For The Record

She told the room what was in item 2.A: two order makers, one in public health, one in technology services, one a rehire and one a new hire. That is the third time all year the public learned anything about who this county appoints, and all three times Mitchell had the gavel because the Judge was gone.

Then the Court forgot to vote on it. “Y’all didn’t vote? Why didn’t y’all vote?”

Item 14.C raised what the county pays for four roads inside the Town of Hickory Creek from $4,250,503 to not more than $8,000,000. The whole project costs $10,200,000. The county went from 42% of it to 78%. Nobody said either number.

Two County Auditor’s certificates in 273 pages. Both blank, both photographs no search can find. Hickory Creek’s mayor signed. VR Systems signed. Every Denton County line is empty.

The Court put a case management platform into the WIC program with a HIPAA agreement covering health records for low income mothers and infants. No price in 25 pages, and the quote it is built on is not in the packet.

And the county’s lawsuit against the NCTCOG executive board went behind the door a second week running. No action, and not a word in open session.

Every figure in that caption got said out loud. One figure did not, and it is the one that tells you what happened.

Page 258 puts the whole project at $10,200,000. The county’s share just went from 42% of that to 78%. Nobody watching heard either number.

Now go back to the original agreement. This Court approved it July 9, 2024, under Court Order 24-0549, at $4,250,503. Here is what that agreement said, quoted in the amendment the Court just passed: the county would contribute an initial amount not to exceed $4,250,503, “with the intent to increase County contribution upon issuance of additional bond funds.”

The intent was in writing in 2024. The number the public heard in 2024 was $4.25 million. 22 months later the intent came due, as one motion, in under a minute.

Five weeks ago three Roanoke agreements carried that same clause. $2,055,000 announced, $5,700,000 intended, printed once and never spoken. Hickory Creek is what that clause looks like when it matures.

The amendment does document one change to the work. Country Lane drops from engineering, right of way acquisition, utility relocations and construction down to engineering only. The other three roads keep the full scope. So the only described change makes the job smaller, and the county’s commitment goes up 88%. The packet never says why.

Then page 261. County Auditor’s Certificate. “I hereby certify funds are available to accomplish and pay the obligation of Denton County, Texas, under this Agreement.” No line for an amount. Nothing above the words “Denton County Auditor.”

Hickory Creek’s mayor signed it. The town secretary attested under the town seal. Denton County’s signature block is empty and so is the date.

When an agreement says the county intends to pay more later, say the later number when you sign the first one. And when it arrives, say what changed. An 88% increase is not a formality.

She asked wisdom and courage for the commissioners. She also said this: “We thank you for this commissioner’s court and for the authority that it holds here.”

That is a room the public pays for, opened with thanks for the authority of the people running the meeting.

13 of the 16 invocations this year came from a member of this Court, a county department head, the Sheriff, or his chaplain. This one did not, and it still went the same direction, because the direction is not set by who accepts the invitation. It is set by the standing agenda item and by who gets asked.

A moment of silence takes the same 60 seconds and nobody has to sit it out.

The Judge was at the Regional Transportation Council. Commissioner Precinct 3 Bobbie J. Mitchell presided, and she did what she did the last time she had the gavel. She told the room what was actually in item 2.A: two order makers, one in public health and one in technology services, one a rehire and one a new hire.

That is three times this year the public learned anything about who this county is appointing. February 24, April 14, and today. All three times Mitchell was in the chair because the Judge was gone. Nothing in the packet made her do it on any of them.

Then she moved on to item 3, and a commissioner had to stop her. “I’m sorry, the commissioner we’ll need to vote on that.” Mitchell: “Y’all didn’t vote? Why didn’t y’all vote? All in favor?” Ayes. Carried. Then the joke: “I’m gonna have to beat them, I’m telling you. They just act up when the judge is not here.”

So the description came before the vote for the first time since April 14, and the only reason it did is that the vote got lost. Eight of the last 10 meetings this Court voted the consent agenda and then heard what was on it. This week it heard first by accident.

The paperwork did not move either way. Pages 7 through 9 carry the same three sheets item 2.A has carried at all 16 meetings: a routing form, the caption repeated, and an unexecuted court order printing all five members by name with a Yes, Abstain, No and Absent box beside each. It names nobody being appointed.

Two county employees got hired on that vote. Their names are not in any record a resident can read.

Put the names in the order and read it before the vote on purpose.

Item 15.A was pending litigation in Lukose v. City of Carrollton, cause 3:26-cv-03137, in the federal court for the Northern District of Texas. The Court came back and Mitchell read the order: assign Denton County’s legal representation to D. Randall Montgomery & Associates, PLLC; exempt the contract of employment from Texas Local Government Code Section 262.023, “if applicable”; authorize the County Judge to sign it. She moved it herself, Falconer seconded, unanimous.

No rate. No cap. No total. That is the fourth time this year this Court has hired outside counsel with that exact three step order and no price attached. Twice on March 17, again on April 7, and now.

