By John Waters, Publisher
Brewster County Commissioners court began the year with a surprise visit/berating/ tutorial from former Brewster County judge, Val Beard.
Beard, who resigned from office in 2013, broke her year of political absence by appearing at the first meeting of the new incarnation of commissioners court on Monday, January 12, to admonish the court for not following Texas law, not having agenda items in order, not including items she thought essential, and not having an invocation.
Although Beard began her address to the court by saying she was a concerned citizen who did not want the court to engage in any illegal activity that would result in costly litigation, her comments soon descended into an analysis of what, when, and how the court should operate and what is and is not appropriate for the court.
The court’s meeting agenda contained items pertaining to reversing decisions made by the court last year, including reversing changes to employee and retiree health insurance eligibility criteria and eliminating a $4,800 annual car allowance, clarifying travel reimbursement for employees and commissioners, and reconsidering a contract for communication service with Big Bend Telephone.
Beard addressed the court for nearly eight minutes. Here is a partial transcript of what she said:
“Today I am not casting aspersions on anyone. I realize you are in a transition and a time to learn the ropes. But I think as a citizen I would be remiss if I didn’t make some comments about the agenda items. so I’m going to….
During the campaign there was a lot of rhetoric…. There was some really false and misleading rhetoric, to the effect [that] elected officials and county employees are the same. When you get into it, nothing could be further from the truth; that’s totally inaccurate. Texas law treats elected officials a good deal differently. And in fact they’re not the usual employees. And I could spend probably thirty minutes going point by point what the difference is but that’s not the purpose of the discussion today.
Under Texas law there are very established procedures about setting salaries and allowances and benefits of elected officials. Very, very specific. These matters can be raised once a year, during the budget process. There are a series of actions and prescribed notices which are required to raise or lower a salary and that’s just the way the legislature has it set up its to keep commissioners court from medaling in the politics or acting in a retaliatory fashion against an official that they don’t like. That’s the way it is. There is a proper order and a proper time to do that, and it is not now.
You have agenda items which are out of order. If some of you are so troubled by the amount of this [car allowance], I urge you to follow the longstanding tradition on car allowances of donating it back if you don’t like that… If you don’t like it, in the interim, there are other avenues open to you. But I urge you not to take illegal action.”
What longstanding tradition Beard was referring to is unclear, as the policy in question was adopted in July of last year and not yet implemented.
Although Beard had said she was urging the court not to engage in illegal actions by changing the budget, she contradicted herself when she then urged the court to consider changing all allowances, not just those of commissioners.
Beard continued, “When you take a look at the budget, you also need to take a look at the allowances of all members of the court, and that includes the county judge’s allowance, also, so examine everything in context all together.”
During her tenure as judge, Beard collected a car allowance, though none of the county commissioners had a car allowance during that time.
In July of last year, the court gave its commissioners a $4,800 annual car allowance. At the time, Commissioner Ruben Ortega claimed he drives 1,000 miles a week on county business. On numerous times Ortega claimed mileage reimbursement from the county for attending commissioners court, but did not seek reimbursement for the alleged 1,000 miles driven weekly.
Regarding an agenda item that would have changed a contract with Big Bend Telecom, Beard informed the court:
“A motion to reconsider can only be made by one of the prevailing sides who has changed his mind. I think this came up at a city council sometime in the last year. I don’t know, it remains to be seen. Have any of the three commissioners who voted for the proposal changed their minds today? I don’t see that you asked to have it on the agenda. So that’s a matter of concern.
But as a matter of substance, I think I know better than anyone that upgraded telecommunication services are desperately needed; this needs to be done. You have a good bid from an extremely reliable local company. I don’t know of any other better employees who provide the kind of service as Big Bend Tel. If you need numbers or you need information you can go to a bidder individually; that’s quite proper.
Go seek out information if you need it, but I urge you not to delay implementation of the contract that is really, really needed.
Backtracking is gonna be your undoing. If you dither, if you go backwards, if you are always looking backwards, it’s gonna result in a loss of credibility with your vendors. They don’t trust you they don’t want to do business with you. You’re not gonna get good bids if you make this a practice. It even impacts your ability to get loans at a good rate of good interest….
I want to express concern on what is not on the agenda. And again I realize we have transition, you are new. But the road and bridge report is at the heart of what commissioner’s court does, and I feel that needs to be on the agenda as a regular item. Three is an election tomorrow; an elections update would be good so that you can make sure the county is prepared. With all the controversy about elections, I think commissioners court needs an update and need to know what’s coming.
Finally, and most critical, most serious to me personally: I feel like the invocation needs to be put back on the agenda. This has always been a non-denominational time when we can put our heads down and ask for guidance. I think its something commissioners court can benefit from and certainly we all need guidance as we go about the county’s business.
Commissioners thank you for your time, Godspeed and I wish you well.”
The invocation was discontinued last year while Kathy Killingsworth was judge.
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