2026-04-07 Denton County Commissioners Court

EADS

Tuesday, April 7th, 2026 meeting, the Denton County Commissioner's Court. We're glad to have y'all with us today. And many of you are in the audience, and I know we have many people watching on social media as well.

So thank y'all for spending your morning with us. At this time, I'd like to welcome from our veteran services, our veteran service officer, Mr. Paul Bastich, and our pledges will be led this morning by some special young men that we'll be acknowledging later this morning, which is our cadets, Samuel Strabala and Sean Crabtree. I wanna ask everybody to please stand and also remind you to please turn off your cell phones.

Thank you.

BASTICH

Good morning, judge. Good morning, commissioners. Good morning, audience.

Please pray with me. Dear Lord, as April unfolds with signs of spring and renewal, we ask for your guidance to rejuvenate our spirits and strengthen our faith. Help us to embrace the promise of new beginnings and the joy of the resurrection with open hearts.

Teach us to reflect your love in all that we do, to offer kindness and support to those around us, and to appreciate the beauty of your creation that surrounds us this season. Bless our paths, protect our loved ones, inspire us to live each day in gratitude and grace. May this month be filled with moments of reflection, growth, and deeper connection with you.

Bless the Civil Air Patrol Program and its many achievements. Bless the anniversary of Covenant Church and its 50 years of service to our community. Bless those who work in public health, providing health care and services to the community and health services to our county employees.

Be with this court and our elected officials. May the proceedings always be with your favor and grace. Please allow me good judgment in all of my decisions, Lord, and allow those around me to have good judgment as well.

In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Amen.

Samuel Strabala or Sean Crabtree

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice.

Samuel Strabala or Sean Crabtree

Honor the Texas flag. I pledge allegiance to the Texas, one state under God, one indivisible.

EADS

Well, thank you guys for leading us in our pledges, and Paul, thank you for that lovely invocation. There's no one registered for item one, so we'll proceed forward to, I'm gonna go ahead and do item 3B, which is approval of a proclamation recognizing Cadet Captain Samuel Strabala in receiving his third milestone achievement in the Civil Air Patrol Cadet Program. And Samuel, if you'll come forward.

I wanna read this proclamation in your honor. All right, this is, this is a court, good morning, it's good to see you. Thank you for being here.

You look awful sharp.

STRABALA

Thank you.

EADS

This is a court proclamation recognizing Cadet Captain Samuel Strabala for receiving his third milestone achievement in the Civil Air Patrol Cadet Program. And right, Samuel Strabala is currently a junior at Sacred Heart Catholic School with a 2.9 GPA, with dual credit in U.S. History II, honors trigonometry, physics, and Latin III. And where Samuel enjoys cross-country basketball, Catholic mass, lecture, track, and national honors as extracurricular activities at school.

And where Samuel is in his fifth year of the Civil Air Patrol Cadet Program, having served on squadron staffing as deputy commander of operations, deputy commander of support, flight commander, flight sergeant, and squadron representative on the cadet advisory committee, on group staffing as flight commander, administration officer in charge, instructor squadron commander, and curriculum and planning officer, and on encampment staffing as flight sergeant and flight commander.

And where Samuel has been awarded the Achievement Award, Crisis Service Award, and has received honor flight and warrior flight multiple times at encampments, and recently completed the third milestone at the CAP Cadet Program, a feat accomplished by only about 3% of all cadets, and has been promoted to the grade of cadet captain, becoming eligible to represent the United States in the International Air Cadet Exchange. And where Samuel has been recognized for his sustained excellence in all four areas of cadet life, leadership, aerospace, fitness, and character. And now, therefore, be it resolved that Denton County Commissioner's Court does hereby celebrate Cadet Captain Samuel Strabala in receiving his third milestone achievement in the Civil Air Patrol Cadet Program, and call upon all citizens to recognize and honor him in the same.

Done in open court, this is the seventh day of April, 2026, upon a motion made by, motion by Commissioner Mitchell, seconded by Commissioner Edmondson. So, well, congratulations, and thank you for being such a exemplary young man. That's an example to so many others.

Do you have any comments you'd like to say this morning?

STRABALA

I just wanna thank the court for presenting this award, and I just wanna say I am happy to have you present it. I think it's been kind of a momentous point in my career in CAP. I've been in CAP for about five years, like you said.

So, it's just, I'm happy to see myself here.

EADS

Well, we're happy to see you here, too, and you have a very busy schedule, not only with work, with all your schoolwork, but also your extracurricular activities. So, I mean, you're covering quite the spectrum there. What do you plan to do after high school graduation?

STRABALA

I'm deciding if I wanna go to an academy. I'm still applying to those academies. It's junior year, so application's open.

So, if I go to an academy, I'd be committing five years to the Air Force or Army. If I don't go to the academy, I'd still like to go into ROTC and one of those programs, maybe at the Corps, or maybe at another Texas college.

EADS

Well, I think you have a career ahead of you of public service to our country, and I wanna thank you in advance for that. So, is there any other comments?

MITCHELL

I just wanna thank you. Congratulations. Sorry to interrupt.

EADS

Go right ahead.

MITCHELL

Oh, no, congratulations. Thank you for your service, and congratulations. It's so important that we have young men that come before us here and in our community that lead and teach other young men to lead. We talk about all the bad people, but I'm grateful that we have all the wonderful young men like you that set an example for other young men to follow. Thank you. Thank you to your parents also.

EADS

Yes, absolutely.

EDMONDSON

I agree with what Commissioner Mitchell said, and your parents should be commended for raising such a fine young man. You know, seeing young men like you and your counterpart here today gives me hope for the future, and I'm so happy to have that because in today's times, who knows what's gonna be happening, especially tonight. So, thank you for being willing to serve us as soon as you can, and you're already doing it, but it's just not in a combat situation. Thank you so very, very much.

EADS

Well, congratulations, and thanks for being an exemplary young man. All right, we have a motion and a second.

Any other comments? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously.

Let's give him a big hand.

