Commissioners Court met for their regular meeting Wednesday Oct 14th at 9 AM at the courthouse in Marfa. The meeting was followed by another special workshop to discuss a TXDOT Transportation Alternatives Program Grant to fund pedestrian and/or bike route improvements (see newer post).
Presidio County Commissioners Court 10/14/2015
Marfa, TX, 9 AM
Present: White, Judge, Vasquez
Absent: Hernandez, Aranda
No public comments
Judge's comments: spoke with an electric contract provider. Cheaper rates available. Public power tool. Rate of 3.13. Some accounts are under contract until 2017. Currently paying between 2.12 and 6+ per account.
Met with mayors of Marfa and Presidio re emergency services. Exploring an ESD will be good for both cities. Need a petition with minimum 100 signatures.
Commissioner Hernandez enters the room.
White Asks what we can do to expedite the process. Judge says we have to go through proper steps in order. Petition is first. Commissioner Aranda enters meeting at 9:09 AM
Hernandez says that City of Presidio went through all that in 2007. Need 100 signatures. Health and Safety code explains the process.
Mayor Ferguson wants to have a special meeting of commissioners and council to discuss. City of Presidio informs County that they will not serve County after 2016. City of Marfa says the same. ESD is the answer, need to get it together.
Hernandez wants to bring in a consultant. Judge Guevara wants to meet with Judge Duer in Jeff Davis County since they already have a ESD. Hernandez is insistent that he wants to bring in his consultant. White says procedure is not a mystery, it's more about timing. Legislature meets in 2 years, must have State approval. Judge Guevara would like to have an inter local meeting. ESD as soon as possible. Meet with both councils. Judge suggests meeting at Cibolo Creek Ranch.
Redford water system improvements: grant with TDA. Has grant contract in hand, has 30 days to review it and approve it. Block Grant with Texas Dept of Agriculture. Judge says she will review it and will share with commissioners if they want to see it.
Aranda brings conversation back to ESD. Concerned about educating people as to what an ESD is. White says explaining to voters and promoting formation of an ESD is crucial. Proposed meeting with cities for Oct 27th.
Judge had a meeting with Kloss Associates at Airport. Projects are more Bing forward for both airports. State gets Federal funding in April, construction at Marfa airport will commence in Spring. Presidio airport may be funded earlier.
Steve Marquez constable began working yesterday as courthouse security. Tomorrow the new veterans memorial will be placed at the new jail.
Item 6- discussion with action to put treasurer, auditor, assistant auditor and deputy treasurer in all bank accounts. Approved
Item 7- same resolution as item 6 with names. Approved.
Item 8- Engagement letter with External Auditor Doak Painter for FY 2015 audit. 2 options- 2 years at $35,000, 1 year at $40,000. Aranda makes the motion to engage for 2 years at $35,000 per year. Unanimous after some discussion. Commissioners agree that he has been the first auditor to be active in helping the County fix problems. Inventory day brought up. Katie says that in Presidio everything went well. Complete cooperation from all county employees and divisions. Judge says that Marfa side of the coin had good cooperation from all departments. Questions about Sheriff's inventory. Frances Garcia said Sheriff cooperated and they were able to count everything here and at the airport. Judge asks about vehicles that we have VIN numbers for but no vehicles in hand. White asks about what happened with the vehicles that the Sheriff gifted to other people. Don't know. Commissioners say that there needs to be progress on this. Frances Garcia says the Sheriff told her that there were vehicles missing from before his time, with VIN numbers in hand but no vehicles. Commissioner Hernandez takes a moment to publicly thank Katie Sanchez and Patty Roach for their help with the budget. Vasquez asks about Sheriff's Ezra vehicles and if one could be given to Sam Cobos to replace the Dakota that is blowing smoke. Judge clarifies that all vehicles are in control of County Commissioners court as of June. County needs a disposition policy to deal with vehicles and other assets that are either bend their lifespan. She is working on that. White would like to see that policy for next meeting. Judge says she has researched this and County needs a policy for all assets, even smaller stuff. Commissioners agree they need a policy. Hopefully next meeting.
Personnel Policy is on County website. County also has a Purchasing Policy. Frances Garcia asks about vehicles. Wants to know when we can surplus these vehicles. Hernandez says he thinks it is 3 years. Judge says it needs to be described in policy. Katie Sanchez says that the State has standards and they have to be followed. After that the vehicles can be surpluses and reassigned. Vehicles were bought for law enforcement purposes and then there is a process to reassign. Katie Sanchez clarifies a that the vehicles are under Commissioners Court control regardless. Hopefully can address next meeting because this is not on the agenda, mentions Judge Guevara.
Items 9 and 10Galveston County district judge is trying to assert supervisory control over Commissioners Court. Jim White wants to support Galveston County on this, protect Commissioners Court control over County business. Galveston asked for support.
