. Uh we are working very hard to make sure we hire great people but also train great people and we still have struggles with things like time it takes and we're really working hard to make that even better for you.
So it's an honor to be your tax assessor collector and to continue to serve in that capacity. >> Excellent. Thank you. I appreciate that explanation. So I move for approval. >> Second. >> All right. We have a motion to second to receive and file this letter. Any discussion? All right. Cast your vote.
passes unanimously. That should be the end of the removed consent agenda items. So now we go to the regular agenda 10 A1, consideration of out ofstate travel requests.
>> Move for approval. >> Second. We have a motion and a second to approve out of state travel requests. Any discussion? Uh cast your vote. uh passes unanimously. Next up, we have
consideration of an exception to the travel policy commissioner precinct 2. I have one question. Does is this is approving this is the money being spent still within the travel
budget of precinct 2. It does not exceed the budget, does it? Okay. All right. That's my question. >> I move for second. All right, we have a motion. We have a second. We have a motion. We have a second. Any discussion?
All right, please cast your vote. Passes unanimously. Brings us to item three, consideration of the initial guaranteed maximum price amendment number two between JPS and Austin Commercial for
the new JPS main hospital project. Move >> approval. >> Second. All right, we have a motion and a second to approve this. Any discussion? All right, please cast your vote. Passes unanimously.
>> Item B1 is held until after legal discussion. Enclosed. Item C one is consideration of a property use and fee waiver request from the National Association for the Advancement of Color People to use the community room at the subcourthouse in
Arlington to host monthly public forums. >> Move approval. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second. >> Yeah. Any discussion? >> I I'll say one thing. We had somebody uh request use precinct 3 a couple months back uh for voter registration training,
things of that nature. It was nonpartisan. Uh, but we thought there was enough of a question whether it could be viewed as maybe partisan that we we said no ourselves. So even in precinct 3, we said no. We don't want to give off the appearance of that. I kind of feel like I've set that precedent. So
I'm I'm going to vote no on this because I I don't want to violate my own precedent that we've set in in precinct 3. Um, so I just wanted to to let you know why I was doing that. We've actually considered this and just to stay away from anything that could look partisan or political. Um I think in the
courouses probably not a good idea and we've held ourselves to that standard as well. >> So the NAACP is a nonpartisan organization. It could lose >> um all of its exemptions and any of that
if it um uh put out the appearance that it was partisan. It is a policy uh organization uh with a mission uh to advance civil rights and human rights. That's it. It's
it's nonpartisan. It does it does not cannot endorse candidates. >> It cannot um have a candidate forum of all Democrats. It has to invite Republicans, Democrats, independents. It
is a civil rights organization. >> Yeah. >> Um, >> and I I totally understand that from the 501c3 perspective, you have to be nonpartisan. >> The the the lady who wanted to use precinct 3's courthouse, the exact same thing, use that exact same argument. But
if you looked in in the history, she ma basically trained it mainly Republicans. And at some point, she'd even had a uh contract or done some things with the Republican party of Texas. So we thought, you know, she's nonpartisan and everybody's invited to do that, but more than likely if somebody got wind of who
was doing it, it might look partisan. And so again, we said no. So I'm to be consistent, I'm I'm just going to keep um keep that precedent that I've established. All right. Any other discussion? All right. Please cast your votes.
All right. It fails two to three. Uh, next up is item two, consideration of a property use request and fee waiver from the Taran County Historical Commission to conduct free guided public tours of the 1895 courthouse during the Main Street Arts Festival. >> Move for approval. >> Second.
>> We have a motion, a second on this item. Any discussion? >> All right, please cast your vote. Passes unanimously. Next up is item three, consideration of a property use request and fee waiver from the National Family Law Trial Institute to conduct a continuing legal education mock trial at
the Family Law Center. >> Move approval. >> Second. >> We have a motion and a second to approve this item. Any discussion? All right. Please cast your vote. Passes unanimously. Next up is purchasing. Purchasing.
Well, normally I will make a motion for something here, but I have a question. Anybody have any questions on one through 12? I have some questions on three. >> I've got seven.
>> Seven. Okay. Anybody else have any questions on any of those 1 through 12? All right. Let me start with item three. So, uh, I met with a couple of
individuals who did some work on behalf of the state of Florida and the state of Virginia. And without quoting exact numbers or anything of that sort, they found an exorbitant
number of I think Microsoft licenses uh Outlook uh licenses way more than they had actual users. And when they went in and did something with their tools,
technology, they found tremendous cost savings. Uh how confident are we, and this could also be for you, Andre, that we have a good handle on we are actually paying for licenses that we need and not
extra that are just wasting money. So we went through a complete audit of every single piece of software that we use from Microsoft both at the individual PC level and with servers and with cloud storage and cloud
environments and we also submitted that to an independent uh organization uh Gartner who literally evaluates uh millions of Microsoft contracts and they found that we had exactly what we needed and that the price that we had negotiated because we negotiated it two
years ago actually allowed us to forego a substantial increase in price from Microsoft which will benefit us for a full three years. >> Okay. >> So because of that audit our cost actually went down from last year to this year uh and will not increase in
any significant way next year uh which is exactly the opposite of what you're finding with most organizations, counties, states and everybody else. uh because Microsoft did a substantial increase in pricing for this year. >> Did the audit actually help us eliminate some licenses?
>> Uh several. Yes, good. Absolutely. Now, I'll be more than glad to take any output from those two gentlemen that we met with. >> Yeah. >> Uh and and evaluate it against our requirements and if we find that we miss something, be more than glad to consider it uh and apply it accordingly. Uh with
Microsoft we have a process that is annual uh called a true up and so that true up actually verifies actual usage versus contracted and if it goes up then there is an additional bill and if it goes down there is a a credit so be glad
to take any information but I feel very comfortable with that. >> Thank you. That's what I had on that. Any other questions on that? Are we ready to move to item seven? >> All right item seven you had questions. Uh seven just a comment. Uh this is
about the uh chiller replacement at subcourthouse at Mansfield under facilities management um or purchasing. Just to reiterate this decision to purchase chillers uh
covers up a larger problem. We need a new structure in Mansville. Period. was not my decision, thought or idea. This was a decision
uh that had been determined when Commissioner Wyn was in office. Um so for us to keep sinking money into this money pit is the epitome of fiscal
irresponsibility. There is money set aside to construct a new Mansville subcourthouse. Let's do what needs to be done and get us a state-of-the-art
facility uh that replaces this one that's sitting on uh a poor poor foundation, uh poor dirt, um uh jacked up plumbing. Uh all of that is sinking into the
ground. But we want to go spend almost half a million dollars on a on chillers. Make it make sense. >> All right. I will move to approve purchasing items 1 through 12. >> Second. We have a motion and a second on
one through 12. Any discussion? >> I I would like to post separately on seven. >> Okay. >> Uh >> well, unfortunately, I've made the motion. >> You can rescend it. I don't want to.
>> Okay. Well, I don't want to vote against all those other things. >> Okay. Decide how you're going to vote. Uh I made the motion to do 1 through 12. Do I I don't have to resend that motion. Do I >> can I amend the motion? >> You can make a motion to amend. Yes. >> Okay.
>> I move to amend to uh pull out um item seven. >> Second. Okay. So, we have a motion and a second to amend my motion to approve items 1 through 12, not seven, I think is what you mean.
>> Yes. >> Okay. Um All right. Anybody have anything? And we'll have a subsequent vote to go back >> to seven. >> To seven, correct? >> We're not skipping seven alto together. No, >> no,
>> it will need an independent vote. Correct, Mr. >> Okay. What? >> Item seven, if there's no action taken on it by virtue of this motion to amend. Yeah, >> it will need independent action. Correct. Got it. >> So, okay. So, the amendment passes 4 to one. So, the motion is now moved to
approve item 1 through 12 excluding seven. Uh, any more discussion? Okay. Cast your vote. All right, passes unanimously. I'll now move to approve item seven. >> Second.
>> We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? All right. Passes three to two. Now we go to permission to take bids and issue RFPs. Move >> approval. Second. Uh we have a motion and a second on the permission to take bids and issue RFPs.
Any discussion on any of those items? Uh okay. Please cast your votes. All right. Passes unanimously. All right. Now we come to item E1, which is the item that I placed on the agenda. discussion and possible action concerning how to prevent misleading and
inaccurate agenda topics from being published on the commissioner's court agenda. So, this was the agenda item from last month regarding mail-in ballots. I will read the actual information. There's three
parts to it. briefing from elections on discrepancies in Secretary of State reconciliation reports, preventing voters the ability to vote by mail with ease, and causing votebymail ballots to be rejected at a be rejected at a higher
rate than usual. The first piece of this, discrepancies in Secretary of State reconciliation reports. Uh, that was what's listed. There actually were no discrepancies. someone didn't understand what they were reading, which happens from time to time. The second
item was preventing the second piece of that was preventing voters the ability to vote by mail with ease. There was zero evidence of any kind that that actually happened. It was all based on misreading the data. And then the third one was causing vote by mail ballots to
be rejected at a higher rate than usual. and our elections administrator got up there and read that it's this particular one that election we're referring to was actually lower than the average in terms of rejections. So I fully support anyone
putting an item on the agenda to discuss. I'd like to clarify the facts, get information, find it out. But every one of us here, in my opinion, has a responsibility to have an agenda item that's fair, that's accurate, and that's not
factually incorrect or grossly misleading. I don't know how to come back with any answer to was this grossly misleading to claim there was a 38% rejection rate when there wasn't. It was, I think, two something. Uh the
November 2025 rejection rate was 1.36%. So uh do I have a new policy, a new proposal? No. The current Tarant County Commissioner's Court agenda management policy
gives the county administrator um final discretion on the agenda topic. language. And so the attorney general that we regularly rely upon
to say somebody can put an item on the agenda. This this is not an attempt to take an item off the agenda. This is not an attempt to stop you from asking any questions or anyone else from asking any questions or bringing up issues and finding answers. I do think it is
important that in the actual agenda item title, it does not have information that is false. And there is I don't think at this point any dispute that what was listed before was false.
