For The Record

Item 2.A had no appointments in it. None. The packet still carried the standard three pages swearing appointments “have been posted and advertised” and “interviews were conducted.” The Court approved it, and then the Chair said, “by the way there are no order making appointments this week.”

The county gave the City of Denton $5,800,000 for a road. The agreement puts the whole project at $5,800,000. The caption never says so, so the amount got read out loud and the share never did. Fourth road this year the county funded at 100%.

The Auditor’s certificate behind it is unsigned. Denton’s city manager signed. The county’s line is blank, and it is one of two blank certificates in the packet.

The Court applied for $1,953,723 in federal treatment court grants across two items, one of them a veterans court, with no discussion on either.

The NCTCOG lawsuit went behind the closed door and came back no action, unmentioned in open session.

And the Judge told the public he would announce next steps on filling the Constable Precinct 1 vacancy. Then the Court adjourned without one.

13.B is the adult drug court: $959,803 over four years for intensive supervision of high risk felony offenders trying to get out of addiction. Residential and outpatient treatment, random testing, scheduled and unannounced field visits, a requirement to hold a job and an address. The county’s share is zero. The grant covers 100%.

13.C is the veterans court: $993,920 over four years, $248,480 a year. This county created that court in December 2009 and had it running by November 2012.

The packet notes something worth hearing out loud. The opportunity is listed under FY2025 because it is “the reopening of a previously closed grant application that was closed by the U.S. Department of Justice.”

Motion, second, unanimous. Motion, second, unanimous. No discussion on either.

These are the two items on the agenda that keep people out of a jail this county cannot staff, and they cost the county nothing. That was worth 30 seconds.

Say what these courts do, and say it every time the money comes up.

This week the reading contained something new. “Our consent agenda today consists of item 2A, and by the way there are no order making appointments this week.”

There were none. The Court had already voted.

Now go look at what it voted on. Pages 7 through 9 carry the same three pages this item has carried at all 15 meetings, including the sentence swearing that appointments “have been posted and advertised” and that “interviews were conducted as set forth in the Denton County policies adopted by the Commissioners Court.”

None of that happened. There was nothing to post, advertise or interview for. The paperwork said it anyway, it passed anyway, and it looked exactly like the 11 times before it.

That answers the question I have been asking since January. This item is not thin. It is boilerplate. The one week it contained nothing at all was indistinguishable from every week it supposedly contained something.

Print what is in the order, or keep it off the agenda.

The Court came back out and read the first one plainly. A settlement in the county’s own suit against a contractor, $525,000 coming to Denton County, $375,000 from the O’Haver Company and $150,000 from TM Work Zone. Said out loud, with the split named.

Then this: “There’ll be no action on item 15B and no action on item 15C, and hearing no other action before the court we are adjourned.”

15.B is cause number 26-3611-431, this county’s suit against members of the North Central Texas Council of Governments executive board. Posted on the agenda, discussed behind a closed door, and left without one word in open session.

15.C was the appointment of a Constable for Precinct 1. Earlier that morning the Court accepted the sitting constable’s resignation effective May 29, and the Judge told the room the Court “will be contemplating the process of filling that vacancy later today with an announcement on next steps to be provided, so just wanted to let the public know that.”

No announcement came that day. The Court took no action and adjourned.

If the next step is a week away, say so before you gavel out.

It ran 223 words. He thanked God for corrections officers “as ministers who maintain liberty and justice for all,” asked protection for local and national leaders, prayed for soldiers from Denton County deployed around the world, blessed Texas and America, and closed “In Jesus name, amen.”

13 of the 15 invocations this year have come from a county department head, a member of this Court, the Sheriff, or his chaplain. That is what makes this a government practice rather than a private one.

A moment of silence costs nothing, and it belongs to everybody in that room, including the officers this prayer was about.

The first is on page 430, inside the City of Denton road agreement. It reads: “I hereby certify funds are available to accomplish and pay the obligation of Denton County, Texas, under this Agreement.” There is no line for an amount. The signature line above “Denton County Auditor” is empty.

The second is on page 468, behind a five month renewal of the county’s alternative dispute resolution agreement at $12,000 a month. That one uses the other form, the one that does ask: “I hereby certify that funds are available in the amount of $______.” The blank is blank, and the signature line for the Denton County Auditor on the next page is empty too.

Now look at the same document from the other side. The City of Denton’s block carries four signatures: the city manager, the interim city secretary, the city attorney signing as to legal form, and the development services director signing as to operational terms.

Four people put their name on Denton’s half. Denton County committed $5,800,000 and signed nothing.

Two certificates, neither signed, neither searchable. The $459,111.60 storage purchase carries none at all. Neither does the $159,705.15 vehicle renovation. Sign them, and publish them as text so a resident can find them.

The agreement puts the estimated cost of the whole project at $5,800,000. The county is paying every dollar of it.

You would not know that from the agenda. The caption gives the county’s contribution and never gives the project cost, so when the Judge read it out the amount was audible and the share was not. Commissioner Precinct 4 Edmondson moved it. The Judge seconded it himself, then thanked her for her “continued work on the roadways out in precinct four.”

The road sits entirely inside the City of Denton and the Town of Northlake. The city does the work: “all utility relocations, inspections, construction, and maintenance.” Invoices route to the County Auditor care of Innovative Transportation Solutions.

This is the fourth road this year the county funded at 100%. Flower Mound, Flower Mound, Justin, now Denton. $18,000,000, every dollar of it inside somebody else’s city limits.

Put the project cost in the caption, so the share gets read out loud with the money.