October 29, 2026 - The Shelby County Commissioners had an hour long executive session during their meeting held October 14, 2026, and when they returned to open session, several raises for employees at the Sheriff’s Department and jail were announced.
After consideration in executive session, Commissioner Roscoe McSwain stated his motion involving the Sheriff’s Department request to utilize SB22 grant funding for salary increases to include five positions in the Criminal Investigation Division, Chief Deputy and patrol as well as five positions in the jail. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Tom Bellmyer and it carried with all in favor.
“Before we got an adoption of the budget, September 16, we had this discussion and we didn’t resolve it at that date,” said McSwain. “This is to give people that are sergeant or captain that’s got responsibility for other officers underneath their control or command some kind of incentive, and it’s going to be $1 or $1.25 an hour so it’s not a substantial amount of money, but it’s a good token to take responsibility of the people under you.”
McSwain said that all Road and Bridge departments have one main employee that makes $1 more because they are the one everyone goes to when something isn’t right.
McSwain explained further that the funds aren’t from taxpayers, but from the SB22 grant and that the increase gives a little incentive to those shouldering greater responsibility, “All patrol deputies make the same, well when you’ve got the sergeant that’s responsible for their actions and what they’re doing and overseeing their documentation he gets nothing extra, well why would you want that responsibility if you don’t get something?”
Shelby County Sheriff’s Department Chief Deputy Mike Hanson spoke with the commissioners about the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office request to participate in the 287(g) Task Force Model Program.
“The 287(g) program is through ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), It’s been around for quite some time. They had actually reached out to us probably eight to 10 months ago and discussed it, which the sheriff was out at the time and I wanted him to be involved in that and understand the program as I did.”
Chief Hanson said that they have had a number of conversations with the supervisor of ICE for the area of East Texas that Shelby County is a part, and Chief Hanson said that every county around Shelby is now a participant in the 287(g) task force. Chief Hanson characterized Shelby County as an island unto itself.
“What this does is it grants a partnership with ICE and local law enforcement and it gives a little bit more local control and it gives our officers some tools to work with where if they’re involved in a situation and they have someone that they question whether or not their status will allow them to be in this country legally, once they receive the 40 hours of training, they can pursue that theirselves. They have contacts in ICE that they can contact and that they can screen whoever they’re dealing with.”
Chief Hanson referred to groups of individuals rounded up in the past via the 287(g) task force in Sabine County that resulted in 97 arrested of whom several he purported to be serious offenders which he classified even as murderers.
Financial encouragement was highlighted by Chief Hanson, who also stated the “supervisor” for the Shelby County area has indicated a decrease in that funding from what it once was. He believed the Sabine County Sheriff’s Department has received around $140,000 for establishing the task force there.
Chief Hanson shared that through the Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with ICE, the Sheriff’s Department would receive $100,000 for vehicle funding and $7,500 for equipment per task force trained officer and overtime would be paid up to 25% of the officer’s full salary.
“Steel Building Supply has been the victim of fraud for some time, and while we were dealing with that we wound up encountering an individual who had come from Houston to pick up a load of metal that was, the whole thing was fraudulent,” said Chief Hanson.
Detainees being tranported from the Shelby County Jail on May 28, 2026.
Chief Hanson spoke of the suspect law enforcement was dealing with involving the fraudulent metal situation and that the man was in the United States illegally.
“ICE couldn’t get to him, we didn’t have anybody in this program so we couldn’t do anything, we’re not immigration officers,” said Chief Hanson. “They actually called in an officer from Huntington [Police Department].”
Since the officer from Huntington Police Department was a task force member, he arrived in Shelby County and took the man to a detention center.
“The Sheriff still has the authority to run his department as he sees fit and this program just strengthens the partnership between us and ICE,” said Chief Hanson.
In the absence of John Price, County Attorney, Judge Harbison commented that she was uncomfortable in moving forward without his being present as she was aware he had some questions.
Detainees being tranported from the Shelby County Jail on August 13, 2026.
Roscoe McSwain, Commissioner Precinct 1, thanked Chief Hanson for his presentation and said that they would take the request under consideration, especially since he had only just received the information.
“I don’t want to make a decision on something I haven’t studied and reached out to other entities to see their response of what they’re doing through the program six months, a year into it,” said McSwain.
Chief Hanson then addressed Texas Senate Bill 8 Grant funding, which was also on the agenda for consideration and he indicated it was very related to the other item pertaining to ICE on the agenda.
