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June 29, 2020 - The Shelby County Emergency Management office reports as of 8:30am on Monday, June 29, 2020, TxDSHS has reported 8 new cases for a total of 272 cumulative cases of COVID-19. DSHS reports 146 recoveries and 116 active cases.
The state also reports 2 new deaths for a total of 10 deaths from COVID-19.
Of the 272 cumulative cases, 18 of those cases are "lost to follow" which means DSHS has not been able to contact them to follow up on their recovery.
Breakdown of cumulative cases by zip code and ages:
Active Cases in each zip code: (New Addition to Data)
Center (75935) - 89
Joaquin (75954) - 3
Shelbyville (75973) - 7
Tenaha (75974) - 9
Timpson (75975) - 8
Cumulative Cases in each zip code:
Center (75935) - 200 (8 New)
Joaquin (75954) - 10
Shelbyville (75973) - 17
Tenaha (75974) - 26
Timpson (75975) - 19
Ages of Confirmed Cases:
Ages 1 to 20: 20 cases
Ages 21 to 40: 88 cases (5 New)
Ages 41 to 60: 85 cases (1 New), 4 death
Ages 61 to 80: 47 cases (1 New), 4 death (1 New)
Ages 81 to 100: 27 cases (1 New), 2 death (1 New)
Age unknown: 5 cases
June 28, 2020 - The Shelby County Jail is getting a $108,500 revamp on its door locks following a bad grade from the state.
Shelby County Commissioners were compelled to make an expensive investment June 24, 2020, when faced with the possibility of the jail being shut down if the infraction isn't addressed.
According to the Texas Department of Jail Standards (TDJS) jail inspection report, during a walk-through of the facility, it was identified that the secure jail doors have false secured door indicators on the control board.
The other error the TDJS noted was a review of medical files indicated that staff are not properly filling out the screening for suicide and medical/mental/developmental impairments in its entirety and making notifications as required.
The second issue was not addressed in court; however, the jail door locks were discussed at length.
"This bid is for all 55 locks in the jail, 33 of which are sending the signal to the jail board that says the door's open. The door is not open, but it's been that way for the last 12, 13 years," said Sheriff Willis Blackwell.
Why so many door locks would be left in that condition for more than a decade, or weren't repaired as they became an issue, or replaced, wasn't elaborated on. According to Blackwell a company in Pennsylvania has the parts needed for the current locks, which they can work on, but the jail would have to send all 55 locks to Pennsylvania for the repairs.
"I figured the locks themselves, If you only replace the 33 would be about $62,000 instead of $108,000, or $102,000. But, at the same time, they're going to charge you $1,500 to come down here every time they replace a lock if you don't replace them all. The next one that goes out they're going to charge us $1,500, plus the lock to come back down here to put them back in," said Blackwell.
Blackwell stated the locks have been in the jail since 1984, 36 years ago.
"He said 'you fix it.' They want to know a date, which I told them, I just told them 90 days, because they said, 'you will have it done within 90 days' I said 'well put 90 days down,'" said Blackwell.
The breakdown of the estimate for the lock replacements from Montgomery Technology Systems, LLC dated June 15 shows the locks are just over $1,856 each and the total is $102,100. Labor will be an additional $4,400, expenses for hotel, airfare and rental is $1,500 and shipping will be $500. The total of the entire project is $108,500.
"This has been the case for 13 years and all of a sudden now they want the county to spend $108,000 to fix something that's really not the problem or shut the jail down and spend $7,000 - $8,000 a day on prisoners," said Roscoe McSwain, commissioner.
Blackwell remarked the inspector no longer works for TDJS, and now works for Smith County Jail where they had a similar problem to Shelby County involving their locks.
"We have $161,000 in courthouse, repairs, and then we have $90,000 in contingency," said Judge Allison Harbison.
A motion carried to approve paying Montgomery Technology Systems, LLC. $108,500 to replace 55 locks.
Members of the Shelby County Historical Commission (SCHC) participated in the meeting and had several items involving the Courthouse Annex building (Old Clerk's Building) and Tower Clock located on the Center square. Teddy Hopkins, SCHC Chairman, was the representative who spoke with the commissioners.
