Grimes County adopts revised personnel manual, creates carve-outs for sheriff’s shift workers and tightens travel rules

Grimes County Judge Joe Fowles and a four-member majority of the Commissioners Court on Monday approved a revised Personnel Policy and Procedures Manual that reorganizes county personnel rules, tightens travel and meal reimbursements and establishes exceptions and accrual changes for sheriff’s office shift staff.

The court voted to adopt the new manual after Human Resources Director Talita Coleman walked members through the major changes. “We are pulling out additional policies and creating them as stand‑alone,” Coleman said, describing the manual as shorter because separate policies (IT, vehicle, email and travel addenda) were moved out of the main text. Judge Joe Fowles made the motion to approve; Commissioner Chad Mallett seconded it and the motion passed by a 4–0 vote with Commissioner Tellez absent.

Why it matters: the rewrite affects countywide payroll practices, holiday and vacation accruals, overtime language for school resource officers and travel reimbursements—items county officials and department heads said directly affect employee pay, staffing flexibility and departmental budgets.

Most important changes

- Overtime and school resource officers: The manual removes rigid hour thresholds for SRO overtime and replaces them with a test tied to the minimum hours required by an employee’s contract. Talita Coleman told the court this change was designed to accommodate SROs who work different hours under separate school contracts.

- COVID sick-pay removal: The draft removes the county’s standalone COVID leave provisions from the sick-leave section.

- Holiday banking and payout: The…