Do I am I telling you that somebody did it on purpose? Probably not. Uh don't know that, but my guess is no. But it it it gave information to the public as though it was factual and true, which wasn't. And then what happens is the media goes and runs and writes it and
here we go telling people, look, it's 38% off when it wasn't. So I think we have a responsibility to make sure what is on there is accurate. So what is my solution or issue? And I don't know if this is a a motion you have to do this,
but I would ask and if you need court direction from a majority of this court, so it's an official court decision. We already adopted the policy. I would ask that you that you follow it and don't allow things on the agenda that are not
accurate. Now, if somebody wants to sit there and claim it's accurate, okay, I hear all about it. I don't I don't know any reasonable person that would argue putting something in the agenda topic language that is false is good policy or
is a good way to go. Uh you can talk about it, you can make all the points you want without stating something in the language that's inaccurate. So is a motion to direct him to follow what's already there appropriate
or just hearing feedback from the court is enough? Judge, what I would suggest in this situation is if the court wanted to make a amendment or otherwise change the policy to codify what you're going for, >> it's already there.
Um, he has final according to this policy. He has the agenda topic language may be adjusted at the discretion of the county administrator. It's already been passed. I just want to make sure he doesn't have anybody fly off at the handle at him if
he actually exercises his authority that this court duly passed when we passed this policy. So I don't think an amendment is necessary, it's there already. I'm asking you since it's there already, do I need to
make a motion to say please follow it or getting feedback from the court during this discussion? Is that enough? Since the court has already spoken through the adoption of the policy and made the decision as to what it contains, I don't believe any sort of motion to policy
follow the already codified policy is necessary. >> Okay. Other questions or comments? No, >> I I I think that's a great practice. Uh and I know our county administrator takes that very seriously and uh works very hard to ensure that um that that's
what we have on our agenda. So, um I I have high confidence that our county administrator will continue to do that and put into place that policy because we don't want to be misleading. I remember uh I was a chairman in the Texas House when we would submit our committee hearings and you know, you'd have uh captions or topics from there,
they would make sure that nothing was misleading, nothing was hyperbole, nothing was partisan. Uh you just wanted to give the the public a good idea of what was going to be discussed at that point. And so I I think it's a great practice. I think that's what our policy is. So, uh, Chandler, I appreciate all
that you do and and I know you'll continue to do a good job on here. >> Anybody else have anything? >> Sure. >> So, I regularly place briefing items on the commissioner's court agenda. uh
request for department heads to come before this court and the public and provide updates on uh issues and um critical issues affecting this county. Um these include a various a variety of issues,
fiscal concerns and custody deaths, what public health rising juvenile commitments, uh so on and so forth. Um, I don't put misleading um titles um or headings on
the agenda. Briefing items is government. It's not misleading. It's our responsibility as county commissioners to ask questions and demand transparency and uh ask that
county staff and uh department heads educate us and inform us. Um, every agenda item goes through a structured
multi-week vetting process led by the county administrative alongside departments, department heads, elected officials that run large departments, legal counsel.
Um, for the judge to now label these items as inaccurate, misleading is it I guess it's an attack on me. Um, it's not just an attack on me. It's an
attack on y'all's professionalism and expertise of um this very staff who is responsible for ensuring that this uh agenda process has integrity. Um
so if he had a concern, he could have talked to you about it. It didn't need to be up here. Uh if he thought it was me, he could have talked to me about it. Um, on this particular agenda item, I simply um was doing what I do all the
time. We all received an email from the League of Women Voters with this concern. And so, um, they wanted this talked about in court. I simply agendaized it. uh no ill
intent just to get their questions answered and to a get my questions answered. So um there's not a a a history
uh or practice of me and I don't think any of these gentlemen putting anything misleading or inaccurate on the agenda. Um I don't we don't need a vote. We don't need to amend anything.
Uh we just need to let these folks do their jobs. >> The very language I'll just read the last one. Causing vote by mail ballots to be rejected at a higher rate than usual. That is factually inaccurate. >> We have
>> it's factually inaccurate. I wasn't I wasn't done speaking. It's factually inaccurate. And I think what you said in all of that was you didn't do it on purpose. You didn't do it to mislead. Okay, great. I don't believe that's the language our
county administrator came up with. And if it is, then he should be admonished because it's factually inaccurate. If it is not, which I suspect to be the case, then I want to make sure from this point forward items that get on this agenda don't misstate
the actual record. So when you look at the agenda items and of the briefing items, six of these, I believe five are yours. Briefing on rental and utility assistance. Put it on all day long. Knock yourself out. Talk about ask
questions. Briefing related to Sean Fra, I don't want to pronounce it wrong. Fraashio. There you go. Briefing related to Tosha Thomas. Briefing related to an analysis of tenure detention trends in Tarant County pertaining to commitments to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department. Briefing related to tax rates, projected
tax revenue, and cash carry forward. All perfectly written and appropriate ways to place an item on the agenda. This one from last month simply was not. And what I'm asking you to do, and you can ask other court members, you can do
it however you want to do it. I'm asking you to make sure inaccurate and misleading things like that don't show back up on the agenda. And the policy that this court passed that we directed gives you that authority to do that. Pretty simple.
>> It's uh pretty simple. Again, there is they have a process. Don't you have a process? Absolutely. I've called you before and you're like, I'm in my meeting with my staff going over court book. So, if
there was a problem with it, it seems to me the elections administrator, the county administrator, some assistant administrator, uh, would have caught it. >> Um, >> I'm glad you're in agreement. >> So,
seems like they would have caught it. So apparently there wasn't a big deal with it. You're making a big deal about it. And and let me end with this. Let's just tell the truth. This has nothing to do with efficiency. This is
all about avoiding accountability for passing bad policies. As much as y'all's judge talks about wokeness, he sure does love some cancel culture. He wants to cancel public comments and did. He wants to cancel
policy discussions by commissioners. It seems the only thing he hasn't tried to cancel yet is our county debt and problems. There's no excuse for having to dip into taxpayer reserves to pay for our sheriff's overtime. But that's kind of radical mismanagement
we're used to, unfortunately. And as much as he wants to avoid us talking about it, it doesn't change the fact that we have to pay for things. We have to talk about issues.
Um, you can't cover up, you can't run, hide, you can't shut the people down, you can't avoid being transparent, you can't shut me up. um that if there was something wrong with the the heading,
they would have caught it. They would have changed it. They've changed they've asked to change things before. They've changed things without asking. So, um no need to take action here. >> Yeah. We all know it was inaccurate. >> In the future, I would like you to make
sure there's nothing inaccurate in an agenda item >> description. I said if >> Chandler going forward I would ask that you defer to your judgment on whether or not there could be perceived inaccuracies and the the example pointed to today on
today's agenda the item I requested the techshare briefing is perfectly written. Uh you didn't voice an opinion on the tech share briefing. You didn't explain whether it was good or bad etc. It says briefing on the tech share strategic review which is what it was. Um so I defer to your judgment going forward.
But I think it's pretty clear uh that that um the policy allows you to place things on the agenda and if you have a concern about something, you have the ability to place it on the agenda. All right. Now we'll move on. Uh F1 we
will handle after closed. So now we will move to appointments to various boards and commissions. Do we have any appointments from the court members? >> I have three. I'd like to replace Dylan Moroni with James Novak on three boards. The
Building Line Adjustment Board, the Variance Appeal Board, and the Job Evaluation Committee. >> We have a motion to put Mr. Novak on those three boards. We have a second. Any discussion? All right. Please cast your votes on this item.
All right. Passes unanimously. Any other appointments to boards or commissions? All right, seeing none, now we have a briefing item on rental and utility assistance. >> Good afternoon. My name is Carol. I'm the chief executive officer for Center
for Transforming Lives. I appreciate um the honor of being here and um giving you an update today. So, um, so thank you very much for making the decision that you did to create a new process, providing funding for rent and utility
assistance in our community. Hundreds of families have avoided eviction and homelessness, and many more have been able to keep their electricity on. Um, because of you, we've nearly doubled the number of residents who will be served by this program. Change this. Oh, great. Okay.
