|
COMANCHE – The Commissioners Court barely
had a quorum at their meeting on Monday, April 24, as two members,
Commissioners Bobby Schuman and Clyde Brinson, were absent due to
medical reasons. County Judge James Arthur, who does not normally
participate in the voting, provided the necessary third vote.
The first action item on the agenda was
presented by the City of Comanche’s Director of Public Works, Darwin
Dickerson. Dickerson read a statement on behalf of the Comanche
County/City Airport Board which thanked the County for its budget
support for the airport and then listed improvement made at the
facility during the preceding year.
Dickerson noted that the airport has been
able to make the improvements “in-house” through revenues generated
from fuel sales and hangar rentals. He added that all airplane hangars
were rented and that there was a waiting list.
Dickerson then referred to a resolution
to authorize Fred Bookout, president of the Comanche County/City
Airport Board, to execute agreements with the Texas Department of
Transportation for a pavement rehabilitation project, seal coating and
crack sealing, for the runways and surfaces that were described as
“another roadway into the County.”
Dickerson said the rehabilitation project
would cost a total of $166,667, with the County and City of Comanche
splitting the 10% local matching requirement of $8,333.50 each.
However, Dickerson added that the County and City’s total outlay on
the project would be “zero”, because the Airport Board had the
necessary cash to fund the local matching requirement. He added that
all that was needed was that the County and City of Comanche approve
resolutions authorizing the Airport Board to enter into the agreement
with TxDOT.
Without any questioning or discussion,
Garry Steele offered a motion to approve the resolution, Chris Biggs
seconded and the vote to approve was unanimous. After the vote Steele
said, “Just a comment. When the airport project was first initiated
and started, there were some naysayers. I guess the fact that there’s
a waiting list on the hanger rentals would be an ‘I told you so.’”
After the resolution was signed by the
Commissioners present and the County Judge, there was discussion about
taking the resolution to both Commissioners who were absent and
obtaining their signatures. Commissioner Brinson was said to be in
Songbird Lodge in Brownwood undergoing rehabilitation therapy.
The Commissioners next considered a
letter of request from District Judge James Morgan that the mileage
reimbursement rate for District employees be increased from 41.5¢ per
mile to 44.5¢. The letter noted that the other two counties in the
220th Judicial District, Hamilton and Bosque, already reimburse at
44.5¢ per mile, which is the current rate used by the State of Texas.
Judge Morgan noted that the appropriate budgets were sufficient to
bear the additional expense.
Garry Steele asked if the request applied
only to District and not all County employees and was told that that
was the case.
Chris Biggs commented, “I don’t think
we’ve got a choice.” He then offered a motion to approve the request,
Garry Steele seconded, and the vote to approve was unanimous.
After the vote, Steele noted that the
vote was for 220th District Court employees only, and not for all
County employees. He later added, “My best calculations, just on fuel
itself, you’re looking at a cost of about 15¢ per mile. I understand
you have wear and tear on tires, etc., etc. But I think the County’s
(rate), no more than we use it, is fairly adequate to reimburse.”
Judge Arthur made a comment on how much
it cost to fill a half tank in his automobile. Garry Steele jokingly
responded that the fuel price increases had not affected him at all,
since he still only put $20 worth in his tank at a time.
On a more serious note, Steele commented
how adversely all county operations were being affected and that the
high price of fuel would have to be seriously addressed in the coming
budget year.
County Court Coordinator Sherry Ward then
addressed the Commissioners Court. She said that due to recent
hurricane and wildfire incidents in the state, the Texas Association
of Counties, which provides casualty insurance for many Texas counties
including Comanche County, had noted many instances where county
properties were under-insured for replacement values.
The Association offered to perform a
no-cost replacement values study for the County. Ward said that the
County would not be obligated, however, to use the study’s replacement
values when purchasing insurance. She said, “It would at least tell us
how far off we are on the values that we have,” and added that the
study would take around two months to complete.
Garry Steele commented that he thought
having valuation guidelines would be a good thing, adding that last
year he had raised the insured value on his precinct’s county barn
because it was far too low. Ward said she could not recall ever adding
to the replacement value of the Courthouse building since she had been
working on insurance renewals.
Garry Steele offered a motion to take
part in the TAC’s no-cost, no-obligation replacement values study.
Chris Biggs seconded and the vote to approve was unanimous.
At Ward’s suggestion, it was agreed that
the old Comanche hospital building should be included in the
replacement cost survey, even though the transfer of title was not
completed.
The Commissioners discussed without
taking action an inventory map of county roads prepared by the Texas
Department of Transportation that was sent for certification as to
mileage. The total number of road miles in the county was listed as
744. The map and roads mileages would be used in connection with
calculations for state support materials and funds.
Garry Steele noted that he had spotted a
few minor inaccuracies and that each Commissioner should carefully
review the map before the end of May.
When the topic of the proposed interlocal
agreement between the County and the Consolidated Hospital District
came up, Garry Steele told the Court that he and Evan Moore had marked
projected boundary lines for the old hospital property on a plat map.
He said that roughly half of the parking lot in front of the building
was included in the proposed transfer. A property survey has been
requested but not yet completed.
Steele said that he believed that a study
should be made to come up with an average cost per square foot for
utilities and insurance on the old hospital that would be an
appropriate basis for charging non-County users of space in the
building.
Sheriff Jeff Lambert said that he did not
have much to report. He noted that the jail count had been running
fairly high, around 120.
Judge Arthur said his primary concern was
with the number of paying inmates there were and Sheriff Lambert
responded that the number of local County inmates had been running
higher also. He also commented that the jail’s inmate food costs were
running within budget. Lambert said that vehicle repair costs were the
primary area where there was budget trouble. |
