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Council hears court training incentives and staffing requests; permitting assistant, PD budget discussed
Summary
At the Aug. 13 budget workshop the council reviewed a court proposal for employee certification pay incentives, a request for one additional administrative assistant tied to new permitting software, and a presentation that the police budget is flat for FY26; staff said benchmarking and further details will be provided at a later meeting.
The Brookshire City Council discussed a court staffing and pay incentive proposal and municipal staffing requests at its Aug. 13, 2025, special budget workshop. Sherry Brent presented a request to add pay incentives for court staff who complete certifications through the Corpus Municipal Court Education Center and said she and staff are planning benchmarking to compare how other cities handle court pay for certifications.
Brent asked the council to consider a monthly pay incentive of $100 for staff who attain a Level 1 certification and $200 per month for a Level 2 certification, describing the certification process as multi-part and noting Level 3 is substantially larger. Brent said the increases would be “on top of any COLA or merit” and that staff would return with benchmarking results at the next meeting.
On staffing and wages, city staff asked the council to approve one additional headcount: an administrative assistant to staff the front counter while a permits specialist focuses on permitting work that will be automated through a new Encode module called "gov, my gov" (presented as the permitting module). Staff said the additional receptionist/assistant would improve customer service and allow permit processing to be more fully handled in the software.
The police department’s proposed FY26 budget was presented as flat; staff said there were no new requests at this time and provided a proposed figure in the packet. Council members asked whether the department currently has a K-9 unit; staff replied no. A discussion about a fleet director/manager position was noted as an item to carry forward to a future meeting.
No formal wage increases or new hires were approved during the workshop; staff committed to bring benchmarking and any recommended wage adjustments or formal position descriptions back for council action at a subsequent meeting.
Context: The items are part of the city’s FY26 budget review; court incentives are intended to support staff professional development and the administrative headcount is tied to a planned permitting software rollout.