Section 262.023 is the county’s competitive bidding requirement, and it applies above $50,000. The Court exempted the contract from it without ever saying what the contract costs. A resident cannot tell whether the exemption was needed.

Then go looking for that firm in the packet. It is not there. Item 15.A is three pages: a routing form, the caption printed a second time, and a blank court order. No memo at all. The only place the firm’s name exists in the public record is a recording of the presiding officer saying it out loud.

Item 15.B was cause 26-3611-431, County of Denton, Texas v. Victoria Johnson et al., in the 431st District Court. That is this county’s own lawsuit against members of the North Central Texas Council of Governments executive board. It went behind the door on April 28 and came back no action. It went behind the door again on May 5 and came back no action. Neither meeting produced one word about it in open session.

Item 15.C was the appointment of Constable Precinct 1, effective May 29. Same shape. Behind the door April 28, no action. Behind the door May 5, no action. And on April 28 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.” No announcement came that day. None came this week either. The seat empties in 24 days.

Those two items do carry memos, on pages 269 and 273. Each one is a subject line and nothing else. No body, no second page. March 17 produced the same thing on the NCTCOG matter, a memo that was only a heading.

Say the hourly rate before the Judge signs it. And when an item goes behind that door twice and produces nothing twice, tell the people paying for the room what is taking so long.

WIC is the federal nutrition program for low income pregnant women, new mothers, infants and children under five. A Business Associate Agreement is the document that lets a private company handle protected health records. So this item put that population’s health data in a vendor’s hands.

Mitchell read the caption. Commissioner Precinct 2 Falconer moved. Mitchell seconded it herself. Unanimous. Nobody said a word about it.

Nobody said a price either, because there is not one. Here is the memo’s entire financial impact disclosure: “Funds allocated from the departmental budget will be used to pay for the AgentForce implementation and maintenance costs.”

That is it. 25 pages, no dollar figure, no contract term, no renewal, no ceiling. Under preceding court action the memo says “None.” This is new spending, and there is no number in the public record to attach to it.

Now open the attachments. 21 pages: a 15 page Salesforce Data Processing Addendum and a six page Carahsoft HIPAA Business Associate Addendum. The word Agentforce appears in neither one. Not once. The Salesforce document is a stock online form marked “Revision May 2025,” and most of it concerns transferring European data under standard contractual clauses, which has nothing to do with a WIC clinic in Denton County.

Every signature block is empty. Page 152, customer and Carahsoft: blank. Page 164, Denton County and Carahsoft: blank. The form’s own instructions say it arrives “pre-signed on behalf of Carahsoft.” It did not.

Then read what the county bound itself to. The HIPAA addendum is “made a part of, and incorporated into Carahsoft Quote.” Page 165 names it. Quote #62716356. That quote is not in this packet.

The same page carries this: “The Parties agree that Carahsoft may unilaterally amend Exhibit A to include any new Carahsoft Quote and such new Carahsoft Quote will be incorporated into the Agreement and this Addendum.”

The vendor can extend this agreement to future purchases on its own. And the county’s obligations run partly through a “Business Associate Addendum Restrictions” page on the vendor’s website, “as updated from time to time,” which is also not in the packet.

Compare that to item 6.D, four pages earlier in the same agenda. A $229,571.97 power supply from Graybar. Memo from Scott Arledge, Director of Purchasing. The vendor’s quote attached with the list prices on it. The cooperative contract’s executive summary attached behind that. Price on the record, paperwork in the packet.

The Agentforce item did not go through Purchasing at all. It came from a division manager in the Health department, and it moved health records for mothers and babies with less documentation than a battery backup.

Publish the quote, say the number, and do not sign a HIPAA agreement the other side can extend without asking.

The first sits on page 251, behind item 14.B, the fourth renewal of the county’s voter registration and election management software from VR Systems. The contract is $137,730. That number appears in the caption, in the court order, in the placement memo, and twice more in the funding lines, down to the dollar.

Here is what page 251 says: “I hereby certify that funds are available in the amount of $______ to accomplish and pay the obligation of Denton County under this contract/agreement.”

The blank is blank. The line above “Jeff May, Denton County Auditor” is blank. So is Andy Eads’ signature line, the date under it, and the County Clerk’s.

VR Systems signed. Dated it April 22, 2026.

The second is page 261, behind the $8,000,000 Hickory Creek amendment, and it is the other form, the one with no space for an amount at all. Empty above “Denton County Auditor.”

Two certificates. $8,137,730 in county obligations between them. Not one Denton County signature on either, and not one number.

The county owns a certificate that asks how much. On the $8,000,000 it used the one that never asks. On the $137,730, where it did use the one that asks, nobody filled it in.

One week ago this Court committed $5,800,000 to a City of Denton road behind an unsigned certificate, with a second blank one further back in the same 480 page packet. Five weeks ago, four certificates on three Roanoke road agreements and a courthouse restoration contract. All four blank.

That certificate is the county’s own check that the money exists before it obligates itself. It takes a number and a signature. Since January 6 this county has printed 22 of them. Not one carries either.