Quorum Court allocates committee assignments

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The quorum court met Monday evening to set dates for meetings in the coming year, and Justices of the Peace decided to keep the current schedule, 5 p.m. on the third Monday of each month. The January and February dates both fall on holidays, so the meetings in those two months will move to the fourth Monday.

Other meeting times were discussed, but JP Larry Swofford said the 5 p.m. time slot allowed more of the public to attend.

County Judge Sam Barr announced committee assignments for 2019, with the budget committee including JPs Jack Deaton, Chuck Olson, Matt Phillips, Kellie Matt and Marty Johnson. The county facilities committee will have Deaton, Olson, and Phillips, and the committee for public water development will feature JPs Harrie Farrow, John Howerton and Roger Hall.

The personnel committee will be Johnson, Matt, and Swofford, and Farrow and JPs Craig Hicks and Don McNeely will comprise the county library committee. Any JP can attend a committee meeting, but only those listed on the committee will receive a stipend for the meeting.

Deaton asked if the personnel committee should form a subcommittee to hear grievances, as the newly adopted employee handbook calls for a process to hear grievances. JPs asked if the grievance committee could only include JPs, or include department heads or members of the public. The full quorum court may also hear grievances.

While some of the JPs completed the swearing-in process at the outset of the meeting, Olson noted that Carroll County will soon exceed 30,000 in population, and that will require drawing new districts for 13 JPs.