"May 20th, Jay Firsching a consultant, (Senior Historic Preservation Specialist) and his team came down for a site visit to accumulate various information about the nuts and bolts of the, Annex Building. Taking pictures and measurements of the building internally and externally," said Hopkins. "I am excited that we are beginning to see this dream of a Shelby County museum taking shape in our county. Not only have we, the commission been in contact with Architexas in regards to the master plan, we have been seeking and getting an understanding of what would potentially be the next step in the courthouse and its project."
Hopkins explained to the commissioners the next step in the historical commission's vision is in their hands. The next step is to seek out an environmental service company to perform testing for mold, lead and asbestos. These tests would help to determine basic needs and potential expense. It is the consensus that the historical commission pay for this testing.
The SCHC requested permission for the Shelby County Commissioner's Court to agree for the county to pay for the testing. Brady Environmental Services, Inc. out of Lyndell provided an estimate for the testing totaling $2,295. The mold test is $300, lead $820 and asbestos $1,175.
A motion carried to approve Brady Environmental Services, Inc. to perform the testing on behalf of the SCHC at a cost of $2,295.
Hopkins went on to speak with the commissioners about the Shelby County Courthouse square Tower Clock and proposed repair.
"We learned that you know this antique is not an easy fix, since the clock has been inoperable for a number of years. We feel it would compliment the present streetscape project the City of Center has initiated," said Hopkins. "To restore the clock, having said that, we the commission have solicited bids for the restoration of the clock."
The SCHC requested the county retain Tower Clocks USA to restore the clock on the North side of the Shelby County courtyard square at a cost of $8,990.
There are two parts to the project of returning the clock to functionality. One would be to restore the tower post at a cost of $975 to powder coat the cast iron post through Sadler Powder Coating in Henderson. 30 days following installation of the tower post, the clock will be returned to be installed.
Hopkins requested on behalf of the SCHC that Shelby County pay $975 for the tower post restoration and $8,990 for the clock restoration. The SCHC will then reimburse the county $4,495 of the total.
A motion carried to restore the clock, tower post, and move the clock.
Rayford Copelin, another member of the SCHC, mentioned in doing research the clock is one of 64 in the United States.
Donna Hughes, Justice of the Peace Precinct 1, addressed the court to request products for the new building where her office is located. She said it's a necessity to have three rugs which would be cleaned by an outside service, and which she said can be maintained for the remained of the month within her office.
"On top of that, we're asking since we're having court there, we've got that centrally located restroom. We're going to be required to allow visitors to use our facilities. We're asking for the hygiene products also, and I think it's cheaper than we can possibly even go to the dollar store and buy stuff, but they're going to be providing the hand sanitizing, the GermX."
Judge Hughes explained they will be sanitizing the courtroom in between hearings as well.
"We're going to have to wipe down the whole courtroom each between hearings, but we're also going to help. They'll supply the GermX gel sanitizer and a dispenser, so that people coming in and out [can use it]," said Judge Hughes. "We're going to require that they wear a mask to court, that they can only bring one person with them, and that we're going to strongly recommend using the hand sanitizer."
Judge Hughes stated her office has sent a letter setting their first hearings up for evictions on July 2, and they're setting them for an hour apart.
A motion carried to approve allowing the Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 office to get the rug service and cleaning supplies.
Earlier in the meeting the commissioners had discussion on future plans for the Justice of the Peace 3 office and Commissioner Charles Barr said he felt the county should once again consider accepting the resignation of Margie Anderson, Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace.
"We will have a new JP on July 14, I would recommend we swear the new one in [July 15]," said Barr.
Having a new location rented for the new JP is one reason Barr said he felt plans are necessary; however, until someone is in that building, he said records can't be moved there.
Hughes said she will help with what necessary procedures there are in dealing with the records from Anderson's office.
"We love her, we're going to miss her, but we will help her," said Hughes.
There was additional discussion about the records; however, the commissioners took no action on the item at this time.
Judge Harbison presented a proposal from Encore Music Co. in Nacogdoches for upgrading sound equipment in the District courtrooms. With the amount of money the commissioners already approved during the meeting, McSwain suggested looking at budgeting those upgrades for the next budget year.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:50am.