SPEAKER

All right. Next, let's go to item 3C, which is approval of a proclamation honoring Cadet Captain Sean Crabtree in any appropriate action, and Sean, if you'll make your way down here, please, sir. We're glad to have you here.

I'm doing them first so they can go back to school and do other things. So, Alex, y'all just have to wait a little bit, all right? So, I wanna get these boys back in class.

So, this is a court proclamation honoring Cadet Captain Sean Crabtree. Cadet Captain Sean Crabtree has demonstrated outstanding leadership, academic excellence, and a strong commitment to service. And whereas he has earned a prestigious Amelia Earhart Milestone Achievement in Civil Air Patrol, an honor attained by only approximately 3% of cadets nationwide.

And whereas Cadet Captain Crabtree is a junior at Coram Deo Academy, maintaining a 4.0 unweighted grade point average and a 4.32 weighted grade point average. And whereas he has excelled in extracurricular activities, including robotics, second place at TAPPS State, second place at TAPPS State two consecutive years, the North Region Motivate Award, and FTC Fit North X-League Qualifier, third place, serves as Student Body President and is a TAPPS State Persuasive Speaking Champion and NSDA Districts Finalist. And whereas within Civil Air Patrol, he has served as Cadet Deputy Commander for Operations, Cadet Flight Commander, and Cadet Flight Sergeant, and has held additional leadership roles, including Vice Chair of the Group Cadet Advisory Council and Chairman of the Texas Wing Cadet Advisory Council.

And whereas his service is further distinguished through roles as Encampment Medical Officer in Charge and Lead Instructor for Airmen Leadership School and honors, including Bravo Flight Honor Cadet and the Air Force Sergeants Association NCO of the Year Award. And now therefore be it resolved that the Denton County Commissioner's Court does hereby recognize and honors Cadet Captain Sean Crabtree for his outstanding achievements and for earning the Amelia Earhart Milestone Achievement, done in open court. This is the seventh day of April, 2026, upon a motion by the Chair, second by Commissioner Falconer.

Any discussion? Well, I just wanna tell you thank you so much for, again, just like we were visiting earlier with Samuel, thank you for being such an exemplary young man. I know you make your family proud, you make your county proud.

As Commissioner Edmondson says, when you see these young leaders like yourself come in, I know that leadership is not only something that you're doing in high school, but I think it's gonna be a lifestyle that you're gonna carry throughout your life. And I just wanna thank you in advance for what you're gonna do for our country, because I think you're gonna be a fine, fine leader. If your future's anything about your past and present, I think you're on a great path. So members, do you have any comments?

FALCONER

Similarly, congratulations. You know, in Civil Air Patrol, I should mention my two nephews, both were in Civil Air Patrol, and one of them now is flying a helicopter on rescue missions out of Alaska for the Coast Guard, and the other one's a physician over in Fort Worth. So they've done very well, and I expect you’ll do the same.

CRABTREE

Thank you, sir.

FALCONER

All right.

MITCHELL

I just wanna congratulate you again, Cadet Crabtree. Thank you for the hard work that you had to put in to get to where you are. Thank you for being a shining example to other young men and women.

And for all that you do, we need examples, men who, young men who come forth, work hard, show that anyone can achieve what you have, but it takes hard work. It takes dedication. It takes commitment.

And I wanna thank you for doing all that to make sure that you are an example, a great example to other young men. Thank you.

EDMONDSON

I don't know whether to call you cadet or captain, but whatever, you're a great example for other young men. What do you wish to do after you graduate, et cetera?

CRABTREE

Whether it be through the academy or through the ROTC program, I'll probably look into commissioning somewhere, most likely the Air Force.

EDMONDSON

Ah, okay.

EADS

Perfect, perfect. Again, a bright future ahead.

EDMONDSON

Thank you so much for what you do.

EADS

Well, thank you so much for everything, and really, congratulations on this achievement. All right, we have a motion to second.

Any other discussion? All in favor, say aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously.

Congratulations.

Next is item 3A. This is our public health item, so if you wanna make your way forward.

Is Matt doing this, or Alex, or who's doing it? Matt is? Very good.

MATT

Good morning.

EADS

Good morning. This is 3A, Approval of a Proclamation Recognizing National Public Health Week in Denton County.

Go right ahead, sir.

MATT

Well, judge and commissioners, thank you so much for a little time this morning. I would like to thank you all for your time. Say, I'd be brief, but you've met me before.

I'm gonna try to keep it moving. Commissioner Mitchell had to sit through one of my presentations a couple weeks ago, and she thankfully did not snore, but I didn't look at her for fear of what I might find, so I apologize ahead of time for that. In National Public Health Week, this is just a convenient time for us to quickly, emphasize that to myself, talk about an annual report for public health.

This is just a 30,000 foot view, a flyby of some of the things we're doing. I know, judge and commissioners, I know you see our monthly metrics to a much more granular level, and those are really curated because we have a lot more data behind that, so we're just gonna keep it moving this morning, talk about a year in review, but before I move too quickly, I do want to acknowledge Jenica Bates. Jenica, raise your hand.

Jenica provided the expertise on the layout of this annual report, and we try to make this.

EADS

This one?

MATT

Yes, digestible.

EADS

It looks wonderful.

MATT

They tried a new format this year, and I think we all really like it. Jenica, thank you so much for that. Alex put a lot of eyeballs on it as well, and so we're excited.

We have a statewide conference coming up, and we take our annual reports, and at the conference, so many people asked how to do that, who our vendor was for printing and the layout, so anyway, we're very proud of this product. I also want to thank the Community Health Division. They are our public health missionaries.

We get very focused, and I particularly get insular when we think about public health and clinical data and the nuts and the bolts of our work, but our Community Health Division, they've contributed to this work. They are the hands and the feet of public health in the community. Okay, a year in review, 2025 milestones.

We mentioned before that we were awarded a Project Public Health Ready designation for the second time. We're one of very, very few health departments in the state of Texas that has that recognition. We are a learning organization, so we had nine interns in 2025.

