County commissioners on Tuesday tabled consideration of a proposed fee-for-service contract to provide arts-and-crafts therapy for children detained at the Darryl Hester Juvenile Detention Center.

Judge Kowalski Garza, the district court judge who asked the commissioners to renew a contract for counselor Sandra Tovar, said detained children sometimes remain in custody beyond the law's 10-day standard while awaiting placement and that counseling can help “lessen the trauma of being incarcerated.” The judge asked the court for interim authority to continue paying the provider from the court’s professional-services budget until a grant the judge expects in October is available.

The request drew questions from county officials about whether the services would duplicate work the juvenile probation department already provides and whether the provider is a licensed counselor. Chief Gomez of the juvenile probation department told the court the department already contracts for mental-health and triage services and urged caution to avoid supplanting or duplicating grant-funded services. Commissioners said more information was needed and voted to table the item.

Judge Kowalski Garza said the counselor’s work focuses on arts-and-crafts therapy, Spanish-language support and crisis response for detained youth, and argued the approach reduces suicidality and in-custody violence. “There’s times when children are detained for maybe even a month, maybe even more. And that’s why it’s imperative that while they are there waiting in detention that they have some kind of counseling services that will lessen the trauma of being incarcerated,” Garza said.

Chief Gomez, speaking for juvenile probation, said the department has licensed counselors and existing contracts for psychological evaluations and offender treatment. “I just wanna be leery of duplication of services,” Chief Gomez told the court. Probation staff noted the department contracts with providers for psychological evaluations and offender treatment and that some services the judge described—comfort dogs and art or music-based supports—are already part of local programming.

Garza said Tovar had previously been paid from a grant that was not renewed because it was mistakenly withdrawn, and that he had $54,000 in a professional-services budget he could use while seeking new grant funding. He described the proposed contract as fee-for-service—“you provide a service, you get paid”—and said he sought transparency rather than permission.

Commissioner Lopez moved to table the item for additional information; Commissioner Benavides seconded. The court approved the tabling motion without recorded opposition. The motion leaves the matter open for future action after staff and the court provide the additional documentation requested.

Next steps: commissioners asked staff to return with clarifying information on (1) whether services proposed would duplicate juvenile probation’s contracted services, (2) the provider’s credentials and licensing status, and (3) how the proposed contract would interact with existing or pending grants and the court’s professional-services budget.