Commissioners approve new hires





Atascosa County Commissioners met Feb. 27 and approved several items concerning personnel. Commissioners are Lon Gillespie (Pct. 1), William “Bill” Torans (Pct. 2), Freddie Ogden (Pct. 3) and Bill Carroll (Pct. 4).

At the request of Justice of the Peace Officer Betty Caballero (Pct. 1), a salary increase was approved for clerk Nikkiah Raquell Guerra, based on the completion of her probation period.

Sheriff Tommy Williams’ request was approved for the employment of Courthouse baliff Norma Jordan. Jason Robles and Cory Juber were also hired for the position of Deputy Sheriff. Wayne Stratton’s employment for the position of Sgt. Investigator was also approved. Another hiring in the Sheriff’s Department was Max Peralta, also as Sgt. Investigator.E.J. Lozano and Bruce Hickman were hired for the Patrol Sgt. position.

Commissioners also approved Daniel Aaron Vasquez as Corrections Officer.

A request by County Clerk Diane Gonzales was approved to hire Alexis D. Vega for the position of Deputy Clerk, temporary part-time employee.

Commissioner Gillespie’s request was granted, to hire William Canvender for the position of truck driver and to perform other duties as assigned.

Constable Preciliano “Percy” Medina (Pct. 1) gave his report on racial profiling. From Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2011, there were a total of 142 traffic and pedestrian stops for the year in Pct. 1. The citations or warnings by race or ethnicity were: Caucasian- 51, Hispanic- 90 and African- American- 1.

The resulting searches by citation totalled three, which were consensual. Citations resulting in custodial arrest totalled zero. Medina concluded in the report that, “It is Pct. 1’s commitment to unbiased policing in all its encounters between officer and any person; to enforce procedures that serve to ensure public confidence and mutual trust through the provision of service in a fair and equitable fashion. Racial profiling is not being conducted in Pct. 1 of Atascosa County. There have been no complaints filed alleging racial profiling.”

Commissioners did not take any action on appointing a member to the Bexar Met Integration Advisory Committee, which provides information and advice to the SAWS Board and staff on the integration of Bexar Met. County Judge Diana Bautista received a letter from SAWS CEO Robert R. Puente explaining how the Bexar Metropolitan Water District has been dissolved and the service and customers are being integrated into SAWS.

Senate Bill 341 mandates the creation of the Bexar Met Integration Advisory Committee. To create this committee, Puente is asking for Bautista’s help to identify a potential member from Atascosa County. Members must be either residents or business owners/ operators residing or doing business within the boundaries of the former Bexar Met areas in Atascosa County. This will be on the agenda for April 9.

Commissioners approved District Attorney Rene Pena’s item– Equitable Sharing Agreement and Certification as presented.

They also approved Tom Cate’s item– the resale of the Tax Resale Deed, Atascosa County Property ID 13926, one acre out of the Cruz Landin Survey No. 45, Abstract No. 527, to Mr. Martin Rodriguez Olivarez for approximately $4,000.

Concerning the appointment of Citizen-at-Large on the Alamo Area Council of Governments Solid Waste Advisory Committee, no action was taken.

Commissioners entered into the minutes the Volunteer Fire Department Agreements for the fiscal year 2011.

Various Capital Outlay Expenditure requests were approved and included:

•Requests by Constable Medina for Copsync software license for about $1,670 and hardware in the amount of $3,617.

•Commissioner Gillespie’s request for five chairs from Desks Galore, totalling $744.

•Margaret Littleton’s request for a work station, scanner and printer, totalling $3,568.98.

•A request by Diane Gonzales for five chairs, totalling $559.95.

•A request by Chuck Garris in the amount of $6,000 for capital outlay item for narrowbanding frequency.

•Laura Pawelek’s request in the amount of $1,360 to Altex for a computer, onsite labor and other computer related items.

•Mike Lambaria’s request for computer related items, totalling $1254 to Altex.

Commissioners also approved purchasing antivirus and firewall software for the Hot Check Office, to be paid out of the Justice Court Technology Fund, with a total of $765.

Commissioners approved entering into Commissioners’ Court minutes 5.5 continuing education hours, as completed by Commissioner Torans.

A total of 17 road bores were approved for Lone Star NGL Pipeline LP, DCP Midstream LP, Enterprise Texas Pipeline LLC and Marathon Oil Company.



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