Sunday's Internet Edition, July 20, 2008.
to 40 mph
|
Leader-Press correspondent -
GATESVILLE – Coryell County commissioners breezed through the court’s regular agenda on Monday and turned their attention toward trimming yet more from the pending budget.
In regular business, upon a motion from Commissioner Jack Wall, the court approved setting a 40-mile-per-hour speed limit along a three-mile stretch of County Road 176 and posting signs at either end warning drivers that children board and off-load school busses in the area.
“I’ve had several requests that we set a speed limit there,” Wall told the court. There are only a few houses along the road but each has children that load and unload school busses and concern for their safety prompted the action, Wall said.
“The busses haven’t been stopping there before now because these are new kids who are just starting school,” Wall said.
CR-176 runs between U.S. Highway 84-west and Farm-to-Market 1241 -- the Levita Road.
Judge John Hull asked the court to approve a housekeeping measure that allots the county sheriff as the official transporter of juveniles to and from court or other locations.
“We’ve always done that,” Sheriff Roger Faught told the court. “Only a few times have we been unable to transport juveniles and we’ve had to ask the juvenile probation department to take care of it.”
The court approved the issue upon Walls motion without objection.
Commissioners also ratified two Bell County appointments to the central Texas Mental Health-Mental Retardation Board. He new members are: Dr. Lanelle Tate and Mr. Neil White, both from Bell County.
Coryell County Historical Commission chairman Homer Perryman asked by letter that the court to approve three appointments the CCHC. Named to seats on the commission were: Nancy Ashcraft, James Powell and Bob Meharg, all of Gatesville.
County Treasurer Chad Smith appeared before the court to update members on the county’s effort to set up a centralized employee time-keeping system. Smith said a trial effort headed up by District Clerk Janice Gray was producing results.
The issue, said Commissioner Cliff Price, is accurate records keeping for the county sake and for the employees.
“Records keeping benefits the county in case of a challenge on time owed,” Price said, which would include vacation days and sick time. “Beyond this is the ability to defend a wage and hour complaint. We must have accurate records.”
The court asked Smith to gather time sheets currently in use by different county department heads, see if they can be used to augment a central time keeping effort and report back to the court next Monday.
Larry Roberts, county road and bridge supervisor, told the court the Texas Department of Transportation has ordered the immediate closure of two bridges on the east side of the county which are in need of repair.
The two bridges closed as of last Friday are the Pugh Branch Bridge, on CR 315, and School Creek Bridge, on CR 314.
“TxDOT is doing their bridge survey – they do it every two years – and they picked these two bridges to close down immediately,” Roberts told the court.
When the bridges are repaired, they will reopen, he said.
The court then moved from regular session into their last budget workshop before the tax rate is set next week.
The total proposed budget at the opening gavel was $10.4 million, compared to $9.9 million for fiscal year 2004 and an initial proposal of $10.8 million for the next fiscal year. The court began the day with a proposed tax rate of 42.407-cents per $100 property valuation, an increase of a little more than a penny – 1.02-cents -- over the current rate. Initially the proposed budget would have required a tax increase of 2.4-cents.
The final draft is to be presented at the court meeting next Monday, when the court will propose an official tax rate, set a public hearing and accept a final budget. The meeting, by the way, is open to the public. The court meets at 9 a.m. in the basement courtroom of the Coryell County Courthouse in Gatesville.
Faught told the court he has no plans to hire a chief deputy for the balance of his term, which ends in December. “The new sheriff needs to do that,” he said. “I plan to hire a starting deputy to fill the slot, but at starting salary, not at chief deputy’s pay. But it’s tough to get new deputies now. That’s just a fact of life. We can’t compete with Copperas Cove Police Department or Fort Hood.”
Wall said the budget process is almost impossible because of the high number of unknowns.
“It’s tough on us to make these decisions up here because there are just too many unknowns,” Wall said.
Commissioner Kyle Pruitt said the eight-week battle to sell or keep the county’s rock crusher comes down to whether the court can operate it more economically than the county can buy crushed stone.
After several minutes of discussion, the court decided to put the issue on the agenda for next week and at that time to finally decide whether to sell or not sell.
County Attorney Edwin Powell said the price is one thing, “but there are other issues like liability. I say sell it and be done with it.”
Security I the county’s buildings also was discussed in the budget workshop. Hull said District Judge Phillip Zeigler has asked for some additional security measures in the second floor district courtroom and the county annex in Copperas Cove is in need of a closed circuit television monitoring system.
Both items were left in the budget.