January 13, 2026 - The Shelby Commissioners held a quick meeting to finish out the 2025 year on December 31, 2025.
During Commissioner Court Reports, Commissioner Tom Bellmyer commented that Commissioner Stevie Smith helped him by providing some equipment from Precinct 3 to Precinct 4 for a project at the county barn there.
“He sent an excavator and an operator over and was there for a few hours and helped me out, and I just want to tell him thank you for giving us a hand,” said Bellmyer.
Commissioner Smith shared that he spoke with the Joaquin Volunteer Fire Chief, [Jeremy Boyett] who informed him of a couple fires they responded to, as well as the dry conditions leading up to the end of the year when people would be setting off fireworks and having fires.
Commissioner Roscoe McSwain asked if Dee Dee Green had any updated from the District Clerk’s office. She commented that they were still waiting on approval for passports through the District Clerk’s office and that training would begin on the 1st of January.
When the commissioners considered the payroll, Commissioner McSwain stated that eight hours of sick leave would be calculated from the next pay period for those that are participating.
Commissioner Bellmyer moved to approve the payroll and Commissioner Shannon Metcalf seconded the motion, which carried.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:39am.
Longevity Pay, New Hire, Re-hire
During the December 26, 2025, meeting the commissioners discussed a longevity pay program for county employees and elected officials.
“We have at least two or three years at different times in conversation talked about a longevity program for the employees in the county,” said Commissioner Bellmyer. “One of the things that I’ve done over the past several months was being a part of DETCOG it gave me the opportunity to talk with commissioners and other counties within the COG that have longevity programs.”
Commissioner Bellmyer learned that some counties have a program, and others don’t but have considered the possibility just as Shelby County government officials have.
“It’s a way to express an appreciation to people that have stayed with the county for a long time,” said Bellmyer. “The one program that I really like, and it’s because it’s the simplicity of it is San Jacinto County’s.”
Commissioner Bellmyer explained that under the San Jacinto plan, an employee has to be employed with the county for five years to be eligible for the program. Bellmyer described that in San Jacinto it basically represents an end of year bonus that is given in as part of the first pay period of December.
Allison Harbison commented that she had researched and brought up implementing a program years ago after becoming County Judge and it’s something that she has been in favor of the county doing.
“I’m interested in it, I just need to make sure of the fiscal load and how much it’s going to cost to do it,” said Judge Harbison. “We’ll have to work on that in the budget, and you know how tight our budgets are. So I’m absolutely for it, but we need to do a lot more research.”
Judge Harbison offered the possibility of having workshops starting at the beginning of 2026 to discuss the possibility of establishing a longevity pay program for Shelby County.
Another subject Commissioner Bellmyer wanted the court to attend to was a review of the current personnel policy to define new hire and re-hire employees.
Bellmyer described a scenario where an employee decides to separate from the county. They give notice, follow all appropriate protocols and that employee has an intent to start a business. In the scenario that Bellmyer described, a couple of years transpire and for whatever reason the employee’s business doesn’t prove successful and a department head in the county has an opening where someone could go back to work.
“If we followed all the guidelines and we followed the protocol on how you separate and you left on good terms and there was the need to come that this person would not be required to come back as a new hire, that they could come back as a re-hire,” said Bellmyer.
Bellmyer high-lighted the advantage of being able to re-hire someone under those circumstances through which they left their employment in good standing and as a re-hire they return with a full set of skills that a new employee would have to learn from scratch. Within the week of a re-hire, it would be as though they never left and that employee returns to being productive within the group.
“I guess in the past, we’ve had individuals that have left the county for admirable reasons where they were taking care of a family member that was maybe ill, or they just had things and a couple or three years that was past and they had the opportunity to come back and I just think that a department head should have the flexibility to bring a previous employee back and not have to start out at ground zero as a new hire, as far as on a pay scale,” said Bellmyer.
Judge Harbison event suggested the possibility of that re-hire scenario including transferring to a different department than the one in which they previously worked. Commissioner Bellmyer was in favor of that as well, if they had skills that would apply to that job.
“That’s just me, I’ve got 12 months and I’m going to take advantage of it,” Bellmyer said to laughter from his fellow court members.
Commissioner Stevie Smith commented that what Bellmyer had stated made common sense.
