Van Zandt County commissioners held a workshop to review proposed revisions to the commissioners court rules and procedures, including whether to move regular meetings to Tuesday, how and when to post agenda binders online with required redactions, limits on public comment, and updates to a liaison list. County officials said no decisions or votes would be taken during the workshop.

County Judge: “Again, we’re not gonna make a decision today or vote on anything. We’re just going to discuss it,” the County Judge said as the workshop began. The discussion covered meeting schedules, agenda deadlines, public-access posting and redaction of sensitive information, and the process for putting items on the agenda.

Why it matters: The items under review affect public access to meeting materials, vendor payment timing and internal deadlines, the ability of residents to participate at hearings, and which officials routinely represent the county to outside entities.

Meeting schedule and frequency
County officials reviewed the history and rationale for meeting days. The County Judge said meetings moved from Tuesday to Wednesday years ago to accommodate payroll deadlines; a recent change in state law now allows the county to ratify payroll rather than approving it in advance, removing the earlier scheduling constraint. Commissioners discussed moving back to Tuesday but did not adopt a change. One commissioner said the county does not yet have enough regular business to meet weekly and expressed concern that more frequent meetings could complicate vendor payments and staff scheduling.

Agenda deadlines, posting and redaction
Staff reported current internal deadlines as Thursday at noon for agenda items and Friday at noon for supporting documents. The County Judge proposed posting the full agenda binder online by Monday at 5 p.m. when meetings are on Wednesday, to allow time for staff to redact personally identifiable or sensitive information (for example, check images containing account numbers and addresses). The County Judge asked staff (Keegan) to provide an unpassword-protected copy of the initial binder so the judge’s office can perform redaction and then post the redacted binder publicly.

The judge described the change as proactive transparency: “It’s part of the open records. It’s better…it’s best that we already have the information. We ought to be proactive about providing it to the citizens.” Officials emphasized the redaction step is necessary to remove sensitive account numbers and other private data before posting.

Signature on agendas and preview rights
The County Judge proposed adding a rule that the County Judge sign the agenda before it is posted, saying it would give a final check on wording to ensure agenda items accomplish what the court intends. Several commissioners raised concerns about a single official signing off on agendas and noted there is no statute requiring such a signature. One commissioner said items already must be approved by at least one commissioner or the County Judge to be placed on the agenda and argued drafting and wording are a shared responsibility.

Public comment rules
The workshop reviewed the court’s public-comment limits. The judge noted the existing rule: each member of the public is allotted five minutes, but “the maximum discussion time on any single agenda item is 30 minutes,” which effectively limits overall time per item if many people speak. The County Judge advocated continuing to limit public comment to agenda items and cited a nearby Tarrant County meeting that allowed broader comment and ran eight hours. Commissioners discussed balancing public participation with orderly conduct and staff resources.

Liaison list and other housekeeping
The County Judge said staff updated a 2023 liaison list prepared by Virgil and replaced former commissioners’ names with current incumbents; highlighted assignments and proposed further edits will be circulated and placed on the next commissioners court meeting agenda for approval. The judge said she will distribute the proposed list and notify department heads and elected officials after approval.

Next steps and action taken
Workshop participants agreed the proposal documents would be revised and resubmitted for formal consideration at a future regular commissioners court meeting. No formal changes or policy votes were taken at the workshop. A motion to adjourn was made and approved by voice at the close of the session; the workshop otherwise served as a discussion and staff direction opportunity.

Ending
The County Judge said she will update the draft rules, coordinate redaction procedures for online binders with staff, and resubmit the revised rules and liaison list for approval at a future commissioners court meeting.