Your goal in creating a new model is to put more money directly into assisting residents. We are already seeing that. So, um you could see a comparison there. It's a 12 month to a fivemon period. So, not an apples to apples, but um already
in five months, we've given out nearly $1 million and we are projected to fully expend the entire 2.3 million by October or even perhaps earlier. Um 89 cents of every dollar that you awarded is going
to direct client assistance. Um 440 households have been supported already. um that represents nearly 1,200 adults and children. Um we project that we will um support about 1,000 households by
October. Um our comprehensive integrated approach means that a resident may come in for rental assistance, then sign up for a medical exam with one of our mobile health partners or enroll in health benefits um like Medicaid. Um all
available at our Riverside campus. Um, as one example, Miss Tessa, she is in the special utility assistance program, drops her bills off in person every month and likes to stay for a chat. She needs basic essentials, food and hygiene
products. Also, Tyrant Area Food Bank is also on site um so she can get groceries and we keep shampoo, toothpaste, and other essentials in our new donation and distribution center for folks like her. Now she can get everything that she needs in one place. she doesn't need to
spend money on gas or bus fair to get um across town. Our goal is to keep families in their homes. Um so our process is that we um we have a portal. It's open um about every um three weeks and we close the
portal once we get to 200 applicants. Um that has gotten shorter and shorter. So, um, this last time we opened the portal, it took 35 minutes to get 200 applications. >> Um, we do that because we do not want to
offer false hope. Um, which, um, to if we left it open, we would easily see thousands and thousands of applicants on that list. Um, we want to process them as quickly as we can. Um, and, um, and then, um, get that support uh, where
they need it. um our phone calls, our website visitors and emails have increased um extremely since um we announced the the grant award and we answer every single one of these regardless of whether or not they are in line. So
every single person who contacts us gets support and assistance of one kind or another. We processed over a thousand applications to date. Um most of those that are denied assistance are due to income ineligibility. They just make too
much money to qualify. Um in which case we provide information about other suitable housing options. Um the other u reasons that are most common is that the landlords won't accept payments for rent from us um or that their applications
weren't completed. Um and in some cases when we follow up they no longer need the assistance. This month um uh we've learned a lot in the these first five months. Um and uh this month we transitioned to um we updated our technology to include a new
screening tool and a secure document upload system um which will streamline and create more efficiencies. So you can see a profile of the distribution of funds. So the vast majority is going to rent and then we have the utility program and then the
separate special utility assistance program. Um and then you can also see how that was distributed over time with um getting up to speed in November. Uh and then we provided the rent and utility assistance through um November,
December and January. started the special utility assistance program um funding in February which was a month before it has been provided in the past. Um the majority has gone to the rental assistance because that is the greatest
need. Um and but also you can see a lot has gone to um the uh utility payments. All 500 special utility assistance clients who were transferred from the county have been contacted and
supported. The assistance um data, our average household payments um is about 3,000 for rent assistance and about 400 for utilities. Um what we one of the surprises for us is that many landlords
have left ha have let um their uh their occupants stay and three months they're behind three months of rent. So we have paid up to three months of rent and um are finding that more common. Um so it's
on average it's about two months that we're paying. Um, usually these residents have had a medical crisis or some other sort of similar crisis or an unexpected, um, income loss, but they have gotten a job. Um, so, um, we're
helping them get caught up so they're not robbing Peter Peter to pay Paul. Um, we want them to get ahead and not just tread water. Our average days to payment is 6 to 8 days once the application is finalized. Um that's an improvement over
25 days um in the past. Um so um and it has been a challenge in the beginning to get utility payments or utility companies to um accept our pledge. Um it uh and then you can see exactly how
long it's the average days for each program. The um assistance distribution has been all over the county. Um you can see the two red stars where the intake interviews are being done. So in our
Fort Worth location and then in Arlington. Um but folks have come from everywhere uh to get assistance. Um so we're really excited that it's um that across the board people are being helped.
Um the profile of who's being helped um are the majority of the recipients are female heads of household with an average family size of um almost three. Um and then for the special utility assistance program of course that's a
lower family size. Um we are um the income for um rent and utility assistance is about $20,000 um per household. So you can see how much they're living on the edge. Um and
then uh for the special utility assistance program, it's slightly lower, but again these are people on fixed incomes. Um and so but again, we are able to help them with a number of other programs that we're operating on site. So they all get um additional assistance
besides the monetary um for our forecast. um you know five months in spending um already um nearly a million. So we um with those efficiencies and with the demand we
expect to go through all of the dollars um by the beginning of October or perhaps even in the middle of September. Um I'd like to share one other story of Edwin. Um he is a 68-year-old resident
from Fort Worth with a full-time job. He does not have any family here. Um he had major surgery a couple of months ago. He could only work limited hours while he healed and the bills really piled up. He reached out for assistance with
utilities um during the winter and that gave him uh an opportunity to heal. um he drives for Uber and told him or told us last month that he's back transporting the beautiful people of de of DFW around again. He's fully healed
and had that opportunity to do so because of the utility assistance. So, um and then we have a video from Lisa who wanted to be here to share her story, but she's taking care of her
grandchildren. That's Lisa Lowry and um I am doing this because I want to thank you so much for helping me. Anyway, um things are going great now, but um there was a time when I really
need found myself in a bad situation and um I needed some help and y'all were there for me. I thank you. So, um um I've never in my life, I'm 57 years old, needed help. Um
I found myself in a position where um I had my son living with me and I had three grandkids uh small to ages one, three, and four. and they um you know we were at a place
where um he had to go to a rehab center with his girlfriend which left me with all over them. But um I that left me in a position where when they had to go do this six-month thing that I was um having to take care of these three
babies on um my salary, which is not bad, but it's bad when you have all of those bills and everything. and I just didn't want to see us homeless and it was looking like we were going to be um but anyway so so I reached out for
help and uh and I went to a place and they actually turned me down. I think it was too late in the month or whatever but they gave me your fire and I called and that's when everything started turning around you right in the nick of time. I mean, you helped me so fast. It
wasn't a long lengthy process or anything. And and the people were just wonderful. And my case worker, I guess that's what you call her. She was amazing. I was so grateful for that. And so we were able to get over the hump
with your help. We are doing good, thriving. They're about to start school. one of them cool and head start and the baby is just being a almost two-year-old and so I can't wait for my son to get
out because he's amazing. >> No, wait. Thank you again. >> We hear stories like this um every day and they are all so grateful for um for the assistance that you've provided. So, thank you again for the opportunity and I'm happy to take any questions.
>> Thank you. Anybody have any questions for Carol? >> I remember um we made this transition and first I want to thank Ellen and Roxy and the entire team uh who identified ways to be more efficient with taxpayer dollars uh and more efficient delivery
to our our citizens. This is exactly what the vision was. Um, and I want to thank Commissioner Miles uh for asking that we be very very strict in our followup and reporting in how exactly this is being uh administered and if
it's having the intended effect. Now, we're 5 months in uh and we can say that right now it is. And so we do need to continuously monitor. Uh but I'll say from 28 cents of direct client assistance to 89 cents is phenomenal. Um you're delivering more to taxpayers with
less government. uh and that was exactly the point. And so, thank you very much for what you and your team do every day. Uh I know it's it's difficult uh to p parse through all the data, but having more people reach out and more people served in six days than going through
the lengthy process, which I I'd love to know the benchmark of what it was when it was county held. I don't know if it was longer or I I imagine longer than six days. Um but but in any case, that's when people really need it is when they reach out. So, I really appreciate what you do. This this is great success
story. Thank you Helen and Roxy. >> Yeah, I was going to follow that number same number that stuck out to you stuck out to me. 28 cents to 89 cents. And so that means all the money that y'all have been given is getting right back into the community, which is what we hope. So, as Commissioner Romero said, we want
to keep keep an eye on that. But great job so far. And uh the testimonials obviously speak for themselves. And so Tarant County is doing better from a fiscal perspective, but also a community perspective thanks to your work. So, we really appreciate it. >> Anybody else have anything?
>> Yes, I have a a few questions. >> Do what is the size of the staff that works this program? >> Uh, we have three full-time and an intern. >> Phenomenal.
>> Did you hire anybody from the county? I do not have that answer but I can get back to you. >> Okay. >> So to administer the program that we our human services department was doing you said three only three full-time
employees. >> That's right. >> And was that it? >> And an intern. >> And an intern. How often are you having to uh shut the website down for intake purposes?
>> It it it's um we open it and it take the first month that I mean yeah the first time we opened the portal it took two hours to get to 200 applicants and last time we opened it it took 35 minutes. So then it's um about three two to three
weeks to process those 200 applications that we get. >> Okay. So the portal's open right now >> about every 3 weeks >> for Yes. We and we we we just we close it as soon as we get to 200 applicants.