According to Chief Hanson, the supervisor from ICE explained to him about a legislative mandate that requires every sheriff with a jail or who privately contracts to house inmates will participate in one of the ICE programs.
“There’s three different programs, there’s a warrant service officer, there’s a jail enforcement model and the task force model,” said Chief Hanson. “I don’t know a lot about the jail enforcement model, but I believe it’s going to having commissioned peace officers working in your jail, which we do not. The warrant service officer, we’ve actually had some of our jailers that have signed up on that and basically that’s just if someone comes in and they have a federal warrant, that jailer can sign that and be able to communicate with ICE about that action.”
Chief Hanson explained that Senate Bill 8 is $80,000 per county with an equivalent population size to that of Shelby County. Through Chief Hanson’s ICE source, he has learned that those are state funds and they are distributed via the Comptroller’s Office to cover any expenses for housing federal immigration prisoners that aren’t covered by other funding.
Typically when the Sheriff’s Department has dealt with someone for ICE, Chief Hanson described a scenario where they just need to know how long they can leave that individual at the jail and they retrieve them relatively quickly.
Chief Hanson described what his understanding is of the Senate Bill 8 funds, “Senate Bill 8 is $80,000, he said what a lot of, he said there’s some counties around us that have already got the Senate Bill 8 money and he said they’re using it for things like redoing their booking room, any kind of improvement in the jail, it can be used for computers and things of that nature as well, but he said ‘y’all really need to put in for the money because it’s in there.’”
Participation in one of the programs is required by December 1, reiterated Chief Hanson.
Commissioner Tom Bellmyer expressed concern over arrangements he described with the U.S. Government that the county has had in the past where it’s been an extreme difficulty on the county.
“What I see a lot of times when we get into these programs is to get a reimbursement from the state it becomes an accounting nightmare for our treasurer and for our auditor in that if I look at this you have to turn your paperwork in between September 1 and December 1, so you’ve got a 60-day window there that if I, in reading it, when there are ICE activities you actually can charge off to the ICE activities but I’m just trying to figure out what kind of burden it puts on the treasurer and the auditor so that at the end of the year when you’re getting reimbursed all the time sheets and all the invoices and all the things that you go through,” said Commissioner Bellmyer.
Commissioner Bellmyer reflected back on his experiences in dealing with FEMA for reimbursements toward road repairs, which he indicated were not so difficult for himself, but that created a hardship for the treasurer and auditor of the county.
“I want to make sure if we enter into an agreement and get into this that months down the road when it’s time to get our money back we’ve got the second floor of this building right here in turmoil just trying to dig through paperwork to reconcile all of it,” said Bellmyer.
The program sounded good to Bellmyer; however, he was considering the possibility that 10 months into the future it could be necessary to come up with a year’s worth of time sheets, or to implement the creation of a new accounting system just to be reimbursed.
“I think it’s good, I think there’s probably a plus to it, but I think there’s also a negative to everything that we get into and I just want to make sure that months from now that the $80,000 was not a lot of money considering where we’ve ended up at,” said Commissioner Bellmyer.
To understand how it might work out, Chief Hanson suggested Teresa Hughes, County Auditor, make contact with the Panola County and Sabine County auditors.
No action was taken on agenda items 12 and 13.
The meeting adjourned at 11:30am.
Agenda items approved during the meeting include: 1. Minutes of the September 2 Special Meeting; September 9 Regular Meeting; September 16 Special Meeting; September 23 Special Meeting and September 30 Special Meeting. 2. Expenses. 3. Payroll. 4. Officers report. 5. Contract from JRJ Construction for the window restoration project at the Shelby County Historic Jail. 6. New contract with WEX/Sourcewell for county fuel cards. 7. Authorize the advertisement of sealed bids for road maintenance materials for Shelby County for FY 2026-2027. 8. 2027 TechShare Service Addendum for District Attorney and County Attorney. 9. New phone system and convert to Pineywoods Voice for Juvenile Probation office. This will connect them to all the other county offices through the new phone system. Their internet service will remain with Etex. 10. Utilize SB22 grant funding for salary increases to include five positions in the Criminal Investigation Division, Chief Deputy and patrol as well as five positions in the jail. 11. Adjourn 11:30am.
Agenda Items tabled during the meeting include: 1. Contract for Management Services between Shelby County and Traylor & Associates on behalf of Paxton Water System Contract # CDV25-0422. 2. Request of the SCSO to participate in 287(g) Task Force Model Program. 3. Request of the SCSO to seek Texas SB8 Grant Funding.
