Doyal begins restructuring plan, lays off rival Bosma

By Catherine Dominguez | Posted: Monday, January 26, 2015 9:10 pm

After a 4-1 vote Monday giving new County Judge Craig Doyal the authority to restructure key county employee positions, Doyal laid off  Director of Infrastructure Mark Bosma following the Montgomery County Commissioners Court meeting.

Bosma, who has worked for the county for 23 years, ran against Doyal in last year’s contentious primary election, including a runoff between the two.

Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack was the lone nay vote.

“I’m disappointed with the county judge’s action today,” said Bosma, declining to comment any further.

According to a statement from Doyal, the move, taken after only his second meeting as county judge, is the first step in eliminating positions that no longer serve a vital function or are duplicated by other county services or offices. The plan, Doyal stated, will save as much as $500,000.

“The goal is to streamline and organize county operations to ensure the highest and best allocation of tax dollars in line with our mission of providing services to Montgomery County taxpayers and residents,” Doyal stated. “The savings from these actions could total as much as $416,666.52 in payroll alone; including benefits, the total savings could be more than half a million dollars.

“These dollars will be set aside and, to the fullest extent possible, be allocated for law enforcement or other pressing needs of our rapidly growing county.”

Doyal said it is important for the his office to take a lead role in organizing county offices and employees under control of Commissioners Court.

“With the exception of the positions indicated to be eliminated, our purchasing agent and county engineer, along with the county judge chief of staff, will be tasked with assessing and evaluating the remaining positions by function to determine which should be reallocated to other departments, or possibly eliminated if the functions can be absorbed by other positions – thus potentially yielding further savings that can be freed up for functions such as law enforcement,” Doyal noted in the statement. “The goal is to create uniform processes and policies and an efficient structure to better serve county taxpayers and residents.”

Noack said he could not support Doyal’s office having sole authority to restructure the county administrative personnel.

“I opposed this action,” he said. “I believe that this is a responsibility of the court.”

The move comes after Doyal and Bosma battled for the county judge seat last year with Bosma leading Doyal in the GOP primary election March 4 with 17,228 votes to Doyal’s 17,133 votes. However, with a third candidate in the race, Bosma did not receive more than 50 percent of the votes to avoid a runoff.

The two longtime county representatives battled back and forth, which even included Doyal issuing a challenge to Bosma for a public debate April 2 to which Bosma was a no-show.

In the May 27 runoff, Doyal won the election, garnering 18,104 votes to Bosma’s 15,010 votes.

Doyal said there could be additional changes in the coming weeks.

“The Office of County Judge proposes continued evaluation of the county’s management structure, with an eye toward suggesting further consolidation to achieve greater efficiency,” he said.