I anticipate more than that in 2026 for a total. We're very proud of being a training site for the future workforce. You're gonna hear more about WIC, but we are working to modernize and innovate with WIC, and remote benefit issuance was something that's rolled out in 2025, and in 2026, we think that will be expanded, and we're excited to help young families with that benefit.

You see the national awards there from the National Association of Counties and the County and City Health Official Organizations, so we're excited about those achievements. What are we working on? We enjoy a great relationship with HR and the Lunch and Learns.

That's a lot of fun for the staff, and so I wanna thank HR and Tony for the opportunity to participate in those Lunch and Learns. That's been a, it's honestly a rewarding thing for public health, we appreciate that. Maternal mental health.

We are working with the state WIC office in exploring partner opportunities on maternal mental health screening and what that might look like in Texas, so we are working to be a pilot project, more of that to come, hopefully, but we're excited about what could be in the future in WIC in maternal mental health. You see our grant breakdown, sort of just the numbers of what makes the wheel spin, you can see that. I just wanna highlight community health, almost $3 million in grants, and then disease control and prevention, well over $3 million, so we enjoy a lot of federal and state support for that work.

One of the things we have in front of you is the Credible Mind and our Find Help one-pager, and Commissioner Mitchell, you had asked for a one-pager, and so I hope this meets some expectations, but we have two important resources in the county that judge, commissioners, you budgeted this for us. You instructed us to be the backbone financial support of these two programs, and I hope you see that that investment represents quite a bit of success. And so Credible Mind is an online mental health resource that you provide to the county, and you see we had almost 800 of those resources accessed, 800 different types, and then 4,300 sessions, so these were viewed, the 800 different types of resources were viewed 4,300 times.

That's just a lot of impact for people accessing a free resource. Again, free to the community because of your investment at the court, and so we wanna highlight that success in Credible Mind. That is represented in the FY26-27 budget that we have submitted.

Find Help is even a more 30,000-foot umbrella. I mean, if you think about what Find Help covers, it covers help with locating access and navigating access to housing support, to SNAP benefits, WIC. Find Help is sort of this universal guide, and you can see those searches really have increased since the beginning of 23, right?

Or before 23. At 2,000 searches, we had tapped out at 7,000 or so at the end of 2025, and so you see a lot of people are looking for assistance, and this Find Help is a one-stop shop. It's this hub-and-spoke digital footprint for people to access, and so again, I wanna thank you on behalf of the residents of Denton County.

This matters to 15,000 unique users. 15,000 people needed assistance, so much so they looked it up, and I think that that's an impactful number. Oh, you're timing me.

Man. Okay, I'll be here all day, thank you.

EADS

Well played, well played.

MATT

Jody. I know, I'm so, I'm sorry. All right, expanding access.

I'm gonna speed it up. When I hear the second one, I'm out the door. We have expanded access to our clinical operations.

We now do work through lunch. We stagger our staff for a lunchtime. We have tried to make this convenient to residents in Denton County, and so we now are open through lunch.

We're just, we're really trying to innovate. We're trying to improve. We're trying to increase our efficiency, and that is important to us, and we know it's important to you.

Social media impressions. This is an interesting metric, but we know that community health is about communication as well, and we need that footprint. We need our brand as the county.

We need to represent you and your wishes as the court. We need to get out to the residents of our county what we do, and so you can see, this is some of the work that we've been doing. 285 outreach events.

So again, we're the public health missionaries, and we're trying to advertise and market the services that the taxpayer invested. We already mentioned WIC once, but it bears repeating. $7.7 million estimated benefit of food distributed to our clients. Now I wanna highlight that the Denton County taxpayers pay for this on April the 15th. This is part of the federal tax burden, and so what we wanna do is we wanna make sure these WIC benefits are leveraged locally and not in Boston or San Francisco. We want Texas's and Denton County's fair share to be expended in Denton County.

We want our moms and babies to be supported by that federal tax levy that happens. And so you see that number, 7.7 million, and we are working to make sure that there are more benefits issued, because again, we believe if you're eligible, you deserve that fair share. 20% increase between 2023 and 2025.

That shows you the economy, the state of economy in the United States, in Texas, even in Denton County. A 20% increase in two years is significant. And so our WIC growth, I'd love to believe it's because we provide an excellent service, and I think we do, I believe that we do, but the need is there, and we are proud to provide it on your behalf.

Disease control and prevention, HIV STI screenings are increasing, so there is still risk in our county for sexually transmitted infections, and we address that risk every day in our work. Child vaccines, we were down a couple thousand. That's a concern.

I can't attribute that exactly. We don't have the data to find out how many fewer yet happened in Denton County overall, but we know how many we provided, and we provided maybe 10% fewer than in prior years. And so we're gonna keep an eye on that.

We're gonna continue our outreach and our advocacy to history's most important public health intervention. Clinical, you can see we had almost 19,000 clinic visits for our primary care, our women's health, our STI clinics, our TB clinics, our Hansen's clinics, our immunization clinics, so that almost 19,000 clinic visits. We did 710 medical examiner investigations that led to autopsy.

There are lots and lots of deaths that are investigated, but 710 of those were unattended deaths that led to autopsies. A lot of work is in that number. It doesn't seem like a huge number, but there is an enormous amount of work that goes into that.

We run public health dental clinics in both a public setting as well as an inmate setting, so we do run dental services at the jail. And then speaking of the jail, our increase in inmates screened since 2023, we've had a 14, almost 15% increase in the health screenings that we provide for inmates at intake. So there is increased census at the jail, and that takes an investment by you, the court, and we appreciate your support for us to provide that humanitarian aid and care to inmates who need it and who are there for a reason, and yet we make sure that they have unimpeded access to healthcare.

Public health emergency preparedness. This is kind of one of our gold stars. 1,300 Medical Reserve Corps volunteers.

I know, Judge, you worked during COVID, and commissioners, I know you supported this recruitment effort for Medical Reserve Corps, and it is paying off. We have one of the largest Medical Reserve Corps in the state of Texas. We have one of the largest, if not the largest, Ours is much larger than some of the counties that are larger than we are.

