Erath County Judge Brandon Huckabee responds to English-only speaking rule at tax assessor’s office.
Erath County Judge Brandon Huckabee has released a statement in response to the tax assessor’s new rule that employees are only allowed to speak English inside the office.
The statement was sent to Beneath the Surface News Wednesday afternoon, about 24 hours after the story first broke.
Here is the statement in its entirety:
First and foremost, I want to apologize to Mrs. Cajamarca & Ms. Serrano personally and to the citizens that this has rightfully upset.
I want to be very clear, this is not an Erath County policy, nor is it found in our handbook; it is not current policy used in any other County office that I am aware of at this time.
In preparation of me taking office, I pushed hard to create a dedicated Human Resource department for Erath County. It is vitally important that we have a full time professional in place to ensure our policies are appropriate and consistent.
We were able to fill the position in late January, but unfortunately, Human Resources was not contacted about implementing this policy prior to presenting it the employees at the Tax office.
Our office learned about this after the letter was presented to Mrs. Cajamarca & Ms. Serrano.
County Government is an interesting setup in that each elected official is responsible for their own office and work independently without much oversight from other officials in the County.
This policy and rollout was a decision that Mrs. Carey made after consulting with Ms. Pence for use in her department without the consultation of the County Judge, Commissioners Court (County Wide Policy Makers), or the Human Resource Department.
This is not a policy that has ever been considered nor will ever be implemented at a County level, and I would strongly advise that no individual office issue such a policy.
I have and will continue to work daily to do what I can to make Erath County offices a place where everyone feels comfortable and supported in their professional and personal lives. The citizens of Erath County should be able to trust and count on us to serve them with accountability, transparency, and integrity.
That is the goal of our office every day.
We can’t change the past and won’t ever claim to be a perfect organization, but I expect us to work every day to be better and hold each other accountable when we fall short.
If you have further questions, you can contact myself or Jocelyn Perez in our office at 254-965-1452.
