Citizen brings issues before the court

The Cass County Commissioners’ Court convened Tuesday on the matter of the proposed budget for fiscal year 2020 and invited the public to voice their concerns. Dr. F. Jane Kennedy of Atlanta, Texas was the only attendee who addressed the court.

Kennedy began by referencing a recent audit of fiscal year 2018 that was conducted and presented by Holliday Lemons & Cox PC of Texarkana, Texas as her reason for speaking about the proposed budget.

She provided documentation to the court as to the county judge’s duties and made note that the judge serves as head of emergency management. Of the budget, Kennedy said, “There is a salary of $14,400 and this comes under emergency management person. Why are we paying someone else $14,400 a year plus education and travel to do something that falls under the county judge’s job? That means I paid twice for something and it only needs one person to do it.”

Kennedy addressed Judge Becky Wilbanks, directly, “After checking into this, I find that this job only takes about three hours a week. If this is something that the judge chooses not to do, it should come from your salary and not from the general fund.”

Kennedy then requested more consistency from the commissioners in the way they assign expenses to line items, “It needs to be more explanatory so the general public can understand how to review this and keep themselves educated on what is going on with our money in Cass County. I want to know where it’s going.”

As is procedure, neither Wilbanks nor the commissioners issued an immediate response. A request for comment was made to the office of county judge. The office provided a written statement wherein Texas HB 1471 of the Government Code Section 418.1015 was cited as it pertains to emergency management and its director’s authority, “An emergency management director may designate a person to serve as emergency management coordinator. The emergency management coordinator shall serve as an assistant to the emergency management director for emergency management purposes.”

Additionally, “Cass County records reflect that each County Judge since 1992 has designated an Emergency Management Coordinator. Some of those included Gary Stewart, Johnny Duncan, Larry Trevino, Don Blackwell and currently, Robin Betts.”

Chief Robin Betts of the Atlanta Fire Department confirmed that he is the emergency management coordinator, and said of his position, “I devote 20-30 hours a week to Emergency Management duties. This job requires knowledge in every aspect of public safety from fire, law enforcement, medical to mass causality incidents either man-made or natural. I do receive compensation of $1200.00 per month from Cass County for the performance of these duties.”

A written request to the county auditor, Tammy Wells, for an official outline of procedure on coding expenses returned, “My office reviews each invoice to insure [sic] accuracy. There may be some line items descriptions that may vary slightly in the description, but the Commissioners have many years of experience at coding their expenses for payment correctly.”

Both the budget for fiscal year 2020 and audit of fiscal year 2018 can be found at www.co.cass.tx.us.