>> So So you get to 200 applicants, you close the portal, >> then we process them >> and we proc you process them. Um, and I think the county was doing that too. I think it's a horrible practice. Um, seems like they should go
somewhere. What do What do the people What type of notification read receive? What do they somebody in crisis? What do they receive when they can't get into the portal?
when they um can't get into the portal and people come in person, they call um or they email um they send I mean they contact us in all kinds of ways. So, everyone gets contacted um and um if
they're not on the list for that month, then they're given referrals to other places that may provide assistance for them and then um for whatever their need, their monetary need is as well as other needs. So, they're all getting that kind of information and referral
service even if we are not able to put them on the list at that point in time. We just want to make sure that we're not giving anyone false hope that their immediate need is going to be met if we know it's going to take us that amount of time. If you think about in the past
there when they when um you had almost 11,000 people who sought help in FY25 and got on the list, but so few people got helped. So, we really wanted to avoid that situation
um because it is enormously frustrating for people to not hear back anything for months and months. So, um so it with our process, it's not perfect and we're working on um some of the things we've learned, but it
they're going to get processed much more quickly and timely so that their rent can get paid. All right. So, if they show up or catch you by email, they're going to what? Get put on a list or referred out or
>> if the portal is not open at that time, they're going to get referrals. >> Referrals. Okay. And so, what should my staff do with the people that call us and tell us they can't get in or they got rejected or whatever?
>> They should absolutely call us. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Do you still receive the um what is it? Um contributions, donations from the utility companies. >> We do not. >> Oh, you do not get Yeah. >> And we welcome that.
>> We operate the SUAT program, but that's out of the initial award. It is not out of any additional dollars. >> Oh, wow. That's crazy. What do Is there a reason why? >> Not that I am aware of. Is there a reason why
>> the utilities company had selected to do it on their own? They already had the process for you to be able to apply at the utility uh company and they just we they were giving us money to assist them. Correct. >> They decided to keep that themselves and do the pro process through the utility
company. >> Oh wow. >> So they they didn't transfer and start giving the money to they kept it themselves. They already had the program. and they just we were doing dual effort here in the county and the utility company. So the utility company
uh is now doing uh if they whomever they do their business with if they uh have that uh program they can apply for it through that. >> So I recall approving those are they donations or >> Yes ma'am. From the utility
>> from encore and whoever >> it got to where it was one central uh donation that was made. Mhm. >> Um, and so can you tell us how much in donations each year we were getting from utility companies? >> I can get that to you uh either next
court or I can email it to all of them. >> Yeah, but that it's not now going to center for transform. >> No, the utility companies are keeping themselves and continuing the program themselves. >> Got it. But so the money that we're giving them is it about two 2
million >> 2.3 >> 2.3 million. SUAP has to come out of that money now. >> That's correct. >> Correct. >> Which it did before, too. >> Well, some of it, but we got we got >> No, Sue did not. That was not part of the program. >> We got donations from the
>> SUEP was not covered by those donations. >> Okay. All right. All right. SUAP is a year long. The the uh utility companies do not uh let someone be helped for a year. >> Right. I understand it's >> so that's why we had to use our own
funding sources which we move that money from here to center for transforming lives to cover SUAP. >> So but the majority of utility assistance came from our money >> and for SUAP >> for free utility assistance for SUAP. >> Yes ma'am. >> Okay. and not from the utility
companies. >> It is not as it's not that large, but I would again let me put the money the we've put the numbers together before. Uh they're out there. I will just find them and send them to all of y'all. >> All right. Thank you. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Thank you, ma'am.
>> Thank you very much. >> Just a brief comment. I want us to ground this conversation in a simple truth. The need for support in Taran County doesn't just impact people on the margins.
It impacts everyday people. People who work, people who provide for their families, and people who have done everything the quote unquote right way. And I want to be clear that my stance remains the same. County government is
and should be the local safety net. >> Yep. not the first stop but the necessary stop when life happens. This uh resident Lisa Lowry is one of those residents. She has worked her entire life and never
needed help before. But like many in our community, life changed quickly and unexpectedly. She suddenly became responsible for her three young grandchildren. One year old, threeyear-old, and fiveyear-old. I can't even imagine that.
Overnight her household shifted. Her responsibilities increased and the financial pressure followed. Now Lisa had a job. She had income and she was doing her part. But what her story shows us is this. Even a steady
income is always not is is not always enough when life circumstances change. And unfortunately that's the reality for many families across Taran County and the United States. It's not about poor decision makingaking. And it's not about a lack
of effort. It's about moments, unexpected moments that can push a stable household to the edge. Lisa reached out for help just like we encourage people to do in our offices and throughout the county. And
initially, she was turned away. I can't count the number of people who have been turned away from places that were meant to support them. It is a disturbing trend in the county where you have families especially
single fe women head of household families who don't make enough money. They make too much money to qualify for resources and they don't make enough money to take care of their basic needs. They are the working poor and we have to
stand up and be able to support those types of families and we are not doing as good a job as we can. CTL is an as is an important first step in that direction. But there is much more that
Taran County can do and should be doing. And this is where the role of county government matters and partnership matters because when systems fall short, the county should be there to catch
them. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you for being here. >> Yes. >> And for the work you're doing. Uh, next item is a briefing related to Shaun Ferachio, I believe is how to pronounce it, who is going to discuss that.
Good afternoon. Good. Late afternoon. Uh, glad to be here today. I've been asked to brief on a couple of uh uh inmates and uh the first thing I want to say is that these cases are not under investigation or litigation and also
that MHMR and JPS were asked to be here also and hopefully I can answer all the questions but they are very hampered as I am over HIPPA and of course we will not be talking about people's personal health but anyway we can talk about
processes and we can talk about some things publicly about these two folks that uh the public information that we have and I'm happy to share those with you is uh the first one there was Shawn Shawn came into our custody in u believe
it was December of 24 and he left our custody today to go to a state facility which was perfect and so he was with us uh 480 days and he uh he
was cared for and all that stuff here which again we can't talk about HIPPA but I will talk about in generally the process with people like Shawn and others that are ID and that's what Shawn
was uh which I guess I blew it right there but uh what we generally do and what this case was no different is often these people are moved up to like the infirmary where They're they're are clearly watched by nurses and doctors and folks that can
see them. Often, of course, people in this situation, they come in and the diet that they were on is probably nothing like our diet. You know, we we feed between 2,800 and 3600 calories per day in all of our meals. And what happens, and as this case is no
exception, is the incredible job that JPS, MHMR, and the jail staff did because they recognize what they're dealing with with these kids. And they adopt them. And that starts on day one. That didn't start two weeks ago or three weeks ago. That starts immediately. And
they begin to advocate for this person. And often what happens is is that staff that is there, they tend to give more supportive items, you know, different blankets and and even different mattresses to make their stay better and
in some cases crayons and coloring books and things that the chronological or the the age of that child is to try to adapt to that. Those things were done in lots and lots of cases. he uh these kids also
as they come in and again on the diet issue it's not uncommon that they reject food and they they don't eat and it's difficult to do and but our team both the jail staff HMR and JPS watch that stuff and they begin to supplement and
try to figure out what they have and and they they adjust you know we've done chicken sandwiches we've done two breakfastes we have done snacks that that are off the commissary to motivate these people. So, their care has been excellent. And uh that's most of the
public stuff about Sean that I can say and where he was at and what he was doing. He came in and he left. He was with us 480 days. Often these folks are here from anywhere from 400 days to up to 800 to a,000
depending on depending on their their specific situation. before they go to a state bed, but that's not unusual. Uh, so he he he was here for 480, so we're a little ahead. We were excited about that and we we were happy about that. The second
briefing item was uh on Tasha Thomas. >> Well, Sheriff, before we go there, anyone have any questions on Sean? >> Yeah. Um, all right.
I am uh pleased to join the sheriff in announcing that Shawn Ferio, who is the intellectually developmentally delayed 26-year-old with the cognitive
ability of a six to eight year old has finally been moved out of Taran County Jail after spending 480 days in in our jail.
He was transferred this morning to a stateup supported living center um that is equipped to meet his needs. So that is the good news. That is the great news. That is
I dropped tears this morning when I heard from uh our executive director of MHMR and I called his mother. Um and last court the sheriff came to
address this um agenda item. Thank you. Um he said, "Send me information." I sent it. His staff uh looked into it. Thank you.
Um and I got with MHMR and worked worked with them. So the the delay 480 days is not good people for imagine I know you all know a
special needs child or an ID uh person. Imagine your person sitting in a jail with that level of mental capacity for 480 days.
Um, the delay in transferring Shawn to an appropriate care facility highlights a broader failure in how systems respond to individuals with significant intellectual developmental disabilities.
There should be early identification, coordinated response, and timely placement in appropriate care settings. That must be the standard. Taran County is tied for second in court
ordered forensic SSLC admissions. And if we're we're tied in the state um for a second, then we need to be able to lead the state in finding solutions locally. The sheriff I when intake staff suspect
an ID or behavior crisis, how quickly is MHMR contacted? >> They're right there. >> Like right there, right? >> Right there. Happens immediately. >> And so who has the authority to pause booking and divert that person?
