County officials attend three-day seminar in Austin

The three newly elected members of the county, which included two county commissioners and the county judge, attended a three-day seminar in Austin this week, where they learned about the general overview of how a county government functions.

County Judge Michael Roach said the seminar covered the basics of county government, such as their constitutional duties and where those derived from, open meetings, open information laws and emergency resources to name a few.

“It really was a 30,000-foot view of county government,” Roach said. “It didn’t really get deep into the weeds on any of the issues.”

The seminar was provided by the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs, and was in cooperation with the Texas Association of Counties, the County Judges and the Commissioners Association of Texas.

Roach, along with new Precinct Two Commissioner Mark Mc-Cullough and Precinct Four Commissioner Eric O’Dell, rode down in Roach’s car to Austin Monday morning, and came back after lunch Thursday afternoon.

The County was required to post a notice for the event, since there were three county commissioner court members together, it counted as a quorum.

Roach was required to complete 20 hours of schooling during the event, while the other two commissioners were required 16.

Roach, who came from the Justice of the Peace office, said there was a lot he learned, as his former title did not require him to deal a lot with things like emergency resources and protocol for the county. Bill Flournoy, who currently acts as the emergency management coordinator for the county, is in charge of emergency protocol at the moment in the event of a disaster, or something similar.

Roach explained as the county judge, he is the emergency management director, which is above the coordinator. But Roach and Flournoy are currently in the midst of a sixmonth transition while Roach trains and learns how to handle those types of emergencies. That means, if an emergency happened today, Flournoy would take the lead.

“[Flournoy] has been trained and he’s already up to speed,” Roach said. “I’m trying to get there, so we have a six-month transition plan.”

This seminar doesn’t mark the end of Roach’s education though, as there are other educational requirements he will have to meet in these next six months in order to be able to take the reins.

The cost for the trip came out of the county’s educational funds. In total, the trip amounted to $3,701, with each commissioner costing about $1,141 and Roach about $1,417. This includes registration for the seminar and traveling.

All in all, Roach said he learned a lot at the seminar. He said he knows more about the limits of power a county has, how the state of Texas sets up its tax code. He also said he made some connections with legal resources and other county judges.

“All in all, driving back [Thursday], you’re mind is really loaded down with information,” Roach said. “But there is peace [in knowing] we have the resources. So if we have a question we can’t answer ourselves we can reach out and ask.”