AT GARZA-PEREZ'S OFFICE, NO TATTOOS, EARRINGS, DYED HAIR

By Juan Montoya
It was not a pretty sight.
There was Cameron County Clerk Sylvia-Garza Perez delivering her three-month update. And there was a skeptical majority of the county commissioners wondering why she had authorized a county clerk employment manual.
The purpose of the manual for her office, according to Perez-Garza was "to give some guidance to the employees, and also mirrors the county employment polices."

After the perfunctory political thanks to County Judge Pete Sepulveda and County Administrator David Garcia on remodeling her office, Perez-Garza had to answer to the commissioners. Why did the department need to have its own manual when the county personnel manual already had them?
That didn't go over well with Pct. 3 commissioner David Garza and he let legal and the county clerk know it.
"There seems o be a lot of redundancies" Garza said. "I have just seen this for the first time. I would have  gone through HR."
Garza pointed out that the items listed on the county clerk's manual are already mentioned in the county personnel policy manual and there was no need to list them again for her office. Garza rattled off the polices that dealt with vacations, leave, attendance, evaluations, employee discipline, etc.,
"There's a myriad of polices that are already covered in our employment manual and here we are duplicating them in this one."
Garza asked whether the new county employees manual was already in effect.
"You'd figure that if there were any new polices put into effect, commissioners court would have to approve those policies," Garza said.
County legal counsel Juan Gonzalez sought to justify the new manual for Perez-Garza's employees saying that at the outset it stated that the polices were based on the county employee manual.
"They are very specific to the department and as long as they are compatible with the employee manual," Garza said
"I don't see why we have to have this redundancy, like in comp time and employee leave," Garza said, joined by Pct. 2 commissioner Alex Dominguez who wondered why the manual had to be written in the first place.
"They have more specific guidelines within their own department and I think the law allows them to have that sphere of influence," countered Gonzalez lamely.
"There's a lot of things that are in here that are already included in our county employee manual," Garza countered.
"I can go back and look at it and meet with you at length," Gonzalez said.
"I don't want to meet with any legal guy at length because they always win," said Garza. "I don't know about the law, I just know about common sense."
"More layers of BS makes it difficult to administer, you know," he said.
"I don't think it's a good idea to have a document that is redundant because it will just leave it up to interpretation," Sepulveda chimed in. "It makes it a lot more difficult to defend if it gets to that point."
"So we can specify that male folks who work in your department cannot wear an earring," Garza queried Garza-Perez.
"Yes, I think we can," Gonzalez said without quite as much authority."
"We can?" Garza asked incredulously. "Have you ever been to Seattle?, or Austin, or McAllen?"
"Hair color, except for natural,' Garza lit non Garza-Perez, " I could question who has natural hair color...well, I know you have natural hair color just in front of me here. I just think that when we start policing earrings, hair color and things of that sort...
"Well, said Pct. 4 commissioner Dan Sanchez, "Do you want to have someone show up with red hair representing you at the front window?
"Well, they're there," Garza said. "People have the freedom of expression whether we like it or not. People still have the freedom of expression, we still have that constitutional right."
"No to speak insubordinately here,but..," Garza-Perez stuttered.
"No problem, go ahead," Garza said.
Garza-Perez countered that the manual was meant as a guideline because she said Human Resources made its presentation of the county manual hurriedly and did not have the time to fully instruct the new employees.
"We didn't do this to chop off anybody's head," she countered.
"We have a great many employees that do great work in many departments that do great work that have tattoos," Garza said. "Whether I like them or not is indifferent, you know."
Garza went on to say that he had noticed employees at the Sheriff's Department and many veterans from the Vietnam War and other conflicvet who had tattoos and were employees.
"Rather than get sidetracked here so we can get something accomplished so we can get on t=with the presentation," Garza-Perez quipped lamely trying to dodge the bullet.
"I take offense to being sidetracked," Garza countered. "My only concern is that we treat employees with dignity and respect regardless of the beliefs that they have and what they can do to their bodies, because it's their bodies."
"As an elected official, we try to do what is right," Garza-Perez replied.
When Sepulveda asked Gonzalez who was ultimately responsible for the polices of elected officials if it ever became a legal issue, he stated ludicrously that he would have to take it on a case by case basis.
The county clerk's manual was jot approved by the commissioners, but apparently, the rules issued by the county clerk's office which are at odds with the county personnel policy – regarding earrings for men, hair color for women and tattoos for all – are in effect until they are legally challenged by an employee in the future.