Collin County commissioners approve new staff for Magistrate Court

Collin County Commissioners approved an emergency staffing request for the county’s Magistrate Court due to an increased workload from Senate Bill 6, which was passed last year by the Texas Legislature.

The request approved by commissioners during their April 18 meeting was for the addition of four full-time clerks and to make the existing part-time clerk position full time. Currently, the Magistrate Court has two full-time clerks and the part-time position.

According to documents prepared for the commissioners, the staffing changes will cost the county a little over $214,000 per year.

“We've done a time study to evaluate what are all the additional tasks required by Senate Bill 6 and have come up with that information to define exactly the number of staff [members] we believe is needed,” said Kerry Lindsey, the county’s director of strategic initiatives, during the meeting. “Currently, that work is being performed by staff from the temporary pool, but because they're contractors, they can't continue on beyond a certain period and definitely not through to the next budget period.”

Senate Bill 6 made “sweeping changes to bail processes, procedures and reporting,” according to a document created for commissioners. Because of those changes, Lindsey said many of Collin County’s cities have passed arraignment services they previously would have done onto the county.

“Knowing the critical nature of what [these clerks] are doing, ... these are things that matter to people as their case is being adjudicated, so I think it's important that we not only hire good people but that we train them and have a way to do that that is less impactful to the staff that we have,” Commissioner Susan Fletcher said before motioning to approve the emergency staffing request.

Commissioners approved the request unanimously, though Commissioner Duncan Webb was absent from that portion of the meeting.