Doug Burnside, a partner with the Purdy Brandon Law Firm, presented an annual report on collections for Kaufman County justice of the peace (JP) courts, saying the firm has handled more than $20 million in turned‑over accounts since the contract began and has collected more than $7 million while closing about $3.2 million as “resolved” (dismissals, jail credits, fine reductions, death or cases referred in error). Burnside said the firm mailed more than 400,000 letters, updated about 41,000 addresses, recorded 9,600 phone‑number changes and placed over 100,000 calls as part of collection efforts.

Burnside described a recent push to add texting and email outreach to increase contact with defendants; he said the volume of inbound calls after the texting rollout forced the firm to scale back outgoing calls because the response was so strong. He also described a countywide warrant resolution effort that included special mailings and ads in local newspapers.

Courtney Gladney, of the Kaufman County collections department operating under the district attorney’s office, presented the county’s first‑quarter collections for 2025. Gladney reported total collections of $393,126.78 for Q1 2025, an increase of 12.83% compared with the final quarter of 2024 and a 4.41% increase compared with Q1 2024. Commissioners voted to approve the department’s Q1 analysis.

Justice of the Peace Judge Adams and several commissioners praised the work of the contractor and county staff during the discussion. Commissioners requested no further immediate action other than formal approval of the county report.