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The Smith County Commissioners Court took up two issues related to the Smith County Jail and its response to COVID-19 on Tuesday in connection with the transport of inmates and hazard pay for detention officers.

Precinct 4 Commissioner JoAnn Hampton began the discussion over using funds from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act to provide hazard pay for Smith County detention officers.

She suggested each of the 184 detention officers who are currently employed receive a $500 one-time stipend for a total cost of $92,000.

“As we discuss this issue, I am in favor of giving hazard pay to our detention officers,” Hampton said. “Others may not feel as I do and we may need to look at this further. But I wanted to at the very least have a conversation about the hazardous pay because we simply do not know how long we will live in these working conditions.”

She said the pay would show appreciation for the officers who have stayed at the jail even when being exposed to COVID-19.

“They can’t close their doors. They can’t go home,” she said. “They have to stay there and they have to work.”

As of Sunday, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards reported nine inmates and two detention officers have active diagnoses of COVID-19. One inmate has died due to COVID-19.

Hampton added other counties have taken similar action using CARES Act funds, and the Smith County funds are set to run out on Dec. 31.

Precinct 1 Commissioner Jeff Warr thanked the jailers for their work during the pandemic, but noted that it could become a slippery slope with other departments asking for a stipend as well.

“We have other employees that are also in and out of the jail,” Warr said. “Once you do it, you’ve got these other departments that will also say we have employees that are there every day.”

Smith County Judge Nathaniel Moran argued that it would be hard to draw the line of who would receive hazard pay, as many county employees have all been exposed to COVID-19 in some form.

Moran said he didn’t believe the hazard pay for jailers would be a good policy decision.

“I just don’t think it’s a wise policy decision to set out one subset of a group and say, ‘Well this group has been more exposed or more hazardously exposed to COVID because of their work than otherwise,’” Moran said. “Sure, we’d all like $500 as an additional bonus for going through the pandemic, but that pretty much applies to everyone in the county at this point.”

He also noted that prior to COVID-19, law enforcement was a dangerous job, and the county officials honor them for their work and dedication.

“And in this particular instance, the pandemic creates a different origin of hazard, but it is still when each of the men and women in this room, in the jail and in law enforcement signed up to be law enforcement officers, they signed up for a hazardous job. And that is something that if we decide not to do this today, it doesn’t mean we dishonor that,” Moran said. “That is frankly what we honor on the front-end by setting the pay scale and the benefits where we do, and they accept those pay and benefits knowing it’s a hazardous job.”

Hampton made a motion to provide the hazard pay, but it died due to the lack of a second.

Hampton also mentioned she spoke with Sheriff Larry Smith about other possible benefits to give jailers aside from hazard pay.

In related news, the commissioners approved the purchase of two passenger vans using CARES Act monies for the transport of inmates due to COVID-19.

Moran said the county was previously told the CARES Act funding couldn’t be used for the vans, but the purchase does fit the criteria for the funds.

Texas Division of Emergency Management and Traylor and Associates will work to create up-fitting fixes to the vans to safely transport inmates. These changes should be complete by Dec. 31.

According to an update from Chief John Shoemaker, the current total jail population is 1,081. He said there are 30 jailer openings.

Moran said about $46,000 was spent in overtime for jailers in the last pay period, and about $80,000 has been spent this fiscal year.

Warr suggested a referral program to find more people to fill jailer openings and relieve some of the current detention officers’ workload.