|
Comanche – A short-handed Commissioners Court decided to drop any
further investigation of the replacement of a washed out bridge on the
upper reaches of Nabors Lake when they were advised of preliminary
cost estimates. The Court also heard an auditor’s report of financial
condition and wrestled with employee overtime pay issues in a meeting
that was dominated by financial matters.
Commissioners Garry Steele and Chris Biggs and County Judge James
Arthur barely comprised a quorum on Monday, May 22, as Commissioner
Bobby Schuman was absent due to a death in his family and the Precinct
4 Commissioner’s office was vacant due to the recent death of Clyde
Brinson.
County Judge James Arthur has the responsibility to appoint a
replacement in the Precinct 4 Commissioner’s office. Arthur said he is
planning on leaving the post vacant pending the outcome of the
November general election.
Ted Mosher, who was designated as Precinct 4 foreman by Brinson, is
continuing in that capacity in the road maintenance work.
The Court tabled agenda items related to filling Brinson’s seat on the
9-1-1 Central Dispatch Board and in naming a new Chairman Pro Tem for
the Commissioners Court, a title and responsibility that Brinson had
also held.
Replacement of Bridge on CR 457
Several residents and landowners in the area near Nabors Lake, west of
DeLeon, attended the Commissioners meeting to hear the discussion of
the potential replacement of a bridge on County Road 457 where it
crosses the upper end of the lake. The bridge had been rendered
inoperable by the flood of 1990 and was subsequently scrapped.
At the previous Commissioners Court meeting, Nabors Lake area
landowner Kenneth Dabney requested that the bridge linking CR 457 be
replaced and Commissioners agreed to look into the matter.
Larry Smith, Area Engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation,
had been asked by Commissioner Garry Steele to look into the possible
replacement of the bridge and give his approximation of what it would
cost to build a new bridge.
Smith said that there were two options to replace the bridge. He noted
that there was a span of 280-300 feet involved, and that the bridge
would have to be of sufficient height to allow the passage of a boat
underneath. The first option would be to span the entire length, and
the second to construct header banks and use 115 foot pre-stressed
spans.
Smith continued, “In either case, it’s going to cost over a million
dollars to build those. It would cost $1.2 million to span it, because
you can’t get to it. It’s a barge job. Anything you build off of a
barge…you’ve got to haul the barge in, you’ve got to work of a barge,
you’ve got to put cranes, concrete trucks and drilling rigs on a
barge, and they all have to be insured. It is not cheap to build a
barge bridge.”
Even with a shorter 115 foot pre-stressed span header bank bridge,
Smith said there would be serious environmental concerns of pushing
that much dirt into the lake. He added that the weight of the long
spans would require a very large crane and that a barge might still be
required for that construction alternative.
Smith noted that under either alternative, there was the open question
of whether the federal government would be willing to participate in
the construction cost. He said that they probably would, but that it
was not guaranteed that they would be favorable.
Garry Steele asked Smith if the federal government did participate,
what percentage of the cost would be borne by what parties. Smith
responded that the federal government would pick up 80% of the bridge
replacement cost, and that the state and county governments would each
bear 10% of the total. Smith noted that the county would have some
additional road reconstruction costs that would not be included in the
bridge replacement project.
Garry Steel commented, “So in dollars that we can understand in cost
to the county, we’re looking at our 10%, which would be approximately
$120,000, plus our expense of the fill work up to the approaches to
the bridge, which would be approximately another $100,000, because
where are you going to get the dirt? You can’t push it up out of the
right-of-way. Plus, the road is going to have to be reconditioned. So
we’re looking at a cost to the county of $200,000, conservatively.”
Smith agreed that Steele’s $200,000 estimate was a conservative one.
“That’s a lot of money for one bridge,” Steele noted before asking for
comments from the interested parties in the meeting.
Sally Hale commented that the bridge was basically only going to serve
one person, other than occasional traffic. She added that she had the
signatures of 12 Nabors Lake property owners who opposed replacement
of the CR 457 bridge. She said, “Because at the time the bridge was
out there, it was nothing but a drug problem and alcohol party that
went on all the time. It was not a good environment.”
Others at the meeting made comments directed against replacing the CR
457 bridge.
Garry Steele stated that there was the continuing possibility that CR
459, across the Nabors Lake dam, might be closed. He added, “In my
opinion, we don’t need to consider this bridge unless we are forced
to. So, in light of this, hopefully I’m making the right decision, I’m
going to make a motion that we discontinue the pursuit of this bridge
project at this time because of cost factors.”
Chris Biggs seconded Steele’s motion. The vote to approve was
unanimous, with Judge Arthur providing the necessary third vote.
Sally Hale told the Court that she believed the effort to close CR 459
was “still on the table” and added that she and a large group of lot
owners do not want the road closed to the public.
Garry Steele reminded the group that the procedure was now out of the
hands of the Commissioners and that any further proceedings would
occur in District Court.
Auditor’s Report
Earlier in the Monday morning meeting, Arlington CPA Chris Rutledge
presented his annual independent auditor’s report for the county’s
fiscal year ending September 30, 2005.
Rutledge opened his presentation by noting that his report was, once
again, an unqualified report, the best type of opinion possible.