>> Judge. That'll be a jud. They're there because a judge said that there was probable cause to hold them. Nobody there has that authority to do anything but their job. and they're flagged and they're immediately taken care of and we do all those special things, but we don't have the authority to stop and and
do anything, especially under his charge, which was continuous family violence. >> In in Sean's case, where did the intake and diversion process fail? Do >> it was a violent crime and we don't on violent crimes, we don't divert as a
general rule. So, a violent crime where his mom signed a an affidavit of nonprosecution. >> Sometimes that doesn't help at all, especially if a judge says stay. And that's what happened in this deal. And I would agree with you. In the 70s is when
the Supreme Court ruled and we we got rid of those facilities. We should have never gotten rid of those facilities. We should have improved them. And I believe, you know, this year sunset is coming up on MHMR at the state. We need to be kneede in that
>> and we need to be saying what is it as a society that we're going to do with these people >> because you can you can watch it progress as we have many times with people with ID is they're in the home things are fine but at the older they get the more the gap widens
>> the more difficult it takes for the parents and at some point they become violent. Now, it the reason they become violent is you got a four-year-old in charge of a 26- year old body in this case. >> Yes. >> And he becomes frustrated and throws a temper tantrum and he and he becomes
violent. And uh and the police have a they're they're they've got a very narrow path and that's how they end up in jail. we are working in working together uh with Fort Worth PD in particular by the way is that uh Chief
Garcia and I are visiting about a team where we have dispatch calls to a location especially a group home >> and you show up at that group home, one of the things that you're guaranteed is that person will never stand trial for whatever they've done and trying to
renegotiate those lower level violent crimes and finding alternatives. Those things are in progress. Never been done before in the United States anywhere. But Chief Garcia and I are working on that right now to figure out the ins and outs of that cuz that's where we can interrupt it. Once they get to the
booking area, that's done. The field is where it's going to need to happen at. >> Sure. Sure. So that's that's good to hear. the fieldwork, the collaboration with Chief Garcia, and I guarantee I can speak for you and say you don't want
these ID folks in your jail. It's just >> not at all. >> Right. >> Um, are there any local alternatives, deputies,
and jail intake staff use right now for ID folks in crisis? Besides jail, >> we do and and we are in the field again. We are doing some types of diversions, but again, when it becomes like family
violence or continuous family violence, it starts putting the handcuffs on what cops can and can't do. And it's and listen, I want to change that. I want to see those things change where that when we size up that we've got a four-year-old in charge of a 26-y old
body. Let's figure out some other place. MHR wants that. JPS wants that. And I think, you know, society in general wants that. But we've got to figure out what we're going to do with these kids. >> Are there best practices anywhere in this country or people are agencies,
governments are doing it a better way? >> Well, I don't know of them if they are. I know that there's a lot of sheriffs and this is a common topic among major county sheriffs of what are we going to do? Where are we going to go? Because
everybody everybody across the nation has the same same issues. 60% of the people that walk in the jail have mental illness of some sort. There's going to be a percentage that have ID and then there's they're all over the spectrum after that. And then uh you got the
medical issue. Everybody every sheriff in America is dealing with that. and and uh we talk about it all the time. We post things that hey, this is working for us. But far as best practices, I I think right now our HMR team leads the
state in the treatment that they're doing inside the jail and they're leading the state in restoration. Uh and they have for the last few years. So, we're doing things right. I contend this is not really a a a
sheriff's problem. I if I'm if I'm placing blame, I'm putting it on MHMR because when these people enter the jail, what type of treatment are they receiving? >> They and maybe that's for Susan to come
up here. Uh well that they can but under ID issues when they come in the jail everything that I've seen and done and asked for is is kid gloves are put on and they're going to be treated with kid gloves. Now if they're combative if they're those kind of things they will
have to be restrained but we rarely do that. In this case, they went straight to uh MHMR area and then onto the infirmary and that's where they were at under close close supervision and close eyes of medical and MHMR.
>> Do you separately track use of force, isolation, injuries, suicide, competency concerns, or prolonged detention for people with known or suspected ID? Do y'all track >> you mean in our documents?
>> Yes. >> Uh I I >> y'all keep record of which ones have which >> issue >> there there's there's a lot of records on that. Of course they're hippoprotected. >> So on one hand I go this is an MHMR issue. What are these
folks being treated while they're in jail? Are they they looked after? They're getting their medication. their whatever therapy, whatever. Then I look at it as a criminal justice issue. Um why why are we arresting people with
six-year-old minds? Um it's just it's crazy to me. Uh what training does the sheriff's office provide deputies, detention staff, and even people like Amber? She's your nurse. Um >> yeah, she's navigator. >> She's a master degree orient.
>> Okay. What type of training uh do they have on ID specific communication, deescalation, um all that self harm? Yeah. Risk >> is is we have for several years, every time you go through the academy, you get the first level of mental health
training and it's you become a mental health officer and then they a few years later they'll get a second level of that. They have to have two years before they can go back and get the second level. But we do that type of training all the time. We have instructors assigned to the jail to do briefings,
instruct on issues like better uh ways to deescalate, better ways to restrain. All of those things go on all the time. >> Okay. So that just they get continuing education on this. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. All right. Um I have some
questions for MHMR if they're present or somebody might be y'all might have questions for the sheriff. I'm sorry. I'll wait. >> No, I'll just say good job getting him transferred. Well done. >> Yeah. My my my comments aren't specific
to you, Sheriff. They're also include MHMR, but I'll say um you know, we speaking to to Sean's mother and family and making sure that um the case is what it is. I know a lot of the information that you can share is protected as you're going through the process. Um but this one I liken to when I met with MHM
the same man. And I liken it to to an Alzheimer's Alzheimer's patient. I mean, the only difference is age. I mean, sometimes they get combative as well, but nobody's calling the police on them and nobody's taking them to jail. And so, the the the solve, the fix is you have to figure out what to do and how to
treat these folks whenever it happens with also consideration for the victim when there is a victim who's been assaulted to make sure that it doesn't happen again. >> Exactly. >> Because if left in the home, it could continue. You just have to have those resources and and and I've talked to
several people down in Austin, several people that are also interested in in making a change this session. My my question is what has been tried in the past? What why hasn't it been successful? A lot of it hinges on funding according to the mental health experts and it's not necessarily funding
for state facilities or state employees, but it's also funding for the the residences that are privately operated, but funded with state dollars. I learned that the the the folks that work in those facilities are paid about 40% less
than state employees. That's something that I believe we can get behind and help create a fix there through legislation. But again, the the the process takes a while because you have to go through legislative session. I mean, the answer though with the weight
list being what it is to get a state bed is really having MHMR prioritize. And to this point, I think they've done a tremendous job in doing that. Uh they were able to work what I would consider a miracle to get Shawn Abedh today. Um considering that there's folks that are
actually above him on the list that have been in our jail longer. Um so so it's a it's a balance and I think everybody's trying very very hard and I applaud your efforts for for doing so. it. You're right about the legislative session and
uh Senator Parker is going to be right now heading that sunset committee and I think it's a great opportunity for us to have some influence on improving circumstances and you're absolutely right. You know, we need to build up those resources out there where police
officers have resources to go to. Well, and remember MHMR is our local health authority, but it's HHSC that manages all of these and selects who comes. Actually, it's not MHMR who decides who gets to go. >> That's right. >> It's HHSC who decides who they're going to take. That's how it works.
>> Well, let me let me point this out and ask ask this. Sean's been in our jail for 4 80 days. If I hadn't said a word about Shawn last
court, if I hadn't asked the mother, you need to come down here and and tell us what's going on. Um, if uh the advocates hadn't gone and picked the mother up because she doesn't
have transportation and brought her down here, where would Seawn be today? I think that he would be right where he is based on the stuff that I knew was going on behind the scenes. And I think MHR was a big advocate for that, including the
CEO, uh I believe that he would be right there. And by chance, if if whatever happened last month created that, then I would say we need it done about a hundred times more. But we're going to
work hard on that. But there was adequacy going on for him day one. Day one that he entered that jail. We begin to advocate for him. >> Day one. And he was in there 480 days. Exactly. >> From from March
10th to today, >> he's where he's supposed to be because people spoke up. You >> I I just It's hard to convince me. I I heard you. Uh I I heard what you where you were going uh or what you said. It's
hard to convince me that he was he was going to be in an SS SSLC bed anytime soon. I I hear you. Um, but I I just think if his mom hadn't
reached out, Texas Jail Project hadn't reached out, these folks hadn't uh heeded the call to go, can y'all go help this mother? I can't. Can y'all I'm thinking Sean would still be there. >> Commissioner, if we believe that, I'd like to give you 62 or 65 more names and
let's do that every month. >> All right, we're happy to. I had good >> con but I appreciate any advocacy for him >> from anyone. >> It was appreciated. >> Yeah. And then my point is too finally
for you is that um I'm happy to do it. That's what I'm here for. I signed up for it. I'm built for it. Um it shouldn't it shouldn't have to get to a county commissioner. Shouldn't have to get to a sheriff. These people's people
people should be taken care of. the largest mental health facility in the county. I'd love not to be. >> Yeah. >> All right. Uh now we Anybody else have any questions before we move to Tasha Thomas?
