Notes on Presidio County Commissioners Court Meeting March 8th, 9:30 AM, Marfa

Apologies  for not providing the agendas for these meetings. My scanner is not working properly. Agendas and officially approved Minutes for meetings may be accessed at the County website.

Here are the notes for this meeting-


Presidio County Commissioners Court meeting 03-08-18, 9:30 AM, Marfa

Present: Judge Cinderela Guevara, Commissioners Bentley and Vasquez. Absent: Aranda.

Meeting convened at 9:45 AM

Approving payroll: Feb 21 to present.

Dated March 6th

Talk about comp time liability. Unknown at present time.

Judge asks about a certain time sheet notation. Frances Garcia assists to explain. 

Bentley asks about Marco Baeza's time sheet. He has left the County recently. 

Bentley motions to approve payroll. Judge says that they also need to review bills prior to approving since agenda item is one. 

Bentley holds off on her motion. 

Redford center contract labor.

Brewster county employees are carried on Presidio county insurance for health-

Juvenile Probation dept members. Cheaper for them to be here because the rates in Brewster county are higher. But the health claims affects our rating. 

Discussion on how this started. Unknown but has been going on for a long time. 

Tri County Juvenile Probation agreement needs to be looked at.

Commissioners Court needs to decide what to do about this, Judge says. 

Ponton is curious as to whether the Juvenile Probation officers in larger counties work for the State or Counties. There is State funding, he is not sure how it's set up.

Judge motions to approve all claims and payroll as presented. Bentley seconds. Unanimous.

Vasquez has a suggestion for payroll. Advocates looking at other Counties for payroll approval processes. 

Worried that payroll may not be able to be approved in an emergency. Need a safety net for employees,  a way to have a payroll approved in case commissioners court is unable to meet. 

Ponton says he does not believe that would be legal. Says that budget is approved once and payroll is approved based on budget availability.

He does not think it's legal to approve payments without approval of commissioners. Thinks that payroll within budget constraints may be allowed. Other counties handle it by approving the payroll that's within the budget. Vasquez wants to do that, he says.

Treasurer Frances Garcia says that she was told that would be illegal. Ponton disagrees. More discussion.

Frances is going to training next month and will bring back fresh guidance on the topic. 

Public comments: Katie Sanchez says HVAC for jail will be here Tues and Wed to analyze. Orders will begin shortly. Two engineers and two contractors coming. 

Sam Cobos says that he checked with jail and they are ready for them.

Next week Big Bend Telephone will be coming to analyze installation of new communications system. 

Also alarm company coming next week. Spring break, going to be packed with tourists.

Maria is retiring from the County. At the end of the month.

Party for her on the 29th of March proposed.

Cobos says that maintenance position at jail will be posted in paper soon.

Virgie says that machines worked well in elections. Certain glitches, but now we know. County saved money in hires and time saved. Most ballots in Presidio were by hand.

Republican Party had early voting, but Todd Beckett did not provide ballots for Election Day. No Republican Party Election on Election Day. Very controversial. Virgie says that was Todd Beckett's decision. Lots of angry people. 

Judge says there are Republican voters in the County. Some people came up from Presidio to vote thinking there would be a republican table here, but there was not. 

Talk of having an accessible Precinct map available to both N and S County offices. 

Judge tells Cobos that we need to have some designated voter parking spots near the courthouse doors, and also ask employees to park elsewhere on voting days. 

Need more accessibility for the elderly and handicapped. 

Presidio needs more voting boundary and signage for voting.

Virgie thanks her staff for a great job. 

Machines are doing what they are supposed to be doing.

Judge announcements: congratulates everyone on elections. Says county is in good standing and we need to keep moving forward and things are getting big fast.

Vasquez says that he spoke to Ruben Carrasco about drainage next to cafeteria at school. Gonzales St. Hopefully get an interlocal agreement to fix this problem. Mostly a city issue but we can assist.

Adjourn at 10:35 AM