With only three Commissioners in attendance, a final vote of 2 to 1 decided the issue of paid vacation allowed when an employee leaves their position, during Commissioner Court on October 5, 2016.  From henceforth, paid vacation will be limited to 40 hours.
“The issue is to encourage people to take their vacation time,” stated County Judge Linda Grant.
Judge Grant went on to explain that, when long-time employees continue to accumulate vacation hours without taking off, it creates a situation where Department Heads might be required to wait up to 5 weeks before they can hire a new employee.  This is because the former employee has to take off all their vacation time before they can be officially removed from the personnel record.
Two Justices of the Peace, Theresa Farris (Pct. 1) and Cinnamon Archibald (Pct. 3) have been vocal in their opposition.  They believe the recent action is being taken because of a situation in one department, namely the Sheriff’s Office, who recently lost several jailers in a short time span.
“Why should other offices be affected, who have no problems?” asked JP Farris.
Commissioner Luke Ward, Sr. (Pct. 1) made a motion to keep the policy as is.  The motion died for lack of a second.
Commissioner Bodie Emmons (Pct. 3) made a motion to limit paid vacation to a maximum of 40 hours.  The motion was seconded by Commissioner Craig Oakes (Pct. 2), and the vote passed.
In other business, County Clerk requested total control of computers in her office, removing passwords to allow other IT to work on those computers.  The request was made so that the county’s local IT could work on a problem that required access.
During the discussion, it was brought out that Windstream provides internet access, NetData provides anti-virus protection, and a local IT company provides assistance when problems arise with the computers.
“We are getting three different answers,” says County Clerk Linda Jarvis.  “That is why we are asking for help.”
Representatives from NetData were asked to attend to answer questions. 
As Jarvis and other county employees explained the difficulty, each prefaced with a statement that they were not IT experts and did not have a complete understanding of the problem.
In the end, it was ascertained that the access problem had nothing to do with NetData.
Following the meeting, Jarvis shared that their local IT person had not been invited to attend the meeting.
Also addressed were the following:
–Interlocal Cooperation Agreement approved between Henderson County and Freestone County regarding housing and care of inmates.
–Memorandum of Understanding approved with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service pertaining to IT service and salary contribution.
–Saturday hours changed for Dew Transfer Station to 8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.