07.13.06
Constable vs. County: Hearing Tomorrow
The Austin Chronicle has the story, Who Rules the Constable? It’s Constable Gary Griffin vs. the county on who controls him. He is an elected official.
In his lawsuit, Griffin says the county acted unlawfully in transferring eight deputy positions and more than $400,000 to the sheriff’s budget. Six of Griffin’s deputies took jobs with the sheriff’s new Crisis Intervention Team. “The issue in this case,” reads Griffin’s pleading, “is whether, after the annual budget is adopted, a County Commissioners Court has authority to cut 70% of the staff out of the budget of an independent elected county official … and create new positions and line items in the Sheriff’s budget instead.” Aleshire said he took the case at Mattox’s request, adding, “This is an area of law that we have a certain passion about. … If the commissioners win, any court could cut the budget of any independent elected official any day of the year. We will lose the independent power of elected officials.” Mattox said he believes that whatever the outcome, it will set significant statewide precedent.
Uh oh, Williamson County setting a new statewide precedent sounds scary.
Eye on Williamson » The Continuing Saga Of Williamson County vs. Constable Griffin said,
December 21, 2006 at 9:48 am
[…] The AusChron has done an excellent job of keeping up with all the twists and turns in this story. Here’s the latest, WilCo Constable Lawsuit: Crying wolf … and mayhem. It’s amazing that the Williamson County government can’t just admit they made a mistake in this case and move on. They are now trying to say that the records Constable Griffin used to prove his case were, 911 logs, violated privacy laws: Williamson County’s courthouse dogs are at it again. This time, they’re barking a threat that Precinct 1 Constable Gary Griffin may have broken the law by including mental-health-call-related 911 logs as evidence in his civil case against the county, an action County Attorney Jana Duty is alleging violates privacy laws and the Texas Public Information Act. […]