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COMANCHE -- After a marathon meeting two
weeks earlier, the Comanche County Commissioners held a relatively
brief meeting on Monday, June 11, with a relatively light agenda for
consideration.
County Judge James Arthur presided and
Commissioners Garry Steele, Kenneth Feist, Bobby Schuman and Jimmy
Dale Johnson attended and participated. Other county officials
involved in the meeting included County Clerk Ruby Lesley, County
Auditor Joey Boswell, County Treasurer Billy Ruth Rust, County Sheriff
Jeff Lambert, County Emergency Services Coordinator Ray Helberg and
County Constable Mark McDonald.
Following the invocation and approval of
the minutes of the previous meeting, the first order of business was a
request from Regina Johnson, head of the 220th District Court's
Community Supervision and Corrections. Johnson requested that
emergency law enforcement pager buttons be available to her staff of
adult probationers, the same as is currently installed in various
courthouse offices.
Judge Arthur read restrictions from the
law that created the courthouse security fund which apparently limit
expenditures from the fund to facilities which house various courts.
Garry Steele noted that the law did
appear to restrict use of the money in the courthouse security fund
from what Johnson was requesting, however, he quickly added that he
felt that her request was valid. He asked if she had checked through
the 220th District Court to see if grant funds might be available. He
also suggested that cost information might be obtained.
Sheriff Lambert cited recent instances in
nearby Brown and Parker counties where probationers had become or
threatened violence toward probation personnel with either a gun or a
knife.
Jimmy Dale Johnson added his opinion that
Johnson's request needed a positive response.
Bobby Schuman asked Joey Boswell for his
opinion on the matter. Boswell noted that the courthouse security fund
had accumulated a good bit of money from a $5 per case fee charged,
and then added his concern that funds could not be expended on the
courthouse annex building since it did not house any courtrooms.
Boswell later answered an inquiry and noted that there was around
$57,000 in the fund.
Garry Steele offered a motion, later amended, authorizing Judge Arthur
and Regina Johnson to contact vendors and research the costs involved.
Bobby Schuman seconded and the vote of approval was unanimous.
Steele later asked for Joey Boswell to
further investigate the restrictions regarding expenditure of
courthouse security funds.
Bond Refinancing
The next order of business involved
refinancing $2.112 million of outstanding county obligations.
Thomas Lawrence, of Lawrence Financial
Consulting in Dallas, met with the Commissioners, reminding them of
the discussion in his meeting with them one month earlier. He said
that nothing had changed other than interest rates had gone up around
one quarter percent in the meantime, but that the 3.875% interest rate
quoted earlier had been locked in and was still available.
Lawyer Tom Pollan of the Austin law firm
of Bickerstaff Heath Delgado Acosta next spoke regarding the need for
the Commissioners to vote their approval of the new borrowing and the
coincidental repayment of the earlier, higher cost bonds.
Bobby Schuman offered a motion to that
effect, Kenneth Feist seconded and the vote of approval was unanimous.
A large number of documents were then and
later signed by the County Judge, the County Clerk and the County
Treasurer during a break in the meeting.
County Fire Marshall Position
Judge Arthur introduced Jarvis Sharp, who
had expressed interest in filling the County Fire Marshall position.
Sharp is a Comanche resident who has been a volunteer fireman in the
Comanche VFD for three years and currently works with Guardian EMS in
Brownwood.
Garry Steele noted that an effort had
been made earlier to set up and fill the County Fire Marshall office,
but that it had never been completed and now he wondered if it was
even needed.
Kenneth Feist said he thought that
Constable Mark McDonald was still doing some work in getting the
office established.
Steele noted that the office was not
required in counties in the low population range such as Comanche
County. He reiterated, "That office has not been set up. We're still,
basically, at first base." He added that the first decision required
would be whether to set up a County Fire Marshall office and then
regarding who would fill it.
City of Comanche Fire Marshall Kevin
Burch said that there are foster homes in the county, as well as the
hospital, all of which require regular fire safety inspections. He
noted that since he had not been officially designated with authority
to act in the county, that he was acting outside of his jurisdiction
when he had been performing the fire safety inspections, but that in
the absence of a County Fire Marshall, he had been making them as a
courtesy.
Burch suggested that the County and the
City of Comanche might enter into some type of agreement whereby he
would be authorized to act in the county, similar to the arrangements
currently in existence regarding the City's animal control officer.
Bobby Schuman and Jimmy Dale Johnson
asked various questions regarding the inspections and the legal need
for them.
Garry Steele asked Ray Helberg if he
could contact the fire chiefs of the various volunteer fire
departments to see if they couldn't perform the needed fire safety
inspections in their service areas. Helberg said he would do so.
Steele reiterated his belief that the
county did not have the need for a fire marshall position other than
possibly a part time job.
Bobby Schuman suggested that Steele and
Jimmy Dale Johnson investigate the matter and bring it back to the
court for further consideration.
Joey Boswell noted that the county's
arrangement with Comanche for part time, on call, animal control
services was costing less than $500 per year.
Steele then thanked Sharp and Burch for
their interest in the situation and said that the county would
investigate the matter further.
Other Business
Other items of business addressed by the
Commissioners included:
• Opening bids for a county depository.
Comanche National Bank was the only financial institution that
responded to the request for bids. Their bid included paying 4.815%
interest on certificates of deposit and charging 5.45% on borrowings.
Garry Steele offered a motion to accept
the Comanche National Bank bid. Jimmy Dale Johnson seconded and the
vote of approval was unanimous.
Linda McKeehan and Ronda Abbey were
present from the bank and McKeehan thanked the county for its past
depository business and offered her and the bank's help in any matters
appropriate.
• Opening bids for a pickup for the
Sheriff's Office. Two bids were received for extended cab, half ton,
four wheel drive pickups. The lowest bid was submitted by Clemons
Motor Company for a Ford F150 for $21,108 plus tax, title and license.
Bobby Schuman offered a motion to approve
the Clemons bid, Kenneth Feist seconded and the vote of approval was
unanimous.
• Approved financing with Comanche
National Bank related to the above noted pickup purchase acting
unanimously on a motion by Garry Steele, seconded by Jimmy Dale
Johnson.
• Unanimously approved a request for
waiver of local matching funds and a resolution for the Federal Off
System Bridge program related to the replacement of a bridge over
Jimmys Creek in Precinct #1 on a motion by Garry Steele, seconded by
Bobby Schuman.
• Heard a report by Garry Steele of
problems noted in the County Personnel Policy regarding payroll
procedures involving Central Dispatch employees. Steele noted that the
policy needed to be corrected to reflect current payroll practices. He
requested Billy Ruth Rust and Joey Boswell research the matter and
present a correction at the next Commissioners meeting and they agreed
to do so.
• Heard a report from Sheriff Lambert
regarding two recent air conditioning breakdowns at the County Jail
that cost over $8,000 to repair. Lambert also noted that the
transmission on one of the 2004 model pickups had gone out and that he
had replaced it with a transmission warrantied for three years at a
cost of $2,600.
Lambert reported that the jail is ahead
of the prior year in revenues. He noted that for the last six years,
the jail has generated $6.135 million in prisoner housing revenues and
that the total cost of operating the jail during that same time was
$6.488 million. The net cost of housing county prisoners was less than
$60,000 per year. Without the prisoner housing revenue, the cost for
housing county prisoners would probably be around $500,000 per year.
• Approved accounts payable totaling
$92,684 and payrolls and related benefits coming due prior to their
next regularly scheduled meeting on June 25. |