So per capita, we have one of the largest, if not the largest, MRC in Texas. We're really proud of that. So thanks to Seth on his hard work there.

You see 28% increase in our communicable disease response team participants. That's multidisciplinary organizations that attend a situational report briefing from us every quarter. So fire, police, EMS, hospitals, school districts, universities, we all come together, and our epidemiologists provide a briefing of what's new and exciting, or new and boring, or old and boring in public health.

And we give a lot of data. We host kind of a Q&A session to make sure that we're answering those questions. And more and more people are coming to those briefings, and we believe that that is a positive sign of partnership.

We still are in the mosquito business, because mosquitoes represent risk, and we want to know where that risk is. In unincorporated Denton County, we do set out traps. We test those mosquitoes when they're positive.

We spray when they're positive for West Nile virus, because that does represent an ongoing threat. We do have one or two fatalities on average in Denton County every year, and those fatalities are preventable because of mosquito and vector-borne exposure. So we want to continue to discuss that.

A lot of phone calls. I know a lot of departments at the county take a lot of phone calls. We answered almost 64,000 last year.

So that's a lot of work. I want to thank our administrative teams for supporting that work, because the telephone is still the place that you go to find us first. And I just want to thank the staff for their commitment and investment of their time and careers in answering those telephones.

We added 29 new employees across Denton County Public Health. Onboarded them, along with attrition, of course. That's not 29 total new.

That was just part of the churn. But we were glad to have new, fresh faces, right? Yeah, Commissioner Mitchell did not approve 30 new people at Public Health.

Lots of, that's right.

EADS

Not new positions. New employees.

MATT

Not new positions. We try not to run folks off.

EADS

You're going to have to provide some health to her in just a second.

MATT

Right, she's going to find me after class. I just know it. I do want to say that we mentioned we wanted to be a learning organization with interns.

We're a learning organization because we do a lot of staff training so that we can make sure we're sharpening the tip of the spear for public health intervention. And that does continue with almost 2,000 hours of training completed. I just want to thank you for your time.

That's an annual report. It's really high level. I don't want to minimize our work, but I want to summarize.

I hope that was a good balance. I want to thank the staff just for what you see represented. And I know what you see every month in a much more granular detail.

And please know that that also is a summary. There's a lot more detail behind that. Thank you so much.

EADS

Well, Matt, I want to thank you and the team that's here with us in the courtroom and those who are back at the office providing the services while you are over here. I just want to thank you on behalf of the million residents that called Denton County home. Our public health employees are critical to not only the public health here in Denton County, but these are systems that go beyond.

Disease does not respect political boundaries or jurisdictional boundaries. And so what happens across the world happens here in America and also here in Texas and locally. And we've learned that, haven't we?

And so I will say that preparedness is so important. And we have an eye on preparedness and prevention and then actual response and recovery. Those are all avenues of service which y'all are involved in on a daily basis.

And so, again, I want to thank our public health providers. I would like to also publicly thank the court for y'all's support of our public health initiatives and making sure that we right-size the organization. I appreciate y'all's innovation and looking at the business hours and office hours and making sure those are as accessible to our clientele as possible.

Anyway, I'm very proud of what y'all do. I hope people are watching this and seeing the good work that y'all do day in, day out. And not having disease outbreaks is a sign of the system working.

Not having outbreaks, you know, that means that things are, prevention's taking place, people are being responsible, et cetera. And so when you do have outbreaks, those are some systematic failures. And so I want to say that, I want to thank y'all for really what you're doing.

I get compliments from our medical providers across the county, our hospital systems and our clinics across the county that speak so highly of Denton County Public Health. So I want to pass along those kudos as well because it really is a systematic approach. So anyway, members, do y'all have anything to say?

MITCHELL

I think, go ahead, David.

FALCONER

Well, you guys do such a great job and I do really like the new presentation. Thank you for that.

I think it's, you know, people, it's very graphic and I'm an architect and people like pictures and things better than words and they're more likely to look at it. And so you've done a great job and you've just done a great job, team, in public health in general. I'm always so proud. You guys do so much and you do it all so well. Thank you so much.

EADS

Commissioner Mitchell.

MITCHELL

Thank you, Matt. Thank you to the Public Health Department team. Thank you for telling our story.

You know, a lot of people don't know what all we do and I'm so glad that, you know, two weeks ago, it was two weeks we were at Peter Place that Matt presented this presentation. And I looked around at the faces in the room and people were so surprised that we're actually doing all this because most people don't know. If you don't use the public health system, then you don't know what all we do.

And people don't realize that having a public health system helps the community also. You're preventing a lot of things that would go out in the community. You're preventing and stopping it right here at the public health system.

And I just want to thank you and I thank you for my one pager that I can hand out.

MATT

And that was Rachel Herrera that really spearheaded that with Martha. So yeah, thanks to Rachel for that.

MITCHELL

I asked about that. You did. And they did it.

And it looks good and people like things that look good. As Kevin was saying, you know, graphics and information. I want to thank you.

I just can't say enough for your department. Y'all are just wonderful with all that you do. I won't name names because I'll forget somebody, but you know who you are.

I appreciate you and I appreciate all that you do. And every time I get to go to a presentation, I'm so proud, I just pat myself on the back. Because look at us.

You know, we could not make it in this county without our public health department because there's so many things that goes on. Our mothers and children and you know, the vaccinations and all the things, you know, talk about the mosquitoes. People don't realize that we're a part of trying to stop that mosquito outbreak.

Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'll be taking this around.

And Dr. Richardson, would you like to present this at Rotary sometime?

MATT

Yes, ma'am.

MITCHELL

Okay, good. Oh, so have someone else.

MATT

Yes, I'll even get a professional. Yes, ma'am.

MITCHELL

Okay, good. Thank you. I have him on record, y'all. Thanks.

EADS

We'll take the show on the road. Commissioner Edmondson.

EDMONDSON

Dr. Richardson, thank you so much. I have always admired the fact that you are so accessible, not just to the commissioners, but to the public. And I appreciate that.

Could I get a copy of your presentation? Give it to me. Can you send me one?