Agenda items approved during the meeting include: 1. Pay weekly expenses. 2. Current payroll. 3. Request by the Historical Commission to test for mold, lead and asbestos in the courthouse Annex building. 4. Historical Commission restoration of the Shelby County Courthouse square Tower Clock. 5. Renew yearly contract with Computer Information Concepts for Tax office in the amount of $4,400 with a $200 credit. 6. Door lock replacements for the Shelby County Jail. 7. Rental proposal on rugs/cleaning supplies for the JP.1 office. 8. Adjourn.
June 26, 2020 - The Shelby County Emergency Management office reports as of 10:00am on Friday, June 26, 2020, TxDSHS has reported 3 new cases for a total of 264 cumulative cases of COVID-19. DSHS reports zero new recoveries for a total of 146 recoveries leaving 110 active cases.
The death count remains at 8, however, TxDSHS does show 9 deaths on their COVID-19 dashboard for Shelby County.
DSHS also reports of the 264 cumulative cases, 18 of those cases are "lost to follow" which means DSHS has not been able to contact them to follow up on their recovery.
Breakdown of cumulative cases by zip code and ages:
Active Cases in each zip code: (New Addition to Data)
Center (75935) - 83
Joaquin (75954) - 3
Shelbyville (75973) - 7
Tenaha (75974) - 9
Timpson (75975) - 8
Cumulative Cases in each zip code:
Center (75935) - 192 (3 New)
Joaquin (75954) - 10
Shelbyville (75973) - 17
Tenaha (75974) - 26
Timpson (75975) - 19
Ages of Confirmed Cases:
Ages 1 to 20: 20 cases (2 New)
Ages 21 to 40: 83 cases
Ages 41 to 60: 84 cases, 4 death
Ages 61 to 80: 46 cases, 3 death
Ages 81 to 100: 26 cases (1 New), 1 death
Age unknown: 5 cases
June 25, 2020 - Shelby County Emergency Management reports there have been 31 new cases reported in the last 10 day period. This spike is due, in part to DSHS reporting that 11 of these cases were from Tyson. DSHS also has reported 9 new cases at Focused Care Nursing Center during this same 10 day time period. The outbreak at Focused Care has a total of 21 confirmed cases but 6 of those have been reported as recovered. Leaving 15 active cases at the facility. DSHS has not reported any hospitalizations to us from the outbreak at Focused Care.
For today's report, the Shelby County Emergency Management office reports as of 9:30am on Thursday, June 25, 2020, TxDSHS has reported 3 new cases for a total of 261 cumulative cases of COVID-19. DSHS reports 5 more recoveries for a total of 146 recoveries leaving 107 active cases.
The death count remains at 8, however, TxDSHS does show 9 deaths on their COVID-19 dashboard for Shelby County.
DSHS also reports of the 261 cumulative cases, 18 of those cases are "lost to follow" which means DSHS has not been able to contact them to follow up on their recovery.
Breakdown of cumulative cases by zip code and ages:
Cases in each zip code:
Center (75935) - 189 (2 New)
Joaquin (75954) - 10
Shelbyville (75973) - 17
Tenaha (75974) - 26 (1 New)
Timpson (75975) - 19
Ages of Confirmed Cases:
Ages 1 to 20: 18 cases (1 New)
Ages 21 to 40: 83 cases (1 New)
Ages 41 to 60: 84 cases, 4 death
Ages 61 to 80: 46 cases, 3 death
Ages 81 to 100: 25 cases (1 New), 1 death
Age unknown: 5 cases
The most recent Tenaha City Council meeting held Monday, June 22, 2020 was well attended with just over 30 people in the room at one time.
June 24, 2020 - The Tenaha City Council has voted to close down the city offices once again due to two city employees potentially having COVID-19.
Test results are not expected to be back until Friday, June 26, 2020. Durand Steadman, councilman, suggested shutting the doors until mid-July or the end of July.
The meeting was held over telephone conference at 6pm Wednesday, June 24 and Amanda Treat, City Secretary, stated she and the Municipal Court Judge became ill Tuesday with the same symptoms and have both been tested for COVID-19.
