Commissioners seek to form salary grievance committee

The Hays County Commissioners Court hosted a special meeting Monday to discuss and take possible action regarding the creation of the Hays County Salary Grievance Committee. 

During previous meetings, the court agreed that the committee is formed with members being publicly and randomly chosen from the jury pool. The names were picked and contacted to determine if they were able to serve on the committee. 

Out of the names previously chosen by the court, some were unable to serve on the committee. During Monday's meeting, a bigger pool of names was drawn. 

A total of 30 names were chosen from another random jury pool and are set to be contacted for their availability to serve. There is set to be a nine-member body for the committee. 

“I certainly have some recommendations for the next time we do this and in the future,” said Hays County Clerk Elaine Cárdenas. “One is certainly that we pull a large enough pool that we can get people because we got barely nine out of the 30 names we drew.” 

During the meeting, County Judge Ruben Becerra along with the commissioners also made the decision to appoint the county clerk’s office to have primary responsibilities regarding the committee with clear authority and direction from the court. 

Those who were chosen will be contacted by the county clerk’s office There will be another meeting on Sept. 20 at 4:30 p.m. to finalize the names for the committee. 

Before the end of the meeting, Becerra addressed those whose names were chosen. 

“My sincerest hope is if you’re watching, or if you get to dial in later and see this later, that you understand that this is a necessity for us and we are going to be light on the use,” Becerra said. “We hope to take about an hour, it could be up to two hours, we really want to be as efficient as possible.” 

Out of the first batch of the names, there are still some prospective committee members that remain. The names will be added to the list and will be considered to make up the nine-member committee along with their alternates. 

If there are still vacancies within the committee and their alternates after the meeting to finalize, elected officials are set to serve as members. 

To watch the full meeting, visit hayscountytx.com/commissioners-court/court-video/.