A longtime law enforcement officer in Wood County has taken over the job as chief deputy for the sheriff’s office.

County commissioners approved transferring Lt. Robert Holland to the chief deputy position Tuesday. He was promoted from lieutenant with a raise from $24.53 to $27.84 per hour.

Holland replaces Audrey “Nikki” Wright who resigned following a one-car crash Aug. 16. Efforts to obtain crash details have not been successful from the Texas Department of Public Safety. 

In other personnel moves in the sheriff’s office, commissioners approved Ashley Charles to replace the position previously held by Stephen Fulce, Jailer Richard Tucker was discharged, and Hunter Wells was hired to fill the dispatch position held previously by Kenneth Mayberry.

Personnel moves include Jennifer Harrelson as deputy clerk in Justice of the Precinct 3, Donyale Madsen hired full-time as deputy clerk also in Precinct 3, Holly Stiefer’s resignation from the tax office, Mandy Hubbard hired part-time at the tax office, David Click hired as a road tech in Precinct 4 and Casey Ricks hired as chief clerk in JP Precinct 2.

UT Health East Texas spokesman Scott Berkley honored Wood County Emergency Management Director Tully Davidson for his work during last winter’s ice storms.

“We want to acknowledge one of Wood County’s own,” he said. “It’s part of who we are, we answer the call 24/7. Remember back in February when we had this snow event. We had to call upon a lot of people to answer the call including our team’s members and our support staff reaching out to help. We did everything we could running hot meals to our people, setting up cots so people could sleep and have a warm meal and four-wheel vehicles to pick up employees. A lot of people stood up to answer the call and one of them was here in Wood County. We relied on people in our counties; we could not do it alone. We want to honor at commissioners’ court today, Tully Davidson. Our proclamation states the outstanding commitment, the emergency response system provided by Tully Davidson the week of Feb. 14 through 20 because he stepped forward to answer the call having an impact on East Texas patients and their families.”

In other business, commissioners approved notices of consolidation of precincts for the Nov. 2, 2021 election proposed by Elections Officer Laura Wise.

“What we did was consolidate Golden with Alba,” she said. “We put all of Mineola together at city hall. We moved precinct 3-1 in Quitman to Carroll Green Civic Center and we moved 4-1 and 4-4 from city hall to Carroll Green.”

Commissioners approved Sam Curry, John Johnson, Al Harris, Robert Jackson and Dan Strickland to be reappointed for the board of directors of the Wood County Appraisal District.

In other action, commissioners approved claims including payroll of $386,544, health and dental of $96,577 and accounts payable of $407,562.