A resident told the San Patricio County Commissioners Court on Sept. 29 she has filed more than 20 complaints with the Texas Attorney General after the county’s public information officer declined or delayed replies to her public information requests.

“My name is Sonia Witherspoon and I'm from Precinct 3,” she told the court. She said she has reviewed the Office of Court Administration’s county clerk manual and the Texas Local Government Code. She said she is focusing on Chapter 114, passed in the 67th Legislature and effective Sept. 1, 1987, which requires monthly county financial reports.

Under section 114.003 of the Local Government Code, she said, monthly reports “must be filed within five days after the last day of each month,” and failure to comply can be a misdemeanor punishable by a fine, removal from office, or both. She said she has been unable to find all county clerk monthly reports since 1987 and that the reports she did find lack receipts and vouchers and do not show detailed distributions for fines, jury fees and other collections.

She urged the court to examine county clerk records and receipts. “I cannot find those,” she told the court at the end of her remarks.

The court did not take immediate action during the meeting; the matter was presented in the public-comment portion of the agenda.