MATT

Yes, yes.

EDMONDSON

And I really appreciate Commissioner Mitchell asking for a one-pager because look what she got.

MATT

You bet. We'll get that to the court.

EDMONDSON

And now I think it's up to us to spread the word to our constituents and beyond. What a great public health service we have. So I'm very proud of you.

Thank you for all you do.

EADS

Perfect. Matt, let's have our group come up here. I wanna read this proclamation.

Y'all come down here. Don't be bashful. You're just on camera on a permanent record of the county.

So that's all.

Nothing to be afraid of. All right, this is a court proclamation recognizing April the 6th of the 12th, 2026 as Public Health Week in Denton County. And the Denton County Commissioners Court, Denton County, Texas, during a regular session on the 7th of April, 2026, considered the following resolution.

It writes, public health delivers essential services to protect and promote the health of all people in all communities. It writes, public health promotes policy systems and services that enable well-being and seek to remove barriers to optimal health. It writes, public health helps the Denton County community prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from public health threats such as infectious disease and environmental exposures.

It writes, prevention works such as childhood and adult immunizations, early diagnosis and treatment of disease and balanced nutrition programs are essential to good public health. It writes, public health activities throughout Denton County strengthen collaborative partnerships, expand access to healthcare, and improve quality of life for Denton County community members. It writes, public health helps to promote every Denton County community member with personal preparedness education, Medical Reserve Corps recruitment and training, and reportable disease tracking and investigation.

It writes, thousands of public health professionals throughout the nation and hundreds in Denton County dedicate themselves to promoting and protecting the health and safety of their fellow community members, and now therefore be it resolved that the Denton County Commissioner's Court does hereby declare the week of April the 6th to the 12th, 2026 as Public Health Week in Denton County. In addition, it recognizes the efforts of public health professionals to assure the health and safety of our community members, and hereby affirms strong support and appreciation for all that public health does to promote and protect the health of all people in Denton County. Done in open court, this is the 7th day of April, 2026, upon a motion by the Chair. Second by Commissioner Mitchell. I wanna say thank you, thank you, thank you. We appreciate everything that you do. We appreciate everything you do year round.

All right, any other comments? We have a motion on the floor. All in favor say aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously.

Thank you, let's give them all a big hand. Thank you.

Well, speaking of health, let's go to item 3E, a presentation of the Year-End Review by Marathon Health. And Tony is here with our crew. Good morning, Tony, Rose.

ROSE

Good morning.

EADS

We're glad to have you.

ROSE

Good morning, Judge Eads, Commissioners. Thank you so much for having us. Marathon Clinic is a great service to our employees, and this year-end review is going to be very promising, and I'd like to introduce Larry Morrissey and Abby Roberts.

Thank you so much.

EADS

Thank you, Tony. Good morning.

MORRISSEY

Thank you, Your Honor. Judge Eads, Commissioners. Abby, my teammate here, is gonna pass out the printed copies of the materials that we'll be going through today.

As she's doing that, if I could just start with a couple of acknowledgments. I wanna thank your HR team, your leadership, in supporting our work. Our partnership depends on a strong partnership with the county staff to be able to be successful.

I also wanna just comment that it was not planned, but great coincidence that we're presenting the same day as you got your annual report from your health department.

EADS

Well, I think it was planned. I'm gonna go with that.

MORRISSEY

I'll take it, I'll take it. Because our belief, our philosophy is that, excuse me, if we're going to do our best as public organizations supporting the communities, then we need to take care of our people first. I'd also just share, by way of background, I was here two years ago, wasn't able to be here last year, but I may have shared my background then.

I'm a former elected official. I was the mayor of my hometown, Rockford, Illinois, for 12 years. I saw firsthand the work of public health and us trying to transform our community, and I also saw what happens when our public servants, our public health leaders, our police officers, firefighters, other EMS employees, when they run out of gas, they have a hard time serving the community.

So I applaud the county on its investment and its people, and it's just an honor for us to be able to serve the county through our clinic operation. I will do, in the interest of time, sort of the run-through, the play-by-play, if you will. Abby may help me with some of the color commentary on our slides as we go through this, but please feel free to interrupt, ask any questions you might have along the way.

This first slide, excuse me, our executive summary, just shows the results of a successful year four. One of the few things we'll highlight just in this first slide is the 25.9% employee engagement only counts those that have engaged two or plus times over the 18-month reporting period that we're looking back at. That's a little bit below our benchmark, but still a strong performance.

We're also looking to really engage those high-risk and chronic employees. Those folks tend to be a bigger cost to the health plan. We've got a greater percentage of those folks engaged.

We're still focused, though, on engaging more in our upcoming year. One of the things I'll just highlight, the last point, your NPS score, that's Net Promoter Score, is one of the highest I've seen of any of our organizations. That means your folks who are going to the clinic love our staff.

By the way, our staff, some of our staff's with us today, and I'll introduce those folks real quick. From right to left, Sylvia Madrigal, she's our regional clinical leader. Ty Hoeth is one of our new behavioral health counselors.

Heather Klubertans is our regional operations lead, and our nurse practitioner, who some of you may know, Gurdish, is not able to be here today, she's on vacation. But the reason we get those high Net Promoter Scores is because of the staff that you have, and that's how we're able to serve the over 2,000 members, unique members that have used the health center, and achieve those kind of positive successes. Pat LeMaire, is Pat in the audience, by the way?

We'd heard that Pat might be here. Pat is one of your employees, I believe works in the Sheriff's Department, and this is one of the success stories, one of many that we have that we pulled out just to share with you today, which I think goes to the value of the individual providers, the relationships that we built. Pat had been a patient at the clinic since 2021, but more recently, over the past year, through a conversation with our provider, some concerns arose, we had all the data, and the past screenings and work that we'd done, and so additional CT scan of the heart was ordered.

That was very significant, because through that outside scan, significant calcification of the heart was noted. This is one of those stories that ultimately, your health plan may have paid a considerable amount for that triple bypass, but Pat's alive today because of the investment that you made, the relationships that were built, and the referral to critical care that was able to provide life-saving treatment for Pat. So again, just a great example of what it means when you've invested in this type of early detection, preventive care, primary care model with a partner like Marathon Health.

