By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
County commissioners court members have approved doubling the salary of a former
justice of the peace who has been hired to do the work of an elected justice of the peace
currently unable to perform his duties.
The court took action Thursday following discussion of an agenda item titled “discussion
and possible action on hiring an individual to do criminal and civil cases for Pct. 2 justice
of the peace.”
County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. initiated the discussion by giving the court’s two new
members, County Commissioner Pct. 1 Kerr Wardlaw and County Commissioner Pct. 3 Fernando Garcia, some background on the situation, which came about because Justice of
the Peace Pct. 2 Antonio “Tony” Faz III is currently not able to carry out his duties
because of medical reasons.
Owens said in November 2024, the court “approved a salary of about $38,000, and we
hired Mr. George Salinas, who used to be the Precinct 2 justice of the peace, to help with
magistrations and inquests.”
“We are waiting on different numbers from the state in order for him to be certified, for
him to begin to work. He’s done his training,” Owens said, adding the chief deputy in the
office has assisted Salinas in obtaining the training he needs to become certified.
“He already has the training and will need to go to some follow-up training to help with
criminal and civil cases. What I would be asking the court for, if the court would be okay
with it, would be another $38,467.50, which would come up to the total salary of the JP
(justice of the peace),” Owens said.
“That money will be paid out of salaries, the savings that we have in salaries, and that
would help. Our JPs, Precinct 1, 3 and 4, have been taking on all the load that Justice of
the Peace Pct. 2’s office has had. The other JPs have been taking on that load, but I think
it’s just a good idea for the court to assume some responsibility and get somebody else
hired to help do the work that is coming out of the Justice of the Peace Pct. 2 office,” the
county judge added.
County Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus” Flores asked, “Judge, if we were to hire
somebody to help out, once Mr. Salinas gets certified, what’s going to happen to this
position?’
Owens replied, “What I would ask for is, we keep Mr. Salinas, hire him, to do the rest of
the work for the JP2, for the simple reason, he has already done it, and anything else
anybody needs to catch up on, he’s already closer than anybody to getting certfications,
so he would be at a salary of $76,935 a year.
“As soon as our justice of the peace, Tony Faz, is able to come back to work, then this
position would go away, and Mr. Faz would continue as JP. Does that answer your
question?” Owens added.
Flores asked if the position would only be for JP2 or for the other JPs.
“If we hire somebody to do the casework and do the work for the Justice of the Peace Pct.
2, it is going to help Justices of the Peace Pct. 1, 3 and 4 because right now, they’re not
only doing their jobs, but they’re doing whatever else is coming out of the JP 2 court,”
Owens replied.
Owens noted that even County Court-At-Law Judge Sergio Gonzalez has assisted in the
work, including magistrations and some of the inquests.
“Right now, we have three JPs doing the work that would normally take four JPs, and in
my opinion, we’re asking them – and none of them have complained – but I do think we
need to step up and hire this other position in order to give them a little bit of breathing
room and get them back to some sense of normal,” Owens said.
Flores then spoke to Justice of the Peace Pct. 4 Hilda Lopez, who was seated in the
audience. He asked her what she thought about the court hiring the position.
“Will it help you guys out?” Flores asked.
“Yes, it would,” Lopez replied.
County Auditor Matthew Weingardt then asked if the court would consider paying
Salinas’ salary out of the county’s contingency fund.
County Commissioner Pct. 2 Juan Carlos Vazquez asked for confirmation of the amount
that Salinas would be paid, and Owens said it would be the same rate as that budgeted for
the current justice of the peace, $76,935.99 per year.
“I’ll make a motion that we approve this position, with the money coming out of
contingency,” Vazquez said.
Flores gave the second, then County Commissioner Pct. 3 Fernando Garcia asked if the
action by the court would simply double Salinas’ salary.
Owens said Salinas had initially been hired at half-salary because he was only expected
to do inquests and magistrations.
“At that point, we thought it would help, and it has, but the problem is we have civil and
criminal cases in JP Pct. 2 (court) that all the other JPs are taking on,” Owens said.
“So he (Salinas) was hired on at half-pay because he was doing the half the work, and
now you want him to do the full work and pay him the full salary,” Garcia said.
Wardlaw said he is aware of the situation and has visited with Salinas.
“As soon as Judge Faz is able to come back, Mr. Salinas’ position will go away,” Owens
said.
The court then voted unanimously to approve the motion.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com .