>> I do for MHMR and I mean you heard. Hi Rainey. How's it going? Oh wait, is that Ramy? >> It's Ramy. >> Okay. >> Susan. Sorry. uh some of the same. I'm not going to ask you he what what system failures
were exposed by by the case of Sean Ferasio? >> Say excuse. >> What system failures were exposed by Sean's case? >> I don't think there's any new system failures exposed. It's it's a process of for individuals when they come in who have who are incompetent to stand trial
and have to wait or who are ordered to an SSLC. there's a long waiting list and the more narrow the category uh so in other words if you need a specific facility with a specific help the wait is going to be longer because
they're waiting against other people all around the state. So I think it's the in this particular instance the capacity and to be able to get someone there would be the system that that failed. U there's just not enough number of beds available to move them quickly. again as
you spoke earlier be better had they not been in jail to begin with. You can back up to that system and talk about that for sure. Are there any dedicated ID crisis respit service capacity? Does any capacity actually exist in
Taran County today? Yes, >> just group group homes. >> Yes. So we we have a we have a a crisis group. not only our regular mobile crisis team, but we have ID specialists >> who do crisis activity. In fact, when we have an individual in jail that we have
uh actually on a regular basis when we have someone who's ID in our jail, we bring in our ID staff um and who have plenty of stuff to do already, but we bring them in to make sure that we're addressing an individual who's in jail who has ID issues. And we started doing that probably two and a half, three
years ago, bringing folks in to help us to ensure that we're addressing the issues properly. We also have folks that come to court if that individual is in competency court to help work with the judge to provide information and also to see what resources there are, which is
above and beyond our county contract, but to make sure that we're addressing those issues properly and getting the resources if they're identified. Because if there's something that we can say to a court, here is a here's a spot for an individual in the community. If the judge wants to consider diverting them
or releasing them, then we say, well, here's a here is a an appropriate placement. And that happens, but there's not always an appropriate placement for everybody. And and the charge makes a difference. Uh you the charge really is a big factor. H >> how do we stop criminalizing these
people, the ID folks? How do we how do we stop that? Because if if if I listen to Sean's mother, I just just what she tells me. Um she was trying to get him to do
something. He moved this way. He moved that way. He was bigger than her. And she called your She didn't call 911 for help. She called, "Do y'all have a line?" >> We have a crisis line. >> Crisis line for help.
>> Mhm. Y'all must have called Fort Worth PD. Somebody did. >> We we we will call Fort Worth PD if if a person's in danger. So when they call our crisis line and there's a danger to self or others going on, we call the
Fort Worth PD because we're not we're not we don't we don't want to have someone ending up getting hurt or to show up. So that's that's what we do. >> But but she says in her case, she said, "No, he doesn't need to go. We don't need the police. I just need help
calming him down. And she the police came. She said she signed I I I have the copy of it in my email. >> Okay. >> Um um uh deal nonprosecution >> and he ends up in jail for 4 80 days.
The mother who can't afford bail and all this other stuff. just how do we stop the criminalization of her son turned around and bumped her real hard and bumped her the other way real hard. Now he's in jail for 480 days. That's I I
just want solutions. We're not going to get them today. >> Commissioner, it's in the field. That's where we need to stop it at in the field. and we need the resources to respond to that field issue uh to try to turn it around there and gain it and
it'd be great. >> All right. Thank you. >> All right. Anybody else have any for these guys on that one? All right. Now, Tasha Thomas. Tasha Thomas, 54 year old female,
entered our jail on November the 20 20th and uh I believe it was uh she was charged with four criminal violations, unlawfully possession of firearm, drugs, faired ID, DWI. She was sent to the Texas Department of Corrections on March
25th, 2026. uh during the time period she was here uh she and uh there were two complaints filed with the state on this case or not with this case there was one on this one and one on Shawn both of them by the state was investigated and found
unfounded u she uh uh entered our facilities uh again uh we can't talk about the medical part of it the HIPPO part of it but I will
say that in people's situation where they come into the jail, they're getting a a physical at the at the beginning, they're examined, they're treated, and uh and even when they go to TDC, the first thing that happens with our
medical team is they call the TDC folks and their contacts there and say, "This is what we had. This is what continuing treatment they need to have, blah blah blah blah." And they run that down. They say so there's concurrent treatment even when they get to uh TDC
uh see here and that's pretty much except for her criminal history uh which was quite lengthy uh that's the public information on her court courts took her through she went through pretty quickly and got to TDC
our judicial was working hard >> yes so the uh The daughter also reached out uh to to my office to me and I talked about it last time. This
woman had uh strokes and stroke and seizure disorders or whatever and then some somewhere she contracted a bad tooth toothaches. um and the which was making her
headaches and all this other stuff worse according to her daughter and um so I talked to you about that last time you said send us her information and we'll get on it. You did. Thank you. Uh your staff did. Thank
you. Um I put um Miss Thomas's daughter in touch with Amber. Um that didn't go so well uh because the daughter wanted her mother seen uh transported to JPS um because of the
continuing complaints about the head, the teeth, the all that. Uh so I was able to talk to JPS um and they scheduled a meeting with the the
daughter. They looked at her records. Um they saw the issues, the medical issues. Um they acknowledged dropping the ball uh in a couple of areas and then um all of a sudden she was
transferred to TDC uh or prison. And so I asked JPS to do me one huge big favor. Can you please contact
uh the prison health uh department she went to and ask them to do her teeth extractions. They did. The daughter has written back and said, "Thank you. My mother feels
100% better." It didn't happen here. She couldn't get her teeth extracted. she couldn't all of the whatever uh that I think should have been done during her length of stay in our jail and she gets
to the prison system and in a matter of a day and a half it it's done. Um, so I again I just don't think I'm pleased to help is what I do is what I live for to help people, but I just don't think it
should get to a level where you're contacting the commissioner to get basic treatment uh for these people. And remember, I'm not trying to I'm never Lisa is never trying to get anybody out of jail. I don't think they should die there. I don't think they should suffer. I think you said last
time you we've got all all these hundreds of medical staff. Why? >> Well, number one is we're going to differ on the sto backstory that I said we've already discussed too much medical people. We violated HIPPA today. Uh and
uh those are more appropriate closed door talks with waiverss in place. And uh but I will say this is that uh from this is not HIPPA in my opinion with Amber who is who's our leazison. The issue was is mom would not sign a
release for the her to talk to her daughter >> and those things finally fell into place. >> Yeah. >> Uh >> instantly. >> But she was getting treatment. She was getting diagnosed. Uh and that's about all I'm going to say. But she was get I
believe she was getting fine medical treatment. I was waved in. So, but I probably shouldn't talk about it anymore out here. So, I I know I've talked to the physician. I've talked to um the COO. I know that JP has dropped the ball uh in
in the jail, not not your staff so much. Uh, but I'm always trying to get to a solution, trying to get to how this how how the process isn't seamless where you you take care of these people while
they're with you. Um, and you know, the sheriff says, "Hey, JPS, this is on you. Hey, MHMR, this is on you." And it and it gets taken care of, and we avoid as much of this as possible. That's That's all I'm ever
trying to get to. >> So, >> all right. Anybody have anything else? >> All right. Now, we'll move over. Thank you, Sheriff. You got something else you'd like to add? >> Well, I do, if I may, because this happened in public last time, and I think it should happen in public again,
as the commissioner pointed out that she'd like for us to be more like Orange County, Florida, if you recall last time. >> I do. Uhu. Well, I just just quick briefing because we've researched that if they by the way, I know that that
administrator, he's a good administrator of that jail. >> Their daily population is 3,000. Ours is 4,500. Just to give you the difference, >> is Florida has no real commission rules. That means the sheriff associations runs
the rules where we're governed by the Texas Jail Commission. Big difference. It's like apples and oranges, for instance. They use a ratio of 1 to 80 inmates. Can you imagine 1 to 80? We by state law have to do 1 to 48. Just to give you a difference in some of those
is um is the other thing that they do that we can't do is every inmates gets charged a fee and they have a couple of million dollars of revenue each year and they have the ability to put leans on their houses, their cars, and everything else if the inmate doesn't pay. Helen,
where are you at? But okay. Yeah, we can't do it unfortunately. But they uh they are doing that is they also in best practices they don't have to investigate deaths that occur at hospitals. Obviously we do and obviously have to have second people and they uh uh they
don't do press releases. We do press releases on in custody deaths because we try to be transparent. But from uh last year, last year their deaths in custody they had seven deaths in custody and we had six. Uh the year before they had 10,
we had nine to give you a snapshot of Orlando, Florida. I think they're a good jail and that if we as we dig deeper, they may have some programs and we may exchange those. I know the sheriff who is not does not run the jail in Orange County. >> Correct. >> The commissioner's court does.
>> Correct. Uh >> yeah. No. All right. Moving on. >> And I had I you know year and a half, couple years ago when I first came in, I had a good long conversation with Mayor >> Dimmings. >> Um and so he explained how during his
tenure as sheriff and then uh the county mayor is what they call it, I think. >> Right. um how he got his jail death rate down. And so um I visit with him at conferences. I have just not gone out to
visit with them. But the last indepth conversation I had with him was about a year and a half ago and he's happy to to show me what they did. So and he he did I just didn't commit it all to memory. >> The the the executive administrator
Lewis is doing a great job. He came out of Bear County, uh, Texas. Yes. And he's he's he's a good administrator and he's got a nice reputation. He's has good their death rate is slightly higher than ours. >> Uh, and you know, and I don't know, listen,
that can happen in any jail. And that's what people don't understand is people come in sick, they come in with mental illness, and uh, and those kind of things. So, I'm not slamming Orlando because they have a higher death rate. I'm just saying that's the comparison and it's night and day apples and
oranges because we have a jail commission that really does run the show and they don't see they have to be reertified and inspected every four years. We do that every year. They don't have the ratios. Their policy is 1 to 80 inmates, but they could have one to 150
or 200. Uh but it's just not the same from >> and I and I think most people the public uh you you might not think so uh because people are advocating but they
understand what comes into a jail. You know I don't think the majority of the people think uh you have healthy um bluecollar crime people coming into your jail. So don't don't ever think that we you know it's challenging and
it's not just your jail, it's jails everywhere. >> Jails everywhere. >> That is correct. >> Thank you, Sheriff. All right, we're going to move to briefing item number five. >> Briefing related to an analysis of 10-year detention trends in Tarant County pertain to commitments to the Texas Juvenile Justice Department.