“I understand where you’re going with this, and where you’re coming from, Jennifer [Fountain’s] had situations the same way where somebody left and they’ve come back and they start over and that happened to Jenney here, that’s happened to a lot of people. The Sheriff’s got a situation right now,” said Commissioner Roscoe McSwain. “This here’s got to be worked out of this, the Sheriff’s situation and I’m not steppin on his toes I just know the whole situation to what we’ve talked about, it’s different positions.”
Commissioner McSwain agreed that he could see the benefit of being able to re-hire in the way Bellmyer was suggesting, but that there needed to be more discussion.
In reference to recent online auction sales and the public auction for county items, Commissioner McSwain said he was pleased in the outcome of both.
Commissioner Bellmyer stated he was impressed with how well organized the auction was, and with how smoothly it went. He said it represented the county well.
The meeting adjourned at 10:06am.
Sheriff Vehicle Transfers to Precinct 3
During the December 17, 2025 meeting of the Shelby County Commissioners’ Court, the Precinct 3 Commissioner received the transfer of a Ford F150 Super Crew pickup truck from the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department.
“That’s the one we pulled from auction and we need to designate that to be taken from the Sheriff’s inventory of vehicles to Precinct 3,” said Judge Harbison.
Commissioner Stevie Smith moved to approve the transfer of the vehicle to Precinct 3 Road and Bridge and Commissioner Bellmyer seconded the motion, which carried.
The commissioners discussed the repair of a leak underneath the sidewalk located on the grounds of the Historical Courthouse.
“We discussed this before, but the question came up from the Shelby County Historical Commission. We’re going to need to see if we need a permit from the Texas Historical Commission,” said Judge Harbison.
Commissioner Bellmyer said that the repair wasn’t really needed during the winter, because the sprinkler system involved is cut off until the weather gets warmer. Judge Harbison indicated that a permit may be for six months.
Commissioner Bellmyer moved to repair the leak after the first of the year, 2026, and then apply for the permit. Commissioner Stevie Smith seconded the motion and it carried.
The meeting adjourned at 9:54am.
Historic Courthouse Receives HVAC Repair, Fiber-Optic Contractor Interrupts Utilities
During the December 10, 2025, Commissioners Court meeting Judge Harbison presented a estimate from Parker Refrigeration in the amount of $19,630 for a leak in the HVAC system at the Historic Courthouse, which has been being patched for a year or two.
“We’ve been having some really serious issues with it lately and we had to just totally cut it off this morning, because it’s been leaking whether it’s on heat or on cool,” said Judge Harbison.
Due to the cost of the repair, Judge Harbison said she didn’t feel comfortable just paying it and instead presented it to the court for consideration.
“The sad part about this, we go spent $19,000 and we get the grant and they take it out,” said Commissioner McSwain.
Judge Harbison said that all activities such as weddings and large events that don’t involve the county or the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT) since they are the docents of the courthouse and are aware what is operational in the historic courthouse.
Judge Harbison invited J.J. Ford, DRT representative, to describe some of what issues there have been at the courthouse.
“Something does need to be repaired on it, it is a constant leak, it is causing damage,” said Ford. “It’s a lot of money to spend on something that’s a temporary fix, but I know we need to do something.”
Ford described the constant interest in the historic courthouse from both local individuals and people passing through the area. She mentioned “Seek Texas,” which is a book featuring a treasure hunt, and the historic courthouse happened to be included in the treasure hunt.
“It’s brought a lot of people from across the state of Texas to our courthouse,” said Ford.
Judge Harbison commented that the courthouse can’t go without heating and although it can be comfortable when the sun is in the sky, it certainly isn’t when it’s overcast outside.
Commissioner Bellmyer moved to have the repair work done on the HVAC, and in the absence of a second to the motion, Judge Harbison seconded the motion.
Commissioner McSwain stated that he wished there would be clarity that the repair would go toward the county’s grant match of 10-15%. He said he realized that something needs to be done.
Ford stated that she has been going to the courthouse regularly to drain the drain pan to prevent the leak from continuing to travel down the wall of the stairwell.
“I’m daily going up there draining that drain pan, it needs something done and not just that area, but the whole courthouse it’ll start having the mold come back and all the money y’all have already put into painting it and removing the mold from the previous time will have been for nought,” said Ford.
Commissioner Bellmyer pointed out that the repair needs to be completed whether the funds would go toward the grant or not.
The motion passed with three commissioners in favor of the repair and Commissioner McSwain voting no.
McSwain commented his frustration toward a lack of interest of other companies in bidding for heating and cooling projects.
