County doubles down on vacant constable office

Donley County Commissioners put another nail in the coffin of the Precinct 1 & 2 constable’s office during their regular meeting Monday.
The county had officially declared the office as “dormant” in March of 2003 following controversy in which a write-in candidate was elected to that office in 2000 after it had been vacant since 1978. A legal battle over the office’s salary ensued before the constable resigned in 2001 after failing to become a certified Texas peace officer.
The county’s 2003 action was taken after Texas voters in November 2002 gave counties the authority to declare vacant or unneeded constable offices as dormant, and so for more than a decade the matter appeared to be resolved.
However, County Judge John Howard says the county has since discovered that a seven-year waiting period must elapse during which the constable’s office is vacant before the county can take action.
As a result, the commissioners court again voted unanimously this week to declare the office as dormant.
The position can be resurrected at any time by majority vote of the commissioners or through a process that begins with a petition from voters in that precinct.
In other county business, commissioners approved security measures for the district courtroom, authorized trainings for the county clerk and county tax assessor, and did not change the schedule of fees in the tax assessor’s office.
A local grant of $250 was approved for home delivered meals through the Department of Agriculture’s Texans Feeding Texans program.
There were no comments from the public during a hearing prior to commissioners adopting a resolution to clarify the borders of Reinvestment Zone #2.
Commissioners also continued work on the budget for fiscal year 2017.
Judge Howard says the county is considering a small tax increase and that all county employees except commissioners could see a small raise in the coming fiscal year.
More details of the proposed budget will be published in next week’s Enterprise.