The Hockley County Commissioners’ Court on Monday held a regular meeting to approve several requests from county entities, hear updates and reports, workshop items for next year’s budget and discuss the Omar Soto-Chavira murder trial.
The meeting began with the reading and approval of the last meeting’s minutes, along with the approval of all monthly bills and claims submitted to the court through July 20.
The court then heard an update from Perdue Brandon Fielder Collins & Mott LLP, an Amarillo-based law firm, on the property tax collections, fines and fees of the county.
According to a spokesperson for the firm, the county has seen a total turnover of 6.5 million dollars in fine collections for the past 20 years. Nearly $2.1 million in fines were disposed of for various reasons and $1.5 million outstanding, while $2.8 million was collected at a 48% collection rate.
The spokesperson noted the success of the firm’s new text message program, which informs people of fines and fees they have incurred. He said the response rate for those texts was much higher than the response rate to letters.
For Hockley County-Court, collections were smaller, as “bigger money than just a $200 dollar speeding ticket is hard to collect,” according to the spokesperson. Total turnover was around $915,000.
In other business, the court approved a letter of resignation submitted by Cara Phelan, a Hockley Public Assistance Officer and Veterans Service Officer, which became effective on July 21. The commissioners stated that though they “hate that she’s leaving, they understand that she needs some time.”
To fill Phelan’s shoes, the court took action to appoint Jessica Martinez as the Hockley County Public Assistance/Indigent Health Care Administrator, Wellness Coordinator and Veterans Service Officer. Martinez has been working under Phelan for the past Wellness Coordinator and Veterans Service Officer. Martinez has been working under Phelan for the past three years and will assume her position immediately.
The court heard the monthly Public Assistance report for June, which had been tabled from the meeting prior. According to the report, there were four applicants, three of whom were approved.
In other action, the court approved the Hockley County Treasurer’s 2026 1st and 2nd Quarter Financial Reports after a condensed version was read aloud by a spokesperson.
The court also approved the Agreement and Monitoring Plan between the 286th Judicial District Attorney’s Office and Dr. Marcus Van Sickle regarding “forensic psychology services to be rendered for the Omar Soto Chavira capital murder trial.”
According to District Attorney Donnie Yandell, a grant would cover the estimated $37,000 to hire Dr. Van Sickle as Soto-Chavira’s psychological examiner, if his office were to rearrange line items in the grant.
Yandell stated that he was “really impressed” with Dr. Sickle after seeing him in a hearing and explained that Sickle would act as a witness and help his office with the “competency issue.” The trial court must appoint a doctor of their own, and the defendant may do so as well if he wishes.
Yandell added that the judge was currently working to move forward with the case and pursuing competency as a main point. All were hoping for a possible October trial.
The court approved Ad Valorem tax refunds and the monthly reports due “as per 114.044 Local Government Code” submitted by the Hockley County District Clerk, Hockley County Clerk and Justice of the Peace Precincts 1,2,4 and 5.
The court took a short break before beginning a budget workshop for 2027, where they discussed increasing the tax rate by 54 cents, potentially working with Wolfforth to better provide EMS services to Ropesville and pulling funds for a second time to use if the Soto-Chavira trial were to be delayed until next year.