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Commissioners approve detention staffing incentives, equipment buys as county readies new jail
Summary
The court approved a Detention Officer Recruitment Policy with hiring and retention payments and authorized multiple Sheriff’s Office purchases — vehicle, K9 kennels, fence work, padded cell replacements, TAG robots and a detention technology contract — while residents raised data‑use concerns during public comment.
The Midland County Commissioners’ Court on Aug. 4 approved a package of staffing and equipment measures aimed at readying the new jail, including a recruitment policy that offers $1,000 at hire and $2,000 after 24 months.
Commissioner Charles Hall presented the recruitment policy and the court adopted it with funding coming from unused salary funds. County Judge Terry Johnson urged urgency in staffing the facility, saying, "we need to use all the resources we can to man the new jail." The court also approved an agreement with Leo Technologies, LLC for the Detention Center and authorized replacement padding in two violent booking-area cells; those items were presented by Sheriff Criner and Lt. Rebecca Thompson and approved by unanimous vote.
Separately the court authorized several Sheriff’s Office purchases to be paid from TAG or seized funds: trading in and replacing vehicle unit 15630, buying three K9 kennels from K9 Kennel Store and related fencing/concrete work from Triple T Fence LLC, and purchasing sky-hero ground robots for the TAG unit for remote camera inspection. The court approved a $25,000 donation from ConocoPhillips to the Sheriff’s general donation account and accepted a Personal Identifiable Information (PII) Sharing Agreement with Inmate Calling Solutions, LLC for the Sheriff’s Office.
Public comment recalled for the TAG robots and the inmate‑calling agreement included Midland County resident Shandi Williams, who said, "we need to make sure the information that is being collected is being used for the betterment of the County," urging transparency on data use and security. The court did not delay the purchases or agreements but the comments were recorded for the public record.
Court actions were recorded as motions where noted: recruitment policy (Motion by: Villela; Seconded by: Hall), Leo Technologies agreement (Somers/Hall), vehicle authorization (Hall/Somers), K9 kennel purchases and fencing (Somers/Hall; Villela/Hall), sky‑hero robots (Somers/Hall), and PII agreement (Villela/Anderson).
