Jefferson County commissioners reviewed a resolution presented on behalf of the sheriff's office to support elements of the sheriff's 2026 legislative agenda and voted to move forward on two previously supported measures while deferring a third for further review.

The sheriff's representative (Speaker 7) described three items in the resolution: restoring multi-year pistol-permit pricing so a five-year permit could be sold for $37.50 locally rather than the state's current interpretation; a sheriff's pay-raise bill (the sheriff has not received a raise since the 2018 election, the speaker said); and a local change allowing the sheriff to contract with vetted, non-deputy process servers for civil service, with an additional $50 fee to be paid into the county general fund when the county-arranged contractors are used.

"The sheriff of Jefferson County has not gotten a pay raise since '20, since the 2018 election," Speaker 7 said while urging support for the pay-raise bill. Commissioners expressed general support for the pay-raise and pistol-permit items. On the proposed process-service change, commissioners raised questions about how the change would affect constables (the county currently has 16 constables), the security implications of using civilian or private servers for certain civil papers and whether a similar statewide bill might render a local measure unnecessary.

Because of those operational and legal questions, commissioners voted to defer final action on the process-service item and asked that the sheriff, the district attorney and the county attorney meet to clarify legal and enforcement pathways and return to the commission with a coordinated recommendation at a future (Thursday) meeting. The two other items in the sheriff's package were moved forward as previously supported.