“I think it’s a shame that we only have one person that ever bids on any of our heating and air conditioning needs of this damn county,” said McSwain. “We have no idea if that’s a good legitimate bid or not, and $20,000 just isn’t easy money to come by.”
Judge Harbison commented that she has searched high and low in the past to locate a company to work on the historic courthouse heating and cooling system and has not had luck finding companies familiar with geothermal systems such as is at the historic courthouse.
“Since it is a special kind of HVAC system it’s kind of hard to get somebody that can work on it,” said Judge Harbison.
During Commissioners’ Court reports portion of the meeting, Judge Harbison shared she has received calls from City of Huxley and Jackson-Paxton Water supply regarding recent outages from fiberoptic installation in the area.
“Spectrum’s going through there and cutting through lines and not checking,” said Judge Harbison. “They’re just barreling through and the response that the entities are getting is that, ‘the commissioners have approved it because we’ve got a permit.’ They’ve got a road permit that says they can get on the road and bring trucks on the road, they don’t have a permit that says they can cut people’s water lines and gas lines.”
Commissioner Smith further elaborated about what the resulting issues that residents have had to contend with.
“We have quite a few people out of water right now. There was a line on one of my county roads that was bored through late yesterday and it was actually draining the Jackson system,” said Smith. “In the meantime, they cut about two or three more lines that came from Paxton and they worked through the night trying to get that fixed.”
Commissioner Smith felt it was lack of communication between the contractors for Spectrum and the water departments.
“We just had a major pipeline come through Shelby County that went through three of our precincts. They did real well with communications, they did just exactly what they said they were going to do, they kept a road crew in the area and I’m way happier with Momentum pipeline than the contractor that did that,” said smith. “What’s going on right now is getting ridiculous.”
John Price, County Attorney, commented the circumstance is a contract liability situation and Judge Harbison said the contractor would disagree with that.
“Being without water is one thing, but cutting through a gas line, that’s dangerous,” said Judge Harbison.
Sheriff Gerald Corbell commented that Jessica Greer who is from Shelbyville and works with Southern Health Partners has
“She is well-schooled in her profession, they are well on their way to getting established there,” said Sheriff Corbell. “They’ve been assigned a real nice cubby hole in the Sheriff’s Office and other than a ew electrical upgrades when that comes around, they’re gonna be in pretty good shape.”
Sheriff Corbell said that it is working out very well.
The meeting adjourned at 10:11am.
Agenda items approved during the December 31, 2025 meeting include: 1. Weekly expenses. 2. Current payroll. 3. Adjourn 9:39am. Agenda items approved during the December 26, 2025 meeting include: 1. Precinct 1 Commissioner to advertise for bids for one new Haul truck. 2. Set Tuesday January 20, 2026 (3pm) as the deadline for submitting bids for (1) Haul truck with bids being opened and possibly awarded on Wednesday January 21, 2026. 3. Adjourn 10:06am. Agenda items approved during the December 17, 2025 meeting include: 1. Weekly expenses. 2. Payroll. 3. Officers report. 4. Transfer of a Ford F150 Super Crew 4x4 pickup from the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office to Commissioner Pct 3. (Vin # 1FTFWICFIBKE1939) 5. Take action on the repair of the leak underneath the sidewalk located on the grounds of the Historical Courthouse. 6. Adjourn 9:54am. Agenda items approved during the December 10, 2025 meeting include: 1. Minutes of the following meetings: 11/5/25 Special Meeting • 11/12/25 Regular Meeting • 11/19/25 Special Meeting and 11/26/25 Special Meeting. 2. Weekly Expenses. 3. Announce the closure of the Courthouse and County Offices on Friday December 12th, 2025 from 12:00 noon until 1:30 for the annual county employee Christmas luncheon. 4. Cancel the Commissioner’s Court meeting date of Wednesday, December 24, 2025 (Christmas Eve) which is a County Holiday. 5. Surplus items from the Sheriff’s Department to be sold at auction, less one F-150 to be transferred to Precinct 3 at the following meeting. 6. 5-year renewal agreement between the office of Shelby County Tax Assessor-Collector, Debora Riley and Texas Park & Wildlife to continue or discontinue as a participating Agent for Boat Titling and Registration. TPWD code sec 31.0341 7. HVAC system repair at the Historical Courthouse by Parker Refrigeration. 8. Proposal from Isch Plumbing for repairs at the AgriLife building. 9. Adjourn at 10:11am.