Volume trends, and I apologize, the print's pretty small here, but a couple of things that I'll point out. While our overall volume was down, we had a 14% increase in preventive care visits. The acute care seems to be the biggest driver of where we saw a decline in volume, and that sometimes can be seasonal, year-to-year variances, just on the nature of flu and colds that are going through.

One of the other things we saw is a decrease in occupational health visits. By the way, after our meeting today, we're gonna be going through a deep dive with your staff, and that's one of the things we'll dig into in more detail. Some of the mental health highlights, significantly more members were seen in year four than the prior year.

We're really excited about our path moving forward in partnership with mental health, and one of the things that I'll point out here as well as in our, I'm just gonna jump ahead to our engagement by our largest departments. This is where we see a tremendous opportunity. In particular, if you go from left to right, left is your largest departments to the smallest departments of these largest departments.

Your sheriff's department seems to be the area where we probably have the biggest opportunity to engage more members and achieve some additional impact. We're excited to do some outreach and think through some of the partners within the sheriff's department that might help us build those warm handoffs and referrals, for example, your chaplain's program. We've had success across the country, and by the way, I do these types of meetings across the country with our public sector clients.

A lot of work that I've been working on over the past year involves us identifying peer support groups or chaplain's programs that are out there engaging with your employees, especially these public safety employees who may, just because of the distance from the health center or just because of their schedules, have not yet engaged. We wanna find ways to engage because we know from overall prevalence rates that they tend to have significant challenges with mental health and significant challenges with overall physical health as well. Significant biometric improvements, again, happy to go into detail on any of these areas, but especially with blood pressure readings, significant improvements, and when we see 78% of members making progress and at least one at-risk biometric, that ultimately translates into savings.

We've got some actuarial data, which we'll be reviewing in detail, but that's where we start to see significant savings to your health plan through that improvement in chronic health conditions and biometric readings. Then our final slide that I have is just, again, I spoke to this at the start, extremely high patient satisfaction, and it ultimately doesn't happen by magic. It's because we've got capacity to see patients when they wanna get seen.

They don't wait around in the waiting room. We're able to get them and have an extremely positive experience. Our net promoter score, by the way, of 96.1. By comparison, a typical good score in a community health providing context is between 30 and 40. So we're at the, you know, your operation is definitely at the high end, and again, it's because of the great staff and the team that has been supporting us. And I'm happy to take any questions.

EADS

Well, I think this is a great presentation. It's great news. Appreciate what you're doing.

The investment is obviously paying off. Members, do you have any questions for today?

MITCHELL

Thank you.

MORRISSEY

Thank you. If I could add just one other editorial comment. We're gonna be working this year on a project for this area of the DFW, Dallas-Fort Worth area, similar to what we've done in markets like Atlanta, similar to what we're doing in Cincinnati, which is, we have five public sector clients in this area.

Right, there's a city, Denton County, obviously, Lewisville, Coppell, and City of the Colony. What we're trying to do is map out not only the lives we're currently serving, but all those that aren't yet engaged, and identify, is there a potential opportunity for Marathon Health to potentially make an investment on our own dime to serve in a shared setting all of the lives that might not yet being engaged? So, more to come on that.

I'm happy to visit with you, but this is something, we now have about 100 health centers that we operate our own nationally, what we call our Marathon Health Network. We just think this area might benefit from that kind of investment on our end. More to come on that.

We'll be exploring that over the coming year.

EADS

Perfect, thank you. Yeah, go right ahead.

FALCONER

Well, I do thank you for that, and I appreciate that comment, too.

I'm really proud of all of this, but I think there is, we have a big county, and I think that there's some potential there for utilizing some other shared services. Thanks for looking at that, but I really do appreciate you and Tony, and the holistic approach that's taken, because really, that's what I think we can really make a difference in people's lives, right, is that this isn't just about that final treatment and acute care thing that we have to do, too, obviously, but how can we improve health overall, and there's so many ways to do that, and I think it's a great partnership with our team.

MORRISSEY

Thank you very much. Thank you very much, and we'd say, I used to think that healthcare was about the federal and state governments, but I've come to realize that the action's local.

EADS

Yeah, absolutely.

MORRISSEY

And the extent the county's investing in creating these kind of partnerships, both on the public health side, and then taking care of your own employees, I think it's just a great investment, a great testament to your vision.

FALCONER

Yes, thank you.

MORRISSEY

Thank you.

EADS

All right, good, Commissioner Edmondson. Do you have a question, comment?

EDMONDSON

Let us know when you get ready to take a look at that. It sounds exciting.

MORRISSEY

Thank you very much. Thank you. We'll reach out, thank you.

EADS

Thank you.

MORRISSEY

Thank you very much.

EADS

Thank y'all very much. Thank you, HR, thank you, Tony. Y'all do a great job, we appreciate it.

SEVERE MICROPHONE ISSUES

Next, let's go ahead and go to item 3D, which is approval of a proclamation celebrating the 50th anniversary of Covenant Church in any appropriate action. Yup. 50th anniversary of Covenant Church, whereas Covenant Church was founded and faithfully led by pastors Mike and Kathy Hayes, His vision, dedication, and spiritual leadership established a strong foundation on which this church has continued to flourish, whereas for five decades Covenant Church has remained committed to its mission of spiritual development, community service, and outreach, offering programs and support that strengthen families and enhance the quality of life for countless individuals, whereas Covenant Church has played a vital role in fostering community connections through ministry initiatives, youth involvement, charitable endeavors, and partnerships that serve the needs of the Denton County residents, and

whereas the leadership and dedication of its pastors, staff, and congregation continue to reflect the values of unity, service, and faith that has sustained the church for over 50 years of ministry, and whereas Covenant Church will commemorate its 50th anniversary with celebratory services honoring its legacy and ongoing commitment to serving Denton County and the greater Dallas-Fort Worth communities. Now therefore, be it resolved that Denton County Commissioners Court honors and celebrates the 50th anniversary of Covenant Church, and we extend our heartfelt congratulations to the congregation and leadership in which Covenant Church, many more years of faithful service to God and the community, done in open court since the 7th day of April, 2026, upon a motion made by motion by Commissioner Falconer, seconded by Commissioner Mitchell.

