Atascosa County commissioners approve personnel, contracts, opioid settlements and event permits; several items acknowledged

Atascosa County Commissioners Court voted on a series of routine personnel appointments, contract approvals and settlement participations during its Sept. 8 meeting, approving motions by voice or recorded assent for each item brought before the court.

The court approved personnel actions including the hire of Maria Veronica Magna as an administrative assistant in the district attorney’s office (annual pay $38,000), a pay-step adjustment for Mercedes Arredondo Garcia (JP 4 clerk), the lateral reassignment of county road crew employee Carl Harless (CDL, Precinct 3 to Precinct 1), the completion-of-probation pay change for Monica Gihn (victim assistant coordinator) and the appointment of Jonathan Fisher as an assistant county attorney (start date 09/09/2025). All of those motions were made and carried by voice vote.

The court acknowledged changes to the Regional Public Defender’s Office (PDO) board: Commissioner Mark Gillespie’s announcement that he will step down as a board member and chair, the board’s nomination of Judge Herbert to serve as chair, the nomination of Jessica Sexton as the county’s representative to the PDO board, and the removal of Raoul (Raul) Khazerales as PDO vice chair with Judge Stella Saxon named vice chair. The court recorded the PDO-chair acknowledgment as passing with four in favor and one abstention; subsequent personnel changes were approved by voice vote.

Land and permitting items approved included certificate exceptions for Resource Diversification Group Series LLC and Sullivan Ranch Series LLC on FM 791 (Precinct 4) and for the Wheeler family on East FM 140 (Precinct 4); both motions carried. The court also approved an addendum with Local Government Solutions (LGS) to continue the county and district clerk transition from on-premises software to hosted services, with staff reporting an annual maintenance cost reduction of $4,776, pending county attorney review and authorizing the county judge to sign.

The court authorized Prickly Pear Market to hold monthly events in the courthouse parking lot on Oct. 18, Nov. 15 and Dec. 20, 2025; members said the market will use portable services and will close the courthouse circle during event days.

On litigation/settlement matters, the court authorized participation in a national opioid settlement with Purdue, through the Texas Attorney General’s office, and in a secondary-manufacturers national opioid settlement (reference CL1773468). County attorney staff told the court the county will need to execute participation-and-release forms before the Sept. 30 deadline; specific settlement amounts for Atascosa County were not specified at the meeting.

The court accepted the monthly county infrastructure project report covering progress at the sheriff’s office, the tax office addition, medical examiner building procurement and site-permitting discussions with the City; no formal action beyond acceptance was recorded. The commissioners also approved reassignment of the county pre-detention juvenile facility back to the Atascosa County Juvenile Board, effective when the juvenile board accepts the transfer; the motion carried.

Constable Mark Medina’s corrected monthly-hours reporting for Jan. 1–June 30, 2025 was acknowledged and accepted for record; the court allowed the submission to be filed as part of his reports. The court approved invoices and payroll and accepted submitted reports by voice vote.

Motions were typically introduced and seconded by named commissioners (for example: motions repeatedly made by Commissioner Mark Gillespie and seconded by Commissioner Riley or Commissioner Pavelic). Where the transcript recorded a roll-call-style or counted response, the court noted one abstention during the PDO-chair acknowledgement; most other approvals were carried by unanimous voice vote.

Votes at a glance (selected items) - Item 4: Hire — Maria Veronica Magna, Administrative Assistant, District Attorney’s Office. Outcome: approved (motion by Commissioner Gillespie; seconded by Commissioner Riley). - Item 5: Pay adjustment — Mercedes Arredondo Garcia, JP 4 clerk. Outcome: approved (motion by Commissioner Gillespie; seconded by Commissioner Bowen). - Item 6a: Acknowledgement — Commissioner Gillespie stepping down as PDO chair and naming of Judge Herbert as PDO chair. Outcome: acknowledged/approved; vote recorded as 4 in favor, 1 abstention. - Item 6b: Appointment — Jessica Sexton as Atascosa County representative to PDO board. Outcome: approved. - Item 6c: Removal/appointment — Remove Raoul Khazerales as PDO vice chair; name Judge Stella Saxon vice chair. Outcome: approved. - Item 7: Certificate exception — Resource Diversification Group/Sullivan Ranch, FM 791 (Precinct 4). Outcome: approved. - Item 8: Certificate exception — Wheeler family, East FM 140 (Precinct 4). Outcome: approved. - Item 9: Contract addendum — Local Government Solutions (LGS) hosted-services addendum for county and district clerk systems (savings $4,776/year). Outcome: approved pending county attorney review; county judge authorized to sign. - Item 11: Personnel — Monica Gihn pay increase and Jonathan Fisher appointment (assistant county attorney). Outcome: approved. - Items 12 & 13: Settlement participation — National opioid settlement (Purdue) and secondary-manufacturers national opioid settlement (CL1773468) via the Texas Attorney General’s office; county authorized to execute participation/release forms before Sept. 30. Outcome: approved. - Item 14: Special event permit — Prickly Pear Market, courthouse parking lot (three dates). Outcome: approved. - Item 16: Reassignment — Pre-detention facility and operations to Atascosa County Juvenile Board effective upon juvenile board acceptance. Outcome: approved. - Item 17: Acknowledgment — Constable Mark Medina corrected hours report (Jan. 1–June 30, 2025). Outcome: acknowledged/approved for filing. - Items 21 & 22: Invoices/payroll and submitted reports. Outcome: approved/accepted.

What the record shows and what it does not: the court recorded motions, seconds and outcomes for the items listed above. Specific dollar amounts for future opioid-settlement receipts were not provided at the meeting; the county attorney reported the county should receive some funding but could not specify amounts during the Sept. 8 session. For some motions the transcript reports only a voice vote without an individual roll-call; where the court used a recorded count, that is noted above.