Decision in Galveston County could affect Commissioners Courts statewide. Judge confirms that district court has some control when commissioners overstep their bounds. Currently district judges have some control in the form of Auditor appointments.
Unanimous.
Item 11- Mindy Seahorn from Martin and Herring Insurance. Employee meetings regarding new vision plan and dental, health plans. Reviewing with Commissioners.
5 minute break at 10:20
Reconvene at 10:32
12- Administrative Session
Internal Auditor: Patty Roach- introducing her assistant Marsha Nickell. Thinks that tax collections going out late is still OK. Everything stable.
Marsha Nickell will present bills.
Treasurer's Report- Frances Garcia- approved - over one million received since last meeting from various departments. Aranda wants to know if US Marshals paid. Yes, about $171,000 (jail monies). Judge says count at jail is 81 as of yesterday.
Office of Management and Budget- Katie Sanchez- end of year housekeeping... Bank reconciliations are up to date. Working on comp time and vacation liabilities. Estimated $62,000
Tax Assessor- (missed this)
County/District Clerk- Frances will present for Virgie. Collected total of 10,299.00. 406.96 to state from County. District 1479, 471 to state.
Facilities Manager- written report. Finishing up last year's projects. Starting this year's projects. Approximately 500 people at Vizcaino and 500 at golf course during Chavez fundraiser/El Cosmico weekend. Roping arena is being used a lot. Soccer games going on at Vizcaino as well. Judge asks about leaks at jail. Sam says that roofing company will be here tomorrow to look at it.
Air conditioners at annex. Workman is out for a while, will come back to fix. Annex roof has been looked at. Front building roof screws have been compromised by weather or improper installation. All need replacement. Back building contractor says that a coating will suffice for lower part of roof. Other roofer recommends a metal roof for a permanent fix on the lower part. Lower part is composition roof. Upper roof is already metal.
What's asks about park gates- locked? Sam Cobos says that he had a person closing lock every night. Community service hours. Time is up on that. Sheriff used to do it, says he will no longer. White wants to know why Sam Cobos doesn't close it. Cobos says he is not always here. Currently unlocked a lot of the time. White says it is facilities manager's responsibility. Cobos says he is not always here. Hernandez says that users should lock it. That's what they do in Presidio. Judge suggests a schedule for duties. Vasquez recommends locking it and if anyone wants to use it they get the key and a responsible for locking it up.
Presidio has a volunteer board that handles access to public spaces. Could be done in Marfa. Sam says roping arena has never been locked since he's been here. Sheriff has his horse there, how will he react to it being locked? Sheriff could have combination to gate lock. Sam Cobos says that everyone who has used the facilities has left it immaculate since he's been on the job. No problems at all.
No progress on AC at jail. Possible to refurbish existing units for now, possibly go for financing for eventual replacement and conversion to refrigerated air. Vasquez would like progress on this as soon as possible.
Agrilife report accepted.
Presidential Permit report tabled
Marfa EMS Report- Bert LaGarde. Several pages including request for funding, expense report, activity report.
292 calls for 2014 budget year, 33% outside city limits. Includes a few Jeff Davis calls on top of that. Bert says that Davis is closer than Presidio so they get most of their backup from Davis. Marfa backs up Presidio. Two cities need to discuss these things.
No mutual aid agreement with Presidio currently. Bert says that he would still provide emergency services in Presidio if necessary, but city council said no longer. Bert's report includes priority levels.
Hernandez complimentary of report's completeness. Bert clarifies that they don't make any false runs, they have methods of prioritizing responses to patients using expertise. Says that City of Marfa has notified him that they will not respond south of end of 2810 and Casa Piedra. White compliments numbers, will help build the basis for ESD creation. Accepted.
Line item transfers:
Request from auditor to move $ from medical to machinery and equipment. Transportation to communication $ switched per request from OMB.
Bills and expenses:
Marsha Nickell presents: child welfare board submitted yearly report instead of quarterly. Marfa EMS report submitted but cannot be paid until end of quarter. White requests to see minutes. Minutes in packet.
Judge finds item. Discussion regarding when payments would be made. City of Marfa requesting payment for first quarter, Judge will let city know that payments will be made at end of quarter. Big Bend Vet Clinic bio for horse. Presidio police dept horse. Bill from Jan 2012. Discussion, bill denied.
Minutes of previous meetings: approved
Adjourn at 12:42 PM
Capital Projects Manager- Ruben Carrasco. Pinto Canyon road- working on it after big rains. Hot springs lady called to thank them for the very first time.
Airports Manager Report- executive session to discuss personnel matter at 11:06 AM.
Reconvene at 12:09 PM
JP 1 & 2 report given by Beebe.
Emergency Management Report. Judge says that she and Gary are meeting every other week on Tuesdays , 11 AM to discuss Emergency management. Presidio fire chief Muniz will attend meetings in November to coordinate full county emergency management. Gary is out of town until tomorrow. Report submitted, accepted.
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