New commission seeks to hold WilCo sheriff's office accountable

WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas - Williamson County Sheriff’s Office employees will now have more job protection than ever before.

As of Wednesday, there is now a civil services commission which will create new rules for the sheriff’s office. The sheriff’s office, district attorney, and county commissioners each select a person to serve on the commission.

Williamson County needed a population of 500,000 people to meet the requirement to form a commission.

The latest U.S. Census recorded the county exceeding that by more than 100,000 in 2020. 

"This was extremely needed," said Charles Duvall, president of the Williamson County Deputies Association. "Every four years that there’s an election, everybody’s on eggshells around here, especially if a new sheriff gets elected. We don't know if we’re going to come in on January 1st and have a job or not, so literally a sheriff could come in on day one and get rid of half of the department if he wanted and bring all new people."

Shortly after forming, the Civil Services Commission checked off job protection as its first item on the agenda.

"Not to go into politics in previous administrations, but the previous administration had a horrific record on the way it treated its employees," said Williamson County Sheriff Mike Gleason.

Gleason said that before he was elected in 2020, out of the 600 sheriff’s office employees, 275 were let go without just cause.

"We did the math," said Gleason. "We took their hiring dates and their separation dates. That was 1700 years of experience. Training people is not cheap, and that’s just taxpayer money, lives that were ruined, and they just said ‘You don’t work here anymore.’"

Now, any time he terminates, demotes, or suspends someone, they can go to the Civil Services Commission board to appeal.

"By creating an environment where people want to come to work and feel less stressed at work, we’re able to provide better to, you know, anybody that dials 911," said Duvall.

Gleason said he hopes the commission will attract more higher-quality candidates, making the hiring process more selective.

"As far as recruiting, I can go, ‘Yes, yes, yes, no,'" said Gleason.

And if the deputies are better, he thinks Williamson County will be too.

"People go, ‘I want to go work for that guy because of job security,' they're not short, there’s no overtime, they’re not working me to death, so it all kind of factors into attracting the best people and when you attract the best people, the best people take care of their community," said Gleason.

The commission will meet again Wednesday to discuss creating more regulations.

Members will be changed and appointed every few years.

The sheriff's office can dissolve the commission if more than half of its employees vote in favor of it.