Mr. Shaw, do you have something for us? Yes, I do, your honor. Good afternoon. Riley Shaw, Tarant County Juvenile Services. There is a PowerPoint. Is that How does that get pulled up? Okay, there we go.
All right, county judge and commissioners, this PowerPoint is based on information I provided to each of you on March the 30th via email, and I just want to go over and answer any questions that you might have related to the data. This is specific data uh that was
requested by Commissioner Simmons. Uh the analysis is limited to the things I was asked to analyze. So you you may have other other questions or other interests, but I'll I'll dive in. Uh for from 2016 to 2025,
uh these are these are the numbers of unique youth who uh spent any amount of time in our detention facility here in Tarant County. And just so the court knows that would be youth age 10 through age 18. Uh typically typically through the end
of their 17 there but we do have the some 18 year olds. U the blue line is the unique youth. The orange lines are total youth. And what that means is uh when you have more total youth than unique youth that means individuals are
coming in more than once during that year. So next slide, average daily populations. Uh the line in blue uh is the average daily population
overall uh the line in orange excludes youth awaiting TJJD. The line in green is specific to the youth awaiting TJJD. So what that means is if a child's in detention, has already had their case disposed, and has been committed to the
custody of TJJD, which is a penitentiary for children, there has been a wait list to get kids into TJJD that began in basically in 2020, and we'll we've got additional slides on that a little bit later. Uh, next slide. average length of stay
of youth committed to TJJD 146 days last year started off about 46 days back in 2016 and that is all based on the wait times to uh to get to TJJD you'll see the orange line is children
who are not committed to TJJ so every day child who's in detention those that's the average length of stay anywhere from 13 uh to last year, 19 days on average per kid. Part two of that first slide, uh,
general average length of stay, including, uh, non-committed kids and committed kids. The orange line is specific to youth who are going to TJJD. That's how long they wait after being committed before TJD will accept them.
You'll see those uh, those days got those wait times got pretty high. um at that line that's called average time to court which is in green. I think a better in retrospect I would have changed that line and call that average
time to disposition. It's not that kids are waiting this number of days to get to court. They've been to court many times. That's the number of days they wait from the time they hit the detention facility till they actually have a dispositional hearing.
So, I would label that differently if I were to do this again. Next slide. Yearly TJD commitments for that 10-year time period. You'll see uh 56 youth committed in 2016. It goes up
and down. Last year, those commitments were up to 101 unique youth on 106 individual committed offenses. yearly TJJD committed youth with a prior placement. So what this means is if a
kid was if a youth was committed to TJJD by the court. This is the this is the ratio of those those youth who had a prior placement from the court before going to TJJD. >> Just just one second please. >> Uh Chandler, should the public be able
to see the presentation >> because I'm I keep getting >> programmatically they've switched to it in the back. Yes. They they would either take the presentation or they would take the camera. >> I can look on YouTube. They're either they're just going to see >> it's either him or them. Yeah.
>> Okay. Got it. I hope y'all heard that. >> So, and we can go back to the beginning of these when we're done if you have individual questions. I just wanted to explain to you what the slides are. Uh but you can you can see what the trend lines are 2016 to 2025 and the uh way
that the placement trends have changed over time. Uh this next slide details and this one well they're they're all interesting in their own ways but this one you see a much higher uh higher ratio of youth who
have a firearms history over time. So 2016 to 2025 of the of the youth committed to TJJD, they have a much higher history of firearms involvement in 2025 than they did back in 2016.
We're also asked in every in every case when a youth goes before the court for a dispositional hearing, juvenile services is is required by statute to provide a recommendation to the court. And so we were asked for the youth committed in 2025
uh that were actually committed to TJD. What were the recommendations of juvenile services with regard to those youth? And this shows you 66.3% of those which really just means 67 youth we recommended a community plan. 32.7%
or 33 youth we recommended TJJD. And in 1% we had no recommendation at all. I I have asked for an explanation why no recommendation was made in that case and uh that situation has been rectified.
Final slide is is age of youth at the time of commitment and it it is what you would expect the highest concentration is 15 16 and 17 year olds. So that that is that is the that is the
data and I will go oh that pushed us to the next slideshow. Can someone bring me back? >> All right questions for Mr. Shaw. >> Chief, we appreciate what you do for Tarant County and what you do for the system overall. I mean I know it's challenging with uh circumstances you
don't control. You don't control who gets committed. You don't control who comes into the facility. Um but but you manage it very very well. And just for everybody's reference across the state, Chief Shaw is is widely regarded as one of the best in the industry. So, thank you for what you do.
>> Thank you. >> All right. Any questions? >> So, thank you for the presentation. U since the numbers are already in the record, I kind of want to spend more time explaining them. And of course, I'm
not asking about individual uh kids. I'm asking about countywide patterns, county costs, local alternatives, and who's accountable for the choices driving the outcomes. So,
um, can we can we put your presentation back up? So, what what do the 10year TR Here we go. >> I'm going back. Yeah, these are about 10ear trends. >> Yes.
>> Okay. >> I understand there are many factors, but what factors change the most? Um, in Taran County >> over detention trends, >> total detention trends, we had
kind of have to look at it several different ways. One, the county has grown in the last 10 years. county has grown by about 10% in population of of the county population. Um
the the 10 to 16 year old population itself has also grown but at a slower rate about 4%. Maybe 5%. Um, and so you do see from the
2016 to 2025, it looks like a little over 10% increase total over that 10-year period. Not per year, but for the 10-year period >> of unique youth. And as far as what's driving that >> Yeah.
>> I >> besides population. >> Yeah. I I couldn't tell you that the detention detention decisions are made by the court. >> So when a child's brought into detention, uh juvenile services in Tarant County is the intake agency. So
we make a shortterm decision on whether a child can be detained under the statute. But that deta that decision can only last a maximum of 48 hours. >> Okay. >> Typically, it lasts for 24 or less, but at the most it can last is 48 hours. And
then there's a judicial decision, and all decisions after that are judicial. >> Got it. That's why I appreciate you being here, but I prefer the judge be here because I have my questions are more for him
because I do realize um the decisions are judicial. Um but there, you know, I'm going to try to get you to answer some questions. So the county's website or your department
website shows a disproportionate over representation report on racial disparities. When was the last time that report was reviewed and updated and how is it being used today to guide decisions about
reducing over representation? >> I do not have that answer with me today. I can get that answer to you. >> Okay. Dallas County appears to show that that this uh issue is solvable by aligning
the courts, the district attorney, and the juvenile department. They've reduced detention well below their capacity and are moving cases to court in 40 to 50 days. Do you know what concrete steps are
being taken to align our courts, the DA and the juvenile system and what is being done to safely reduce the number of youth in detention? >> Those would be questions for the district attorney and for the court.
>> Okay. All right. That's what I thought. Um, of the youth who ultimately went to TJJD after juvenile services had recommended a community plan,
does juvenile services track how many were black? What specific community plan was recommended? And whether that plan included community-based mentoring, wraparound, or schoolbased support? >> I missed a piece of that. Say that again. >> Okay. Oh,
so of the youth who ultimately went to TJJD after juvenile services had recommended a community plan, does Juvenile Services track how many were black? What specific community plan was recommended and whether that plan included community- based mentoring,
wraparound or school-based support like the services provided by MHMR or previously provided by YAP? I feel confident in saying that we can track by by race. Those other specifics
I do not believe we capture. >> Okay. >> That there is a there in a in a in a minable way if that makes sense. >> Okay. The way I came up with a lot of these questions and I got pages I'm just
going to stop is because I asked these questions of other counties and they sent the data right over. Um so I just kind of wanted to see if we if if I could get our data so that we're able to
to see what they're doing what we're doing so we can come to solutions and make improvements. Um, but again, >> if you'll if you'll get your data points to me, I'll see what we have. >> Okay. All right. And maybe I'll be able to get the judge in here one day.
>> Thank you. >> Anybody else have any questions on this? >> I do. Um, Chief Sean, thank you for what you do. Uh my question is, are you seeing the courts increasingly
override community-based recommendations in favor of TJJD commitments? I would not use the word override. Courts consider, and I've I've had that job. The court
considers a lot of different information from defense council, from prosecution, from juvenile services, and from other sources. So to to say that our recommendation is being overridden by anybody, I don't know that that's the way I would couch that. But but I think
it is clear that we we we don't always come to the same conclusion. Do we do you have any thoughts as to why the the choice is commitments versus community-based
options or alternatives? >> I can't answer that question. The judge would be the one to answer that question or judges would be the one to answer that question >> to the extent that that's even a proper question to ask.
