After months of questions about the status of Precinct 1 Constable Kelly Phelps' performance of duties for the county, he appeared at the Oct. 28 Commissioners Court meeting.
'I have been performing my duties as Constable PCT 1 as required by state statute,' Phelps said, reading his prepared statement.
At a September Commissioners Court meeting, a vehicle transfer was approved so that Reserve Deputy Sheriff Roy Kuester could use it to serve the papers that would normally be served by the Precinct 1 Constable. Phelps, who was involved in a traffic accident in his county vehicle in June, did not return a voice message requesting information on the substitute duties.
In early October, because Phelps was not present, the court tabled an agenda item to discuss the statute allowing an officeholder to reduce compensation for that office.
Before Phelps spoke on Oct. 28, Judge Daryl Fowler described the duties of county constables and reviewed the salary figures budgeted for the position, which include a base salary of $30,677 and a traffic patrol supplement of $20,070. He also mentioned “the complement of social security taxes, county matching worker’s compensation, and group health insurance. The group health insurance alone comes to $14,652.
“The Commissioners’ Court needs to know if this is wasted money,” Fowler said. He then opened the floor for Phelps to respond.
In his statement Phelps described email exchanges with Judge Fowler and Sheriff Carl Bowen and his actions since the June accident. He said that if anyone had questions about his job performance, they could have contacted him directly. (See the full statement in the related article.)
Phelps said he was injured in the June accident, but he had been performing the communication and court duties of the PCT1 Constable position. Upon doctor’s orders, he said he asked Bowen for assistance for 6-8 weeks with the service of papers. He said Sheriff Bowen denied the request because of a shortage of manpower.
Phelps said that Precinct 1 Justice of the Peace Peggy Mayer asked Kuester to fill in. Phelps said he has served all papers for his office since the end of September. He questioned whether other employees recovering from medical issues had been denied assistance or asked to reduce compensation. He said Fowler had a political motivation for suggesting reduced compensation. His statement concludes with a resignation date of December 30, 2024, one day short of which his elected term expires. He did not stay to answer any questions from the court.
After Phelps’ statement, Sheriff Bowen spoke to the court to clarify the communication between himself and Phelps. “There was never a refusal to do his job,” Bowen said.
“He (Phelps) said that he sent a request to me to do that. He didn’t. He took all his papers, which were significant, and placed them in my civil process server’s box and then sent me a note that said ‘I can’t do my job. I need you to do it.’
Bowen said that Phelps quoted the government code that stated the sheriff has the responsibility to ensure that all government papers are served. Bowen explained that his office has a fulltime process server that has been helped by Reserve Deputy Kuester and is now adding another fulltime person to deal with the workload.
“We have a certain amount of work and we cannot assume additional responsibility,” Bowen said.
He added that the Precinct 1 constable office has a reserve constable as a resource, which he mentioned to Phelps in an email. He said the response from Phelps was that the reserve constable was unavailable.
Bowen described the status of Kuester volunteering to perform the constable duties and that his office found him a vehicle and is paying the fuel and upkeep on it. “So we were short one of my reserves to do his job,” Bowen said.
“I think that he shows contempt for the court and he shows contempt for the sheriff’s office,” Bowen said. “I think it’s a disgrace the way he presented himself in court today and a disgrace to the citizens of DeWitt County.”
He added that his office will assure the work of serving papers will continue to get done, but he would expect the additional expense of performing the PCT1 constable duties will be compensated.
Judge Fowler commented that the decision to reduce salary was that of the elected official, so there is nothing for the court to do on the matter.
