By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Publisher’s note: The previous vote referred to in this story is covered here. Reading before this story will add context to this article.
County commissioners court on Wednesday blocked a request by the county’s justices of the peace for title changes and pay raises for their chief deputies and assistant chief deputies.
County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. announced the agenda item: “Discussion and possible action to make title changes and salary adjustments from chief deputies to court coordinators and assistant chief deputies to assistant court coordinators and salary adjustments to base pay for those positions.”
of the peace Wednesday during county commissioners court. Nettleton laid out his
reasons for denying a request by the justices for pay increases for personnel in their
offices. (Photo by Karen Gleason)
Owens then asked the three justices of the peace and George Salinas, who is filling in for Justice of the Peace Pct. 2 Antonio “Tony” Faz III, to come forward and speak to the court about the request.
“We don’t have a motion, but if you want to speak, that way we have an idea of what the dollar amounts will be,” Owens said.
Justice of the Peace Pct. 3 Pat Cole spoke to the court first.
Cole said, “We appreciate the opportunity to speak to you today. What we’re coming to you about is the agenda item that set a precedent by this court (during the) Nov 6 of this year. While barely one month into the current budget, on a motion by Commissioner Flores with affirmative votes by Commissioner Wardlaw and Commissioner Vazquez, you voted 3-2, with Judge Owens and Commissioner Nettleton voting in opposition, to make a salary adjustment for Sandra Veliz from $37,783.20 to $40,000. Included in that motion, her job title was changed from community center coordinator to community center director.
“Judge Owens stated in open court that Sandra Veliz has been with Val Verde County since 2012 and has had numerous title changes and a 73 percent increase in her salary over those years. We justices of the peace have come before this court for two-and-a-half years, asking for title changes from chief deputy to court coordinators and assistant chief deputies to assistant court coordinators and base pay increases, . . . none of which have been granted,” Cole said.
She asked the chief deputies’ salaries be raised to $45,450.04 as court coordinators, and the assistant chief deputies’ salaries be raised to $38,450.04 as assistant court coordinators.
Cole said if the court did not take action on their request, “the justices of the peace, the chief deputies, the assistant chief deputies and all county employees will have to assume the preferential treatment by this court to commissioners’ secretaries and community center director is downright favoritism and will continue to be an ongoing issue.”
County Commissioner Pct. 3 Beau Nettleton asked about the amount of the increase.
Owens said the increase for all eight positions would cost the county about $61,000.
Justice of the Peace Pct. 4 Hilda Lopez then addressed the court.
“We want to be the same as some of the other courts. We feel our staff has earned and deserve this change of title,” Lopez said, adding if the court could see the work done by the justices’ personnel, they would see the need for the pay increases.
Nettleton said he agreed that the justices’ staff members deserved more pay, but added those requests must be brought to the court during budget hearings and noted none of the justices made those requests at that time.
He said he also agreed with the justices that the court had set a precedent by giving an out-of-cycle title change and pay increase during the last meeting, but added he would vote against the justices’ request.
“I won’t vote for it because it’s out of the budget process. I didn’t vote for the (Nov. 6 request), not because I don’t think they don’t deserve it. I totally agree they deserve it. I’ve been wanting to see us move the bottom end (of the pay scale) up to $30,000. In the last budget the money wasn’t there . . . I can’t vote for this because it’s outside the process,” Nettleton said.
Owens had a slightly different take on the justices’ request.
The county judge said he did not believe the pay increases were warranted because the courts’ caseloads have not increased in the last five years.
He noted his office has absorbed the position of administrative assistant to the county judge for nearly two years.
“I will not ever, ever, ever vote to change a title to give you that much more money when your cases have not increased,” the county judge said.
He said once the JPs had finished their presentation, he would make a motion to deny their requests.
Nettleton then said he would ask that one of the three other commissioners make the motion to approve the requests, since they had made the motion to approve the title change and pay raise at the last meeting, and Owens said none of them would.
Justice of the Peace Pct. 1 Jesse James Treviño also addressed the court and spoke about the work the justices’ staff performs.
Nettleton again said he had no issue with the work being done, but said his problem was with the process.
Cole then responded to Owens’ comments about the justices’ case numbers not increasing, saying that while the number of cases may not have gone up, the workload has, citing additional mandates for reporting and certification by the state.
“Although our cases may not have increased, our duties have increased, and the thing that concerns me the most is the work that (our staff does) affects people’s lives,” Cole said.
George Salinas also spoke to the court, noting the courts’ workload is much greater than it was when he served as a JP a decade ago.
Cole then asked to make a closing statement. She said Nettleton and Owens had indicated they would not approve justices’ request. When she began to address Flores, Owens stopped her and said if there was to be a vote, it would be on a motion and asked if any of the commissioners had one.
After a long silence, Owens asked Assistant County Attorney John Clemmer, “Can I leave it at that or do I need to make a motion?”
“No, there’s no action,” Clemmer said.
“Which is pretty sorry,” Owens said.
“It is,” Nettleton agreed.
“It is very sorry,” Cole added.
Nettleton said, “In that case, I make a motion to deny the request and request that they come back at the next budget process.”
Owens gave the second, and the court voted unanimously in favor of the motion.
After the vote, Cole said, “Commissioner Flores, you led the change for Sandra Veliz. You know what she does, you know what she’s worth to you, and it’s important that you keep her there. I understand that. We’re in the same position. . . Commissioner Wardlaw, Commissioner Vazquez, Commissioner Flores, you all voted and established the precedent for this to happen with Sandra. You did that because you thought that was the right thing to do. The three of you made that happen, and I, along with these three other judges, are asking you to do this today to see that this happens because it is deserved.”
Owens then thanked Cole and as she left the podium, Cole said, “Gentlemen, I hope that you can sleep with your conscience.”
After the meeting, The 830 Times asked Flores if he had a comment on the title change and pay raise he had requested for Veliz and on the requests by the justices, and he declined to comment.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
