Commissioners approve returning pre-detention facility to juvenile board

Atascosa County commissioners voted Sept. 8 to approve reassigning the county’s pre‑detention facility and its operations to the Atascosa County Juvenile Board, a shift county staff said will restore state benefit eligibility for detention officers.

Miss Pereira (county staff) told the court that the county’s pre‑detention center is currently outside the juvenile board’s authority and is “the only detention juvenile detention center in the state of Texas that the detention center is not under the juvenile board.” She said the juvenile board and detention staff support returning the pre‑detention operation to that board.

The County Judge and commissioners argued the benefit structure for staff is improved if the facility is under the juvenile board umbrella. The judge said he supported the transfer and that the county auditor and juvenile board agreed with the change.

Commissioner Gillespie moved to approve the reassignment; Commissioner Bowen seconded and the court carried the motion. The reassignment will take effect when the juvenile board formally accepts the transfer, at which point pre‑detention services will be under the juvenile board; post‑detention operations will remain under the commissioners court’s separate board established for that purpose.

Provenance: Topic intro SEG 608; topic finish SEG 674.

Speakers quoted or referenced in this article: Miss Pereira (county staff), County Judge, Commissioner Gillespie, Commissioner Bowen.

Topics: juvenile justice, personnel,…