>> Thank you, sir. Before a youth is committed on a probation or technical violation, what lesser interventions are supposed to be attempted first? >> Well, it it depends on what the violation is and we do try many
different lesser interventions before that case gets to court. >> And is there a standard used to say that those all those options have been exhausted? >> Say that again. Is there a standard that says uh that
those options have been exhausted? Like if you >> I think the answer to your question is no. >> Okay. >> But but I don't know that there is we when a child violates probation, juvenile services is not the one
referring that violation to the court. That's coming from the district attorney. >> Got it. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> All right. Any other questions for Riley? >> All right. Thank you, Riley. >> Thank you. >> Uh, last briefing item is related to tax rates, projected tax revenue, and cash
carry forward usage for fiscal years 24, 25, and 26. >> Good afternoon, judge and commissioners. I'd like to take this opportunity to brief you all over those tax revenue, tax rates, and the cash carry forward uh for fiscal 2425 and 26. Make sure I'm
doing this wrong. Uh, we made the right decision. I only have three slides for you today. So, we'll start by looking at the tax rate per $100 valuation. Uh, we have the years listed out here. For each of those, we give three different tax rates that we're looking at. We're looking at the voter approval
rate. We're looking at the no new revenue tax rate and the adopted tax rate. Just as a reminder, the voter approval rate represents the max amount we could adopt before going out to the voters for approval. The no new revenue rate is a tax rate which would bring the
same amount of revenue from the same properties as the previous year. And then the adopted tax rate is again what the commissioner's court approves for our budget. Below that we have the tax revenue generated uh budgeted tax revenue generated. Thank you. Uh for the
and as a note on that that is net of tiffs and over 65 freezes. And just as a reference for fiscal year 26, the total amount of tiffs that came straight off the top was 11.3 million and the total amount of over 65 exemptions was 8.6
million. On our next slide, we'll talk a little bit about cash carry forward to give you an indication of how we budget for cash carry forward in 2425 and 26. Uh you see those amounts listed there. Uh from our previous discussion on our reserves last
uh court session we did discuss that cash carry forward uses to fund three major pools. One of those is reserves, one of those is undesonated and the last is the capital transfers for 451 and 454 funds. Uh you can see how those cash carry forward amounts for 2425 were used
for those funds on that slide. And then our last slide is talking about the undesated uses or how we used undesated for 24, 25, and 26. Uh we used about a million for 24, 9 million for
25, and 1.1 million so far for 26. to go back and kind of reiterate what we discussed during our reserves briefing last month. That 9 million includes that 53.9% for judicial and this is by functional areas which are what we call cost centers in the budget are the
functional areas. That 53.9% represents indigent defense which is our largest unfunded mandate. Uh up to $33 million for fiscal year 25. That was 16% more than fiscal year 24 and continues to rise year-over-year without any
additional funding from the state. So really that's what I have for you today. Any questions I'd be happy to answer. >> I do. >> Yes, sir. >> Uh regarding general fund transfers, capital transfers dropped from 77.7 million to 22.8 million in two years.
That's a $55 million reduction. What specific projects or services have been deferred as a result and what is the cumulative cost of that deferral to the county? >> Uh well, I can't answer any deferral costs. I can tell you that we have not had to defer anything. We still have a
capital improvement plan that we have not yet presented to the court, but we plan on doing that in the near future. Uh but we haven't had to defer any cost, any maintenance or operational costs yet. >> Okay. At what point do reduced transfers from the general fund begin affecting
day-to-day service delivery in precincts? And are we already there? >> I don't believe we're already there. Again, I can't really answer that. I don't foresee that happening anytime in the future. Uh, Road and Bridge does take an operating transfer significantly from the tax rate, but that is not
coming from cash. That's coming from the our tax rate that we uh adopt as the commissioner's court. >> Okay. Uh the adopted tax rate has been set below the no new revenue rate three years and running. In dollar terms, how much revenue has that decision cost the
county cumulative cumulatively across fiscal year 24 to 26? >> From 24 to 26, I can definitely get you that. Yes, sir. >> Thank you. And last question is if the current trajectory continues in the 27,
which county services or departments, if any, are first in line to absorb cuts? >> Again, cannot answer specifically. We have a lot of variables we have to consider as we move into fiscal year 27. One of those being this is a new appraisal year for the first time since we've taken the two-year uh adopted the
two-year rate. And we are transitioning to a new system for TAD which may help give better data. We're it's going so far so good. We haven't heard any bad news from over there. We should have preliminary values at the end of April so we can get a good idea of kind of where we're standing for fiscal year 27.
>> Thank you, Matt. >> Yes, sir. >> I just say Commissioner uh Miles, I would I would switch the premise of that question. When we lower the effective tax rate on what it's cost the county, I would put it how much more money have the taxpayers kept in their pockets. So,
I think you can look at it either way, but >> sure. I I think that's a fair way to look at it, too. >> I mean, you could, but how much how much did it save the taxpayers? >> Uh, I we have those calculations. I did
not include them in the slide. I do have it at my in my office. I can get those for you later today. I mean, any any any penny is valuable, but um hey, if it's on average 40 bucks a year and uh you know, we're we're struggling
because we insisted on going below no new revenue. >> Who is struggling? >> Um the county is struggling because we insisted on going below no new revenue. Uh then that's that's a problem. Um, now
I understand uh I I just want to clarify so you can know that I understand um and if we just talk in plain terms of dollar amounts, fiscal years and availability
um it I think it's all in here was that a fiscal 2025 reserve. There was a reserve use, right? >> For fiscal year 25. Yes, ma'am. >> Yes.
>> Uh was there fiscal year 2026 adjustment? >> Adjustment to reserves. >> Uhhuh. >> No, ma'am. >> Okay. >> Each year we budget again with cash carry forward for reserves. >> Okay. Okay. Or a November 2025 closeout entry.
>> There was a November 25 closeout entry for fiscal year 25. >> Right. And what was that exact dollar amount? >> Uh that was the approximately the 8 million that we used that we tapped into reserves for overtime. >> Okay.
Um All right. That's what I thought. Now that that's clarified as of the most recent official reporting date, what are the current dollar balances for formal reserves and undesated funds?
Are they in this? >> So the 83 million which you'll see right there for 26 is the reserves. >> And for undesated, let me go back. Oh, it's right there too. Uh 6.1 6.2 million for undesated.
>> I see it. Yes, ma'am. Okay. So, please walk us through the tax side for fiscal years 2024, 25, and 26. What was the adopted tax rate? Go. Yep. Got it. 24.
Is there anything that concerns you right now with our financial picture for the rest of this fiscal year?
Do you have any concerns about making budget in any area? If I understand what you're saying, you're asking if we didn't budget according to our expenditures and our budget meets our expenditures. Our revenue covers the expenditures that
we've budgeted for. We have no uh down I mean we're not seeing any downside in revenues. I'm looking at the auditor to make sure. No. So there's no downside in revenues. Uh and we budgeted to the
revenues. So we don't see any issue at this particular moment. >> Okay. And uh for next fiscal year because we're in the budget budgeting process now. Um, if we're looking at
going below no new revenue again, does that cause you pause or any concern? >> We would need to see uh the appra the April uh tax rule. >> U until we see that, I mean, as Matt
stated, they are undergoing a conversion to newest software and they're doing a two-year appraisal. So once we see how that looks then and April is never a good uh even when we receive it
historically from from TAD because there's so many still under protest. So uh we can compare it to last year >> uh and that's the best we can do but we can't have a we can't use that to project what we will what we believe we
will receive. >> Okay. All right. Thank you, Matt. >> Any other questions from anyone? >> Thanks, Matt. >> Yes, sir. >> All right. Now, it's time for announcements and comments from court members. >> Does anybody have any? All right. Seeing none, we will now
recess the open session and proceed to close session to discuss items exempt under 5510720740760, 087, and 0725 of the Texas Government Code. Uh, executive session will begin promptly at 4:52
p.m. We are now in recess. All right, we're back from recess. We have two items that uh for consideration. First item is B1, consideration request to provide legal representation pursuant to local government code section 157.901
in Ultman's versus Ryell. Move >> approval. >> Second. >> Have a motion and a second on this item. Any discussion? All right, seeing none, I would say cast your vote. Oh, there it is. Look at that. >> Cast your votes. >> Got to wake it up.
>> Um I I do I just want to make a uh something clear. Um on this the we will not be hiring outside counsel on this. Doesn't sound like >> correct. The DA's office will represent.
>> We will be using attorneys from the DA's office to handle this case. Correct. >> Correct. >> Okay. >> Okay. Anything else? All right. Passes unanimously. And then we go to F1.
F1 is consideration to sell to an abuing land owner. Sell through a broker, abandon or vacate Billings Road. Do we have a motion here? >> I move to approve the sale of Billings Road to an abuing land owner with conditions. >> Second. >> All right, we have a motion and a second
on this item. Any discussion? >> All right, seeing none, please cast your vote. All right, that passes unanimously. And with that, there is no other action to be taken. We are officially adjourned.