What happened: The Midland County Commissioners Court met on Tuesday, July 7, and voted to assign security for the county’s new Justice of the Peace courthouse to the constables rather than the Sheriff’s Office. The court also agreed on a 2% salary increase for elected officials after rejecting a proposal to raise constable pay to justice-of-the-peace levels.

Key points:

  • JP courthouse security: The court considered whether the Sheriff’s Office or the constables should provide security at the new Courthouse Annex, scheduled to open in September. The court ultimately assigned the responsibility to the constables.

Sheriff David Criner pointed to a state law he argued makes the Sheriff’s Office responsible for courthouse security. County Attorney Russell Malm said state law allows either the Sheriff’s Office or the constables to provide security, leaving the decision to the Commissioners Court.

County Judge Terry Johnson argued the four constables do not currently have enough manpower to staff the new courthouse and warned that hiring additional deputy constables could further reduce the Sheriff’s Office’s already-short staffing.

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“If [Criner is] 40 [deputies] short, now he’s fixing to be 44 short,” Johnson said.

Commissioner Charles Hall disagreed, arguing that the Sheriff’s Office staffing shortages are driven by broader retention challenges.

“We can’t force these people to stay someplace that they don’t want to work,” Commissioner Charles Hall rebutted. “We throw as much money at him as we can, but there’s other problems we cannot take care of.”

The exchange ended with a tense confrontation between Criner and Hall.

“It was uncalled for and unnecessary and not well accepted,” Criner said to Hall before leaving the meeting. “Saying that it’s the agency’s fault for that, you should be ashamed of yourself, Commissioner.”

Hall replied, “It’s the truth.”

Commissioner Dianne Anderson, Steven Villela, and Hall voted to assign security responsibilities to the constables. Commissioner Jeff Sommers and Johnson voted against.

  • 2% raise passes: The court proposed a 2% raise for elected officials after multiple alternative salary proposals failed to pass. Villela proposed increasing constable salaries from about $80,000 to roughly $102,000 to match the justices of the peace. That motion failed. Villela then proposed the 2% across-the-board increase, which passed with Anderson voting no and Hall abstaining.

“We’re supposed to be professionals knowing what we’re doing, and we’re up here playing games,” Johnson said after the repeated votes.

Villela responded that the Commissioners Court cannot discuss business outside of a properly posted meeting, making the public meeting the only place the discussion can occur.

  • Inspection deputy: Tax Assessor-Collector Mary Helen Bowers proposed creating a commissioned deputy position to perform vehicle identification number (VIN) inspections for bonded titles, homemade trailers, out-of-state vehicles, and vehicles with VIN discrepancies. She said that Midland-Odessa currently lacks local VIN inspections, forcing residents to travel to other counties.

Bowers said the position would help combat organized theft in the region. The position would cost about $90,000 and charge $40 per inspection. Johnson said commissioners will consider the request during budget discussions.

  • GIS coordinator approved: The court approved creating an $85,000 a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) coordinator position for the Road and Bridge Department. County staff said the department has used its GIS mapping platform daily for about nine months but lacks someone with the expertise to maintain and expand the system.
  • Old extension building: AgriLife requested $141,000 in facility improvements to move the 4-H archery program and animal check-in operations to the southern half of the former extension building. County staff said the building lacks heating and air conditioning, and that converting its current use from storage and auction space would trigger ADA-compliance upgrades.

County officials instead suggested using the barn at the Horseshoe Arena for the 4-H activities. The court took no action.