The 72-page audit report was not reviewed in detail. Rutledge
commented, “I think for non-accountants, or non-financial persons,
financial statements really are somewhat difficult to read.” He
referred to the Management’s Discussion and Analysis section in the
front report as a section that be a bit easier to read and follow.
Rutledge then turned his attention to Exhibit B-1, a Budgetary
Comparison Schedule for the General Fund. He noted that revenues were
generally more difficult to budget than were expenses, adding that in
the area of fines and fees the county did not have a great deal of
control of the activity levels.
Rutledge noted, however, that total actual revenues had come within
one percent of the budget, despite some categories being significantly
higher and others lower. The final budget for total revenues was
$3.525 million and the actual total was $3.549. Tax collections of
$2.055 million fell $57 thousand short of the budget, however,
Miscellaneous Revenues of $94 thousand were $58 thousand ahead of
budget. Document copying fees for oil and gas lease work was said to
account for most of the increase.
On the expenditure side, Rutledge pointed out that the actual total of
$3.324 million was $120 thousand below the budgeted total.
The most significant negative expense variance was in Civil Defense,
where the budget was exceeded by more than $23 thousand.
The most significant positive variances were in the County Jail and
Sheriff departments where actual expenditures were below the budget by
a combined $92 thousand.
The combination of more revenues and less expenditures than budgeted
gave the county an operating surplus of $147 thousand, versus a final
budgeted surplus of only $3 thousand.
The general fund ended the year with a cash balance of almost $600
thousand. Rutledge labeled that balance as “somewhat sufficient” to
provide a buffer against unexpected developments, but added that his
firm generally advised governmental clients to maintain a surplus
balance equivalent to 3-4 months of operating expenses.
Comanche County’s unrestricted fund balance is the equivalent of only
a little more than two months of operating expenses.
Garry Steele commented, “We have kept our expenses down and kept our
revenues steady, and we’re in a little better shape than we were the
year before as far as the general fund, and we were getting really
low.”
“Yes we were,” County Auditor Joey Boswell agreed. He then pointed out
that all or parts of the county’s accounting system is examined each
year by three separate C.P.A. firms.
Chris Biggs moved that the audit report be accepted, Garry Steele
seconded and the vote to accept was unanimous.
Overtime Pay
County Clerk Ruby Lesley requested the Commissioners consider the
county’s payroll policy for overtime work. She stated that employees
in her office are required to work overtime during elections and that
at least one of her employees had been denied overtime pay due to
having taken a day of vacation time during the week preceding the
election.
Joey Boswell read from a federal pay standard that prohibited the
averaging of two week’s hours worked in order to prevent paying time
and a half pay for overtime worked in a single week.
County Treasurer Billy Ruth Rust, whose office prepares the county
payroll, noted that the county personnel policy manual specifically
excludes vacation pay from being counted as hours worked. Rust added
that the county’s pay week has long begun on Wednesday and continues
through the following Tuesday, and that as a result, the vacation day
taken late in the prior calendar week was in the same payroll week and
therefore the eight hours of vacation pay did not constitute averaging
of two separate weeks nor qualify for overtime incurred on election
day.
Commissioner Garry Steele noted that the county’s personnel policy
manual states that the pay week begins on Saturday and ends on Friday,
despite what long-established payroll practice may have been.
After lengthy discussion, Garry Steele offered a motion to pay the
extra half time pay for the eight hours since they had been incurred
in the previous week as defined by the policy manual. His motion was
seconded and unanimously approved.
It was also agreed that the matter should be further researched and
the policy manual definition of the pay week revised to reflect actual
practice.
Other matters
In other matters, the Commissioners:
• Received and reluctantly approved the resignation of County
Extension Agent Kristy Mitchell who was resigning to accept a school
teaching position in Hartley, near Dalhart, closer to where her family
lives.
• Opened sealed bids for a 2007 four-wheel-drive extended cab pickup
to be used by the Sheriff’s Office and accepted a bid of $22,880 from
Bayer Motor Company. Financing will be arranged through Comanche
National Bank.
• Discussed with Ray Helberg, the county’s Emergency Services
Coordinator, the need to more fairly share the cost of his office and
expenses between the county and its three incorporated cities.
Helberg noted that he had been appointed by DeLeon Mayor Jim Adams as
the city’s Emergency Services Coordinator and that he expected to be
similarly designated by the City of Gustine.
Garry Steele said he believed an Emergency Services Coordinating Board
should be formed by interlocal agreement, similar to the 9-1-1 Central
Dispatch Board, and that expenses should be fairly allocated. A
possible percentage cost sharing arrangement discussed was Comanche
County-49.8767%, Comanche-30.5433%, DeLeon-16.3665% and
Gustine-3.2735%.
• Approved the installation of a cable by Valor Telecom in the right
of way on CR 137.
• Formally approved the adoption of the County Road Map pursuant to
Chapter 258 of the Texas Transportation Code.
• Appointed Rhonda Alderman as Lake Deputy/Reserve Deputy in the
Sheriff’s Office.
• Agreed for Sheriff Jeff Lambert to investigate a Council of
Governments grant to fund a Deputy Sheriff to work on environmental
quality issues, primarily illegal trash dumping. |