Any discussion? Commissioner Falconer?

FALCONER

Oh, I just, thank you so much. Covenant Church has been such a great community partner for so many years. They really take at heart that Christ calls us to be a light in the community, and they really are.

And so, I appreciate that and look forward a celebration of 50 years just also wanted to ask for prayers for pastors families experienced kind of a death in the family at the moment but prayers out to them but we appreciate the church and what they’ve done in the community.

EADS

Absolutely. Well, congratulations. And congratulations on the golden anniversary, and thank you for your years of service to the county. Any other comments?

Go right ahead.

MITCHELL

I just want to thank you for your service to the county, and thank you for your service to the community, and providing the ministry that the community needs, and appreciate you and thank you for 50 years. It's a great testament to the services that you're providing, that you will be able to last 50 years in the community.

EADS

Right. 50 years of anything is a lot.

MITCHELL

Thank you.

EADS

All right. We have a motion and a second.

All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously.

Next, we'll go back to Item 2, which is our Consent Agenda. Members, are there any items you'd like to pull, or do we have a motion for approval as presented?

All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously.

Our Consent Agenda today consists of Item 2A, Approval of Order Making Appointments, and any appropriate action item. 2B is Approval of Payroll. Next is Item 5A, Approval of Bill Report Payments from CSCD, Community Corrections, TAIP, Sheriff's Training, Sheriff's Forfeiture, VIT Interest, and DA Forfeiture funds are presented for recording purposes only.

Mr. May.

MAY

Thank you, Judge. I had no changes today. I recommend approval as presented.

EADS

Perfect. Do we have a motion?

MITCHELL

So moved.

EADS

Motion by Commissioner Mitchell.

FALCONER

Second.

EADS

Second by Commissioner Falconer.

Any discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously.

Next is Item 6A, Approval to Declare as Surplus Miscellaneous Former Sally Beauty Office Furniture Located in 4 Storage Units at 520 Blake Street, Advertising Place and Online Auction 26-2909, and to be held in April 2026.

Chair move for approval.

FALCONER

Second.

EADS

Second by Commissioner Falconer.

Any discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously.

Next is Item 6B, Approval of Change Order Number 2 for the Jail Kitchen Laundry Stucco Replacement in the amount of $15,587.43, an authorization to increase the purchase order to Dallas Harmony Construction, issued under the Texas Interlocal Purchasing System, TIPS Cooperative Contract 23010402, and any appropriate action. So deferred. Motion by Commissioner Falconer.

MITCHELL

Second.

EADS

Second by Commissioner Mitchell.

Any discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously.

Next is 6C, Approval of Change Order Number 1 for the Elevator Upgrades to the Denton County Courts, building in the amount of $289,420, an authorization to increase the purchase order to KONE, issued under the Omnia Partners Cooperative Contract EV2516.

FALCONER

Move to approve

EADS

Motion by Commissioner Falconer.

MITCHELL

Second.

EADS

Second by Commissioner Mitchell.

Any discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously.

Next is 6D, Approval of Exemption from Inscription Requirements for the County Vehicles Operated by the Public Health Medical Examiner's Office for the Positions of Forensic Death Investigator and Chief Forensic Death Investigator as Permitted by the Texas Transportation Code 721.004 and 721.005. The Chair move for approval.

MITCHELL

Second.

EADS

Second by Commissioner Mitchell.

Any discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously.

Next is 7A, Report for Miscellaneous Equipment and Software Service Presented for Recording Purposes Only. All right. Next is 7B.

This is Approval of Budget Amendment Request 2026-189 for Facilities Management to Transfer $15,588 from Permanent Improvement Fund, Unappropriated Contingency to Permanent Improvement Fund Building for the Jail Kitchen Laundry Remodel Project. Change Order Number 2 to Fund Additional Repairs to Ensure Safety and Avoid Future Wall Failure. Motion by Commissioner Edmondson.

FALCONER

Second.

EADS

Second by Commissioner Falconer.

Any discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously.

Next is 8A, Report from Human Resources Regarding Hiring Actions of Elected Officials Presented for Recording Purposes Only. Mr. Hernandez.

HERNANDEZ

Judge, Commissioners, good morning. We have five new hires in the Sheriff's Office. Three of those are Detention Officer 1 and we have one rehired in the Sheriff's Office and that is also a Detention Officer 1.

That's it for this week.

EADS

Perfect. Good. Thank you so much.

There will be no action on Item 8B. Next is 9A, Approval of the Registration of Employees. Motion by Commissioner Mitchell.

FALCONER

Second.

EADS

Second by Commissioner Falconer.

Any discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously.

Next is 9B, Approval of the Renewal Award Contract HHS001439300004, Amendment No. 5, Between Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) and Denton County, an amount of $114,716 for the Fiscal Year 2027 Cities Readiness Initiative Grant and any appropriate action. Second. Motion by Commissioner Mitchell. Second by Commissioner Falconer.

Any discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously.

Next is 10A, Approval of the Architheo Addition Final Plat, Lots 1-5, Block A. This is 6.667 acres, located in Commissioner Precinct 4. Motion by Commissioner Edmondson. The Chair will second.

Any discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously.

Next is 13A, Approval of the Request to Apply for the AKC Reunite PET Disaster Relief Unit Grant and any appropriate action. The Chair will move for approval. Second by Commissioner Falconer.

Any discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously.

Next is 13B, Approval of the Request to Apply for the Fiscal Year 2026 Homeland Security Grant Program, Urban Area Security Initiative Grant and any appropriate action. The Chair will move for approval. Second by Commissioner Falconer.

Any discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously.

