Sheriff reports staffing gaps and 56 inmates; elections mailings delayed by TEAMS database issue

During the Dec. 22 Burleson County Commissioners Court meeting in Caldwell, Sheriff Rios reported the county sheriff’s office currently has three vacancies — one jailer, one dispatcher and one school resource officer to serve Snook schools — and that the county jail housed 56 people (45 males, 11 females).

County staff member Stephanie Smith said the county is implementing time clocks and that changes to comp time and overtime handling tied to tax matters have been made. Patti Vychopen reported that the elections office is very busy and that distribution of new voter registration cards will be delayed because of problems with the TEAMS database used by the Secretary of State; Judge Keith Schroeder and Vychopen held a Zoom meeting with a Ms. Adkins about those TEAMS issues, the minutes state.

The court subsequently approved the appointment of Patti Vychopen as Elections Administrator in a unanimous vote. The minutes do not provide a timeline for resolution of the TEAMS database problem or for issuance of delayed voter registration cards.

The sheriff’s staffing report and the elections delay were presented as informational items in the minutes; the court’s recorded actions from the meeting were procedural approvals and did not include emergency authorizations tied to the staffing or elections issues.