March 27, 2026 - The Shelby County Commissioners participated in a lengthy discussion with local prosecutors over the potential establishment of a bond board in Shelby County during their March 18, 2026, meeting.
John Price, Shelby County Attorney, presented the commissioners with many details pertaining to the operation of a board and that with the county's population being under 110,000, creating the board is discretionary rather than mandatory. (2020 Census data shows Shelby County population at that time to be 24,022)
“This particular matter is the Occupations Code, Section 1704, allows for this county to create such a board if you desire to do so. It is mandatory for counties with populations above 110,000, but for counties such as Shelby County, obviously it is a discretionary matter to be discussed and decided upon,” said Price. “In the event that the decision was made to create such a board the powers of the administrative authority would be the most important thing for the commissioners and yourself to hear here today.”
Price referenced the occupations code and explained the administrative authority that would be bestowed upon the board. Exercising powers incidental or necessary to the administration of the chapter, depositing fees collected under the authority of the board into the general fund of the county or in a separate county fund established for that purpose.
Other responsibilities of the board outlined in the code include supervision and regulation of each phase of the bonding business in the county, to adopt and post rules necessary to be implemented, to conduct hearings and investigations and make determinations relating to the issuance, denial, or renewal of licenses. The issuance of licenses to qualified applicants and the denial of licenses to unqualified applicants. The employment of persons necessary to assist in the board functions and then to conduct whatever other board business, including maintaining records is also allowed.
“The board itself, if this election were made, or decision was made, would be comprised of representatives of different agencies. It would include, among other persons, the sheriff or someone they designate, a district judge. In this instance, it has to be the administrative a presiding judge, which would be Judge Rafferty,” said Price.
According to Price, the board would consist of 13 representatives, including the sheriff, district and county judges, the district attorney, the county treasurer, a municipal court judge, and a licensed bail bond representative. It would also include one of the local attorneys who practices criminal law in the courts in Shelby County.
“The board itself is created by the commissioners’ court, if it was elected to do so, and that group elects to establish a board then the commissioner's court makes the final decision on that,” said Price. “Purpose of it is essentially to make sure that the bail bondsmen, the licensed corporates and everyone else are meeting the requirements of the codes that set out what they are required to do in order to ensure that they have sufficient assets in order to cover a forfeiting bail bond. It gives the board itself the power to set down certain rules and regulations as long as they're consistent with the provisions of the Occupations Code 1704.”
Price said that the board generates an inflow of funds and those funds have to be used for the maintenance of the board itself and it's expenses. The funds would either go into the general fund of the county, or a special account can be set up for those moneys. The board, once it's established in a county the size of Shelby, is required to meet at least four times during the year, and no less. If the board chooses they can also meet more frequently, but they have to meet at least four times a year. Even with 13 members on the board, only four members would have to meet at any given time in order to serve the purposes of the board.
“As to our existing bond persons, those that are currently able to issue bonds, they would have to file an application initially to be approved by the board,” said Price. “If they've been here and been in service for at least eight years, they don't have to annually renew that. Less than eight years of service, like new bail bonds companies, or individuals would have to come in every year and file an application to renew. There's a lot of language about the standards, but basically it is to determine what you have in the way of financially secure bail bondsmen who are posting these bonds on the various prisoners in the courts in this county.”
Price explained the main purpose of the board is to determine that there are adequate funds backing up the bail bonds. In the event of a forfeiture of a bail bond, that would then fall under the Code of Criminal Procedure.
“When you have someone who fails to appear, there is a procedure that's set out that provides what the court should do to ensure that that person has been notified, properly notified, and that they've been given an opportunity to appear,” said Price.
Price mentioned that there are some exceptions to a forfeiture involving circumstances in which missing an appearance is beyond the control of the individual that is out on bond.
Responsibilities the board would also oversee would include determining qualified bonding companies, whether corporate or individual, determining if an applicant meets the requirements or should be disqualified, and the enforcement of bonds. The board would also have the power to revoke a bonding company’s license if it was discovered the company didn’t meet its obligations. One factor in the the termination of a bonding company is posting bonds they do not have the financial resources or assets to meet. The company/individual has to have value to put up and assets to cover at least 10 percent of the total amount of bonds that they've got issued.
During the discussion, D.A. Karren Price interjected, “We may have 3,000 or 4,000 defendants out on bond. We have no idea if the people who hold those bonds can back them up if we forfeit them or file a bond forfeiture, which has not been done in this county in 30 years that I know of. I think when I was county attorney, we did that about twice, and people were a little bit reluctant after that to write bonds because it came out of their pocket. There's so many of them now how where would you start?”
C.A. Price informed the court that one of the requirements of the bond board, as required by statute, mandates the bail bond licensed persons to provide an updated list providing who they have issued a bail bond on and the amount of the bond, so that that information would be available to the board at any given time to compare to the financial ability of that licensee. This would give evidence the bondsmen can honor the requirements that they've committed themselves to meet.
D.A. Price explained that there is no accountability or risk to those providing bonds in the absence of a bond board.
In response to a question asked by Commissioner Tom Bellmyer, Price stated that after researching Attorney General opinions it was determined the bond board meetings are not public.
Allison Harbison, County Judge, indicated she would work on making contacts to plan on a meeting of individuals that would be eligible for the board.
No action was taken, and C.A. Price commented that action could be taken at a future date.
Nancy Adams, Elections Administrator, presented the court with the canvas for the March 3rd primary election.
“This is just the results of the election, just to let you know, informational purposes, how many people voted in the Democrat primary and in the Republican primary. Didn't really have any problems, everything went well and I also printed out a comparison of 2026 to the two-year to the 2024 primary just for your information,” said Adams. “I thought it was kind of interesting the numbers difference. In 2026 we had three and almost three and a half times the Democrats vote in 2026 and yet in 2024 we had about a thousand less Republicans so just an interesting comparison.”
Adams reminded everyone about about both a Democrat and Republican runoff, of which neither are local elections, as well as city and school elections upcoming in May.
“The parties have a canvas already. The state is already certified as well,” said Adams.
No action was taken.
During the meeting, the court went into executive session at 10:09am with D.A. Price, and C.A. John Price. When the meeting returned to open session at 11:15am, Commissioner Roscoe McSwain indicated the court had a lengthy discussion with D.A. Price during executive session and he moved to allow D.A. Price to hire Lisa Tanner as an Assistant District Attorney for a Special Investigation. Commissioner Tom Bellmyer seconded the motion and it carried with all in favor.
There was no further elaboration on what the special investigation is, Tanner's qualifications and why it’s necessary to outsource.
The commissioners considered repair to the roof of the Shelby County Adult Probation office building and Judge Harbison said that it’s been determined there was a boiler in the top floor of the building when it was once a jail, and the quote provided for repair indicates wind damage is contributing to a leak.
Paul Hagler presented the county with a quote for $8,326 to repair the roof and deal with rot and stop the leak.
Commissioner Bellmyer moved to pay for the repairs to the Adult Probation Building out of Courthouse Repairs in the amount of $8,326 and Commissioner Shannon Metcalf seconded the motion. It carried with all in favor.
The meeting adjourned at 11:18am.
Agenda items approved during the meeting include: 1. Pay weekly expenses. 2. Complete the repair to the roof of the Shelby County Adult Probation Office at a cost of $8,326. 3. D.A. Price to hire Lisa Tanner as an Assistant District Attorney for a Special Investigation. 4. Adjourn at 11:18am.