Next is 13C, Approval of a Resolution Authorizing the Use of Unclaimed Capital Credit Funds Received from Electric Cooperatives to Support Denton County Economic Development Projects and Related Activities in Accordance with the Texas Local Government Code Section 381.004 and any appropriate action. Motion by Commissioner Edmondson. Second by Commissioner Falconer.

Any discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously.

Next is 13D, Approval of the Letter Agreement to Provide Public Improvement District Services from Willdan Financial Services to Denton County, Texas for the issuance, support, and annual administration of the enclave of Tabor Ranch Public Improvement District and to exempt contract for a personal service with Willdan Financial Services from the requirement established by the Texas Local Government Code Section 262.023 under the Texas Local Government Code Section 262.024A4 and 3, authorize the Denton County judges to sign a contract of employment with Willdan Financial Services. The Chair will move for approval. Second by Commissioner Edmondson.

Any discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously.

Next is 14A, Discussion and Hold a Public Hearing on Tuesday, April 28, 2026 at 9 a.m. to consider the placement of all-way stop signs at Lake Crest Lane and Byram Lane, Lake Crest Lane and Gayle Lane, Lake Crest Lane and Lake Vista Lane, Lake Haven Lane and Byram Lane, Lake Haven Lane and Gayle Lane, Lake Haven Lane and Lake Vista, Lake Vista Lane and Byram Lane, Lake Vista Lane and Atwell Lane, Lake Vista Lane and Gayle Lane, Lakeview Lane and Byram and Lakeview Lane and Atwell Lane, Lakeview Lane and Gayle Lane in the Vacation Village Estates Subdivision located in Commissioner Precinct 2.

FALCONER

Move to approve.

EADS

Motion by Commissioner Falconer. Second by Commissioner Mitchell.

Any discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously.

I guess they're by the lake. That's what I would guess. All right. Next, let's go to Item 17, Community Updates. Commissioner Falconer.

FALCONER

Thank you, Judge. So, I just want to have a couple here. So, I want to congratulate Little Elm High School, their winner, Color Guard.

They are the North Texas Color Guard Association State Champions in the Scholastic World Division. And then, Carrollton's Fire Rescue, we congratulate them. They are officially the Pizza Eating Champions for the second year in a row.

And it took place at Rotolo's Craft and Crust in Carrollton. They defeated Carrollton PD. Very good.

EADS

Very good. Thanks, Commissioner. Commissioner Mitchell.

MITCHELL

I have Flower Mound 21st Anniversary Party, and that's the Flower Mound Senior Center. Also, the Lewisville Lake Symphony on April 10th. That one was on April 9th.

The 10th is the Lewisville Lake Symphony at the Lewisville Grand Theater at 7.30 p.m. The Flower Mound Police Department Open House, April 11th at 10 a.m. 4150 Kirkpatrick Lane. Family Campout, April 11th, also in Flower Mound. 5001 Wichita Trail, and that's on the 11th through the 12th, 3 p.m. to 10.00, 3 p.m. Lake City's Chamber Monthly Luncheon. Texas Workforce Commission is going to be the guest on April 11th at Global Spears. The Lewisville State Benefit Assistance Return Area Food Bank is going to be April 8th at the Lewisville Library. River Care Cleanup, April 11th at LLELA in Lewisville.

All I have, Judge.

EADS

Perfect. Thank you, Commissioner Edmondson.

EDMONDSON

First, I'd like to give a shout-out to the Argyle ISD Boys Golf Program, with two teams that were top finishers in the District 6 5A Championship. Argyle Black took first place, and Argyle Red took second place, so we've got some good golfers coming up there. And both teams are qualified for the Region 1 Tournament on April 13th to 14th.

Also in Argyle, they're having Argyle Star Party, and that's in the rear parking lot of Argyle Town Hall. They're going to look at the stars, and apparently they have enough lights turned out over there that it's a good place to do that. Bartonville has a cleanup event on April 11th from 8 to 11 at Lantana Community Church to bring household waste to dispose of during the event.

Denton has their health fair on April 11th from 10 to 1. This is an opportunity to explore wellness resources. In Justin, they're going to have the opening day of their Farmer's Market and Plant Sale.

That's on the 11th from 9 to 2, and you're invited to come out and meet local vendors and buy local plants. In Roanoke, they're going to have evenings on Oak Street Concert Series, and that's going to be live music at the Plaza, a free, family-friendly event. And finally, in Trophy Club, they're having a Shred It and Forget It on April 11th from 8 to 12, a town hall free shredding event for Trophy Club residents.

EADS

Perfect. Thank you. I would like to give a big Denton County shout-out to young Texan Ambassador Daniel Jackson of Flower Mound for being recognized by Keep America Beautiful with a Youth Engagement Recognition Award for his innovative eco-bike project.

This project encourages young people to take an active role in environmental stewardship while promoting sustainable transportation. So congratulations, Daniel. I love it when we give shout-outs to the next generation of future leaders here in the county.

Let's go to Executive Session, which is 15A, Texas Government Code 551.071(1)(A), where the committee consultates with attorney in closed meeting when a governmental body seeks the advice of its attorney about pending litigation in Cause Number 1:26-cv-00729, style League of United Latin American Citizens et al. versus Jane Nelson et al., currently pending in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division, in any appropriate action. It's 1018. We're in Executive Session.

EADS

And the chair will, number one, move to assign legal representation on behalf of Denton County, Texas in Cause Number 1:26-cv-00729, style League of United Latin American Citizens et al. versus Jane Nelson et al., which is currently pending in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division, to the law firm of Matthews, Shields, Knott, Eden, Davis & Beanland, LLP and to exempt contract of employment with the law firm of Matthews, Shields, Knott, Eden, Davis & Beanland, LLP from the requirement established by the Texas Local Government Code, Section 262.023. If applicable, number three, authorize the Denton County Judge to assign a contract of employment with the law firm of Matthews, Shields, Knott, Eden, Davis & Beanland, LLP. That's the motion. I'll give it a second. Second by Commissioner Mitchell.

Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously.

Hearing no other action before the court, we are adjourned. Thank you.