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Sheriff's office urges more staff and storage as records requests surge
Summary
Erath County sheriff's staff told commissioners that rising public-records demands and aging technology are straining operations, and asked for dedicated records staff, more server space for body-cam footage, and equipment and vehicle replacements ahead of the fiscal budget vote.
Erath County's sheriff's office on Thursday told commissioners that a surge in open-records requests and aging equipment have pushed its budget and staff capacity to the limit, and asked the court to consider adding at least one records position and funding to expand digital storage.
Shelley Chance, the sheriff's office manager, said the office has received about 519 open-records requests so far this year—54 more than the same date last year—and that redacting body-camera footage is time-consuming. "A 1-hour video can take me up to 5 hours to redact," Chance said, adding that her two-person records team is overwhelmed and that workload often forces her to set aside other duties.
The office described how state rules limit what it can charge requesters (10¢ per page for documents and $10 per video plus $1 per minute for body-camera footage), while the time required to process and redact material grows. Commissioners and sheriff's staff discussed proposals for dedicated records personnel to prevent redaction work from crowding out other essential functions.
Beyond records, the sheriff's office outlined technology and equipment needs: more server space for WatchGuard body-camera retention, rugged patrol laptops and hotspots, GPS tracking pucks linked to the county CAD, replacement desktop PCs for the office, and small-ticket items such as a replacement printer for mapping and additional uniforms. The office cited quotes and estimates in the record packet, including WatchGuard system and camera costs roughly in the low thousands for units and servers.
Commissioners asked staff to compile a consolidated cost estimate for the sheriff's requests. The presiding official said county budget staff would assemble the items and return to the court with the fiscal impact so the court can prioritize which requests to fund.
The court did not take a vote on any of the sheriff's funding requests during the special session; the items will be folded into the formal budget review process.
