As payroll investigations continue, Lubbock County Commissioners are split on the message their 'support' may send

The Lubbock County Commissioners Court voted 3 to 1 in their meeting on Monday to support an independent state investigation into the county dollars paid to Mark Meurer.

An investigation by the Lubbock County District Attorney’s office began after news broke by local digital media service Lubbock Lights that Mark Meurer remained on the county’s payroll as a commissioner for Lubbock County Precinct 2, even as a judge reinstated Jason Corley as the duly elected commissioner for that precinct.

Meurer was appointed as commissioner by County Judge Curtis Parrish at the end of last year. Parrish announced in a statement in the court on Dec. 8 that Jason Corley had “automatically” resigned when he began exploring his campaign for the Congressional District 19 primary on the GOP ticket.

A lawsuit was filed against Meurer and shortly after Parrish's announcement, State Judge Patrick Pirtle decided in a hearing to reinstate Corley, at least temporarily, but payments to Meurer continued.

In a statement after the payments were made public, Meurer said he has been setting aside the money from the county with the intention of returning it, but said he was advised by Judge Parrish to hold the funds pending a final ruling on the commissioner’s seat.

In his statement, Meurer said he will “withdraw from the pending litigation and leave the matter to Judge Parish [sic] and the State of Texas.”

A hearing on that litigation was scheduled for Oct. 13 in the 7th Court of Appeals, but according to Judge Parrish, Meurer's withdrawal has ended the need for that hearing.

Parrish issued a statement after Meurer's withdrawal, acknowledging that all salary is being returned.

When the court reconvened in their regular meeting on Sept. 21, Lubbock County Commissioners publicly discussed what some called a public trust violation within these payments to Meurer, and passed a nonbinding resolution.

While the resolution, as written, was intended to “express support” for District Attorney Sunshine Stanek’s request for an independent investigation by the Texas Rangers, Stanek spoke to the court on Monday.

“We have already been looking into this matter since it came to light over a week ago, probably closer to two at this point in time," Stanek said. "But none of you, with the exception of Commissioner [Mike] Dalby, made any effort to try and contact me and ask me about that."

Stanek originally recused herself from the Corley v. Meurer case in December 2025, and the state intervened through Potter County Attorney Scott Brumley. Stanek called Monday's resolution "both unnecessary and neither persuasive nor legally binding."

"So here we are, having to pass maybe a resolution to get me to do something that I'm already doing," Stanek said. "We are pursuing an investigation through the appropriate means, be it the rangers or otherwise, and will continue to do so.”

The lone vote in opposition came from Precinct 1 Commissioner Mike Dalby.

"There is a difference, okay, between what is legal and what is ethical," Dalby said. "We, this court, are not here to decide or draw the line between those two in regards to the payments to Mr. Meurer. However, we must be committed as representatives of the taxpayers of Lubbock County to make sure that happens. Most importantly, there is the issue of public trust."

Dalby said he supports the investigation, adding that as elected leaders in the county, the first step to addressing a violation of public trust "is ownership."

"I publicly support and encourage an audit or an investigation to bring light and clarity to this matter. Citizens deserve it, and if we can't deliver, then none of us up here deserve to sit in these seats asking for more of their dollars," Dalby said. "With that being said, I have talked to multiple people that are in the law, okay, attorneys, judges, not one person has said that it is a good idea to sign this resolution."

While he said he supports the idea behind the resolution, Dalby added it is "not a catalyst" for the investigation. Dalby moved to table the resolution, but the motion failed for lack of a second.

"I think that it's borderline defamation, possibly slander, and I just think it's prudent for us to think about that as a body. We can sit here and we can publicly support the DA's office in an investigation, which every one of us want, without signing the resolution."

After the meeting, Dalby noted that there’s nothing the court can do as it directly relates to the current investigation, but he supports “beefing up” procedures as the county moves forward.

"There are no words that I can say to do enough or say enough. Trust has been broken," Dalby said. "It's our job as a court to lead and to be transparent and to communicate as a team, as one body, and encourage this investigation and move forward from this and to make sure it never happens again."

Precinct 2 commissioner Jason Corley initially requested the resolution supporting an investigation into the money paid to his former legal opponent, Meurer. You can read the full resolution here.

Corley says the court is limited by the state in what authority it can use, but one of the things it can do is indicate “the will of the court” with resolutions.

“There's nothing in there that is accusing Miss Stanek of not doing her job,” Corley said. “This is our full support of her to carry out this aspect of her responsibilities at Lubbock County.”

Precinct 4 commissioner Jordan Rackler voted to pass the resolution. He noted that when the county has historically had legal issues, it doesn’t usually get solved within county departments to avoid a conflict of interest.

“We have a prosecutor from another county that comes in, or an outside agency that comes in, because it's a conflict of interest to have internal investigations on this court because we control the budget,” Rackler said. “So, to make this fair and transparent to the community, I believe that an outside agency needs to investigate it.”

While he agreed that the commissioners are limited in the direct action they can take by the nature of an active investigation, Rackler added that he believes the county leadership may have to consider wider policy changes.

“When we get over the initial shock of this, this county is going to have to work on our policy and a procedure to make sure that this is not going on with non-electeds, normal employees, and to make sure that this doesn't happen again,” Rackler said. “So, whether if it's like on travel authorizations, we used to always do two signatures, we may have to start doing that with every one of the accounts payable, just to make sure that it's not an issue.”

Speaking to the court, County Civil Division Chief Neal Burt said his staff and other county departments have already been going over policy and procedures, including regularly meeting with both Commissioners and District Attorney Stanek.

“I know for a fact she has taken the necessary steps to reach out to the individuals who will decide whether an investigation goes further with the Rangers, or whether there is some other appropriate investigatory law enforcement agency or other state agency who can accommodate,” Burt said. “We are well aware that public trust is iffy at best these days, and the events of the last two weeks have caused lots of people to question what's going on in Lubbock County."

County Judge Curtis Parrish gave a brief final comment before calling the vote.

“One week ago today, this Commissioner's Court told the Sheriff and the DA that they were not going to get the budget or the personnel that they needed to do their constitutional duties, and now today this court wants to tell the DA how to do her job, which the Commissioner's Court has no statutory authority to do,” Parrish said. “It is understood that a resolution ordering the DA to do anything is not binding and is not enforceable. It appears that this resolution is an attempt to try to disparage Sunshine Stanek by insinuating that she does not know how to do her job. Stanek is well known and well respected in this county and throughout this state, and by me. And I will not have any part of this.”

Parrish abstained from the vote, and the resolution passed 3 to 1.

As an ongoing investigation, Stanek said her office “ will not be able to answer any further questions or make any other comments on the investigation until it's resolved.”

September 17, 2026