Compensation Committee consults commissioners on member appointments

On Tuesday, Victoria Ramirez, senior financial manager at the Travis County District Attorney’s office and chair of the county’s Compensation Committee, briefed commissioners on a lineup of committee recommendations for commissioners regarding member appointments.

In 2018, the Travis County Commissioners Court created additional seats on the compensation committee to add diversity, reflect different county departments and make the committee “less management heavy.” Those seats included five “at-large” seats for classified staff and seven functional area seats, to be filled by staff from various departments.

Since five at-large committee seats expired at the end of September, the Compensation Committee recommended the commissioners reappoint all of the same members: county employees Teresa Edmondson, Derrick Norris, Monica Reyes, Lynelle Ramirez and Katharine Hardin.

“The committee believes preserving continuity and institutional knowledge will be crucial given the demanding agenda we expect to take up this coming fiscal year,” Ramirez said.

In total the compensation committee has 18 members, 15 of whom have voting power.

Ramirez made three additional appointment recommendations to commissioners, though a court document notes four seats in this category expired and all four members sought reappointment. The seats recommended for reappointment represent employees working in juvenile/adult probation, commissioners court or for/as non-judicial elected officials.

“Affected offices and departments have met and recommend reappointing Nancy Goodman-Gill, Meg Seville and Chris Dietche to represent their offices through September 30, 2024,” a court document reads.

Ramirez explained that adult probation employees are generally not on county classified tracks, are on a pay scale set by the state and that the compensation committee was seeking guidance on whether to include them in the committee.

“The juvenile probation director and the adult probation director have not yet come to consensus regarding their functional representative, pending direction from the court as to this question. So I would ask for your input on on that,” Ramirez said.

“Since adult probation employees are not classified as Travis County employees, I think it makes sense for them to not have representation on the committee,” Commissioner Brigid Shea said.

One seat was vacant and Ramirez recommended commissioners appoint current member Susan Welds to represent it as a proxy until September of next year, when the term expires.

“Thanks to all the staff who are serving on this committee,” Shea said. “It’s been a big change in the makeup to have more robust representation of frontline workers and non-management staff.”

Commissioners approved all committee requests.

Photo by Larry D. Moore, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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