Dateline: July 5, 2001

Donley officials file answers to lawsuit 

Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

Donley County officials filed papers Friday saying they broke no laws and did not abuse their discretion when they set Constable Jimmy Swinney’s salary last December.

County Judge Jack Hall and Commissioners Don Hall and Bob Trout filed a motion for summary judgment in the recent lawsuit brought against them by Swinney. The motion filed with the 100th Judicial District Court claims the constable’s salary is not unreasonable as a matter of law.

The county’s two other commissioners also filed a separate motion for summary judgment. Ernest Johnston and Henry “Buster” Shields say they were not in office when the commissioners’ court set Swinney’s salary on December 28, 2000. Johnston and Shields took office January 1, 2001.

A hearing for the defendants’ motions has been set before District Judge David McCoy in the Hall County Courthouse in Memphis on July 23, 2001.

Swinney was elected last year as a write-in candidate for constable of Precincts 1&2, an office that had been vacant for 30 years. He filed suit on June 19 against the commissioners’ court, the county judge, and Donley County itself. 

Swinney’s petition asks the district court to command the county to set and pay him a reasonable salary. Previously he had sought a salary equal to the constable of Precincts 3&4, which is $17,146.95.

According to the papers filed by county officials on Friday, the commissioners’ court gathered information and sought advice from the county attorney, the county treasurer, and the Texas Association of Counties regarding a reasonable salary for Swinney. The court also gathered input from Precinct 1&2 Justice Jimmy Johnson and Sheriff-elect Butch Blackburn regarding the duties to be performed by the new constable.

The defendants say the commissioners’ court set Swinney’s salary at $3,170 based on the work he would be expected to do. The court used the following formula to set the salary: (1) $100 per month to serve an average of 14 notices or citations; (2) $20 per month to attend an average of one justice court jury trial lasting two hours; and (3) $10 per citation to compensate for any additional time based on serving 173 per year.

The defendants also claim that Swinney “has been overpaid” since he received $1,452.92 from January 1 to June 15 and, based on the commissioners’ formula, “actually earned only $667.50.” Their motion says Swinney has “served less than seven notices or citations per month since assuming office.”

The motion also claims that Constable Swinney’s salary amounts to $10 per hour while a deputy sheriff in Donley County earns $8.64 per hour.