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By LEW K. COHN, Inquirer Press
On Monday, March 25, Gonzales County Commissioners voted unanimously to remove the Human Resources Coordinator position from County Auditor Becky Weston’s office and place it under the supervision of the Commissioners Court below, effective immediately.
Commissioners will give Assistant Auditor Misty Cook — who currently serves as the county’s human resources coordinator but also has payroll administration responsibilities — the first opportunity to fill the revised position. If she does not want to take the job and instead wants to stay in the auditor’s office, the court will accept an application for a new human resources coordinator. The fiscal year 2024 budget will be modified to cover remaining salaries for transferred positions.
The court held an administrative session for nearly an hour to discuss how to handle the problem with the human resources department.
County Judge Pat Davis first raised concerns about placing human resources in the same office as payroll administration at a February meeting, echoed by County Attorney Paul Watkins addressed these concerns, saying there was an “inherent conflict” in having the same office handle both payroll and payroll administration. HR, let alone the same person.
“It’s not that Becky would have done anything wrong – I wouldn’t recommend it at all,” Watkins said in February. “I’m just saying, when HR people are responsible for employees and elected officials, but also responsible for money — there’s an inherent conflict.
“We have enough employees to do a full-time HR department. That’s an absolute fact. I’ll tell you, employees in this county have come to me and told me they’re not willing to go into the auditor’s office to talk to HR. I think there’s a Conflict, because at some point you’re going to make a decision between money and people. That’s what HR people do – they advocate for our employees.
“They’re going to be accountable to someone because they’re not an elected official, they’re accountable to the Commissioners Court. But at the same time, they have to be an independent office,” Watkins said.
“I’ve had people come to me and say they don’t want to go to HR right now,” Davis added. “They felt uncomfortable because they didn’t want to say anything and it didn’t appear to be confidential.”
Davis said he did not want to move payroll out of the audit office, but only human resources positions, and said the two would apparently work closely together because of overlapping concerns.
With 160 employees, Gonzales County is one of the county’s largest employers and does not have a dedicated, full-time human resources department.
Initially, Davis recommended moving the human resources coordinator under his office, but the commissioners wanted to place the coordinator position under the oversight of the entire Commissioners Court.
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