An independent contract attorney agreement for prosecutorial services – to be funded with unused district attorney salaries – was approved by the Polk County Commissioners Court during its regular meeting Tuesday. District Attorney Shelly Sitton requested the agenda item and provided a proposed agreement and template for the Court’s review.
Until the open assistant district attorney positions can be filled, she has arranged for several qualified attorneys to provide support on a contract basis. In addition to requesting the Court’s approval of the template agreement, she was also requesting authorization to engage contract attorneys as needed without requiring individual contract approval for each engagement. Therefore, for recordkeeping purposes, all contracts and subsequent terminations will be received and recorded in the commissioners court records.
Several items pertaining to personnel matters were on the agenda. The Court approved personnel action form requests submitted by department heads since the last meeting; approved a request from the Precinct 4 justice of the peace to use discretionary funds for one-time bonuses for her staff; and approved a request to pay out requested FLSA time for the sheriff’s staff and requested FLSA and holiday time for the jail staff.
The Court approved action to revise the county holiday policy to establish a cap on accrued holiday hours and remove the expiration date.
“What we’re doing is restructuring holiday time similar to sick leave which then makes everything consistent by establishing a maximum accrual cap while eliminating the expiration date. On average, the court approves approximately 15 holidays each year so setting a cap of 15 days would preserve the current balance of benefits while reducing the likelihood that employees would lose accrued time,” County Judge Sydney Murphy said.
“This would equate to the maximum of 120 hours for employees that work eight hours per holiday and 180 hours for those accruing 12 hours per holiday. That’s the difference between law enforcement and regular employees, so with proper oversight, then supervisors would be able to manage scheduling to allow employees approaching the cap to use their accrued time before additional holiday hours are earned,” Murphy said.
“It just makes it easier for us to track, and it allows us to not take anything away from any of the employees. It makes it easier for the supervisor to be able to allow them to use their time and the system can do it with little to no changes,” Human Resources Director James Mostek said.
Fiscal year 2025 budget revisions and fiscal year 2026 budget revisions and amendments, as presented by the county auditor’s office, were approved.
Items on the consent agenda included:
Precinct 4 Commissioner Jerry Cassity opened the meeting with prayer.