What safety measures to take at the city office during the COVID-19 staff testing and afterwards were up for consideration on the agenda.
"We're going to lock the doors again, and keep them locked, we don't want nobody coming in the city hall at all until we get the results back," said Durand Steadman, councilman. "We're still going to keep it locked though when they get the results back if they don't have it."
Steadman continued to explain the rise of cases has become so prevalent now it's a necessary step.
"We're going back to the lockbox as of today. We're going to start by putting a note on the door and let them know that city hall is going to be temporarily closed for right now," said Steadman.
Steadman remarked the city doors would likely be closed until mid-July or end of July until numbers improve.
Treat said she just received the COVID-19 report on the morning of the meeting and as of Friday, June 19, 2020, there were 11 new positive cases at Tyson, eight new positive cases at a nursing home and three new cases in Tenaha.
"I hope it's not COVID because we was all up there Monday. We probably have to go get tested ourselves, they're going to have to tell everybody that they was around," said Steadman.
A motion carried to close the doors on city hall and the two workers that have been tested for COVID-19 be off 14 days with compensation for their service.
The meeting was adjourned.
June 24, 2020 - The Shelby County Emergency Management office reports as of 8:00am on Wednesday, June 24, 2020, TxDSHS has reported 1 new cases for a total of 258 cumulative cases of COVID-19. DSHS reports 24 more recoveries, 18 of those recoveries were previously on the “lost to follow list” but have been reported as recovered now. The total recoveries is now 141 leaving 109 active cases.
The death count remains at 8, however, TxDSHS does show 9 deaths on their COVID-19 dashboard for Shelby County.
DSHS also reports of the 258 cumulative cases, 16 of those cases are "lost to follow" which means DSHS has not been able to contact them to follow up on their recovery.
Breakdown of cumulative cases by zip code and ages:
Cases in each zip code:
Center (75935) - 187 (1 New)
Joaquin (75954) - 10
Shelbyville (75973) - 17
Tenaha (75974) - 25
Timpson (75975) - 19
Ages of Confirmed Cases:
Ages 1 to 20: 17 cases
Ages 21 to 40: 82 cases
Ages 41 to 60: 84 cases, 4 death
Ages 61 to 80: 46 cases, 3 death
Ages 81 to 100: 24 cases (1 New), 1 death
Age unknown: 5 cases
June 23, 2020 - (2021 Shelby County Holiday Hours) - The Shelby County Commissioners met Wednesday, June 17, 2020 and received the outside auditor's report from Axley & Rode (Click here to view report).
Representing the accounting firm was Justin Matthews, CPA. Provided by the firm is a letter giving a summary of all communications required as part of the audit, outlines of any changes in accounting, and the packet which includes the annual financial report.
"When you say we're getting an audit, what we're getting is we're getting these couple of pages and what this does is it outlines exactly what we've done and who's responsible for what. Now of course, management is responsible for these financial statements and also the system of internal controls that allows for these to be presented fairly," said Matthews.
Matthews gave the commissioners the Statement of Net position with the total net position being $14,301,361. He reminded the commissioners of a line item from the previous year called Pension Assets.
Matthews stated the Texas County and District Retirement System (TCDRS) pension has done so well in the past that the portion related to Shelby County was actually overfunded, which he said was really good as the market had performed better than anticipated.
TCDRS cuts off their measurement of the financial year at the end of the calendar year, and he said December 2018 was a very bad month for the market.
"So what that did is that turned that asset into a liability. So rather than having a, I think it was around a $15,000 net pension asset, we wound up now having a pension liability of almost $1.3 million," said Matthews.
That doesn't mean the county would have to suddenly fund $1.3 million immediately, and Matthews said the market already rebounded in 2019, and was actually fairly solid.
"Losses that were incurred here during 2020 have actually already been recovered as well. So this is just a snapshot in time where they measure this actually was just a really bad period for measurement," said Matthews.
Matthews explained that made the pension liabilities appear much higher in the report, and was probably the most significant item that's changed.
Capital leases were another focus of Matthews which generate more liability on the county. Capital leases due in one year are $206,012.
"So many of the equipment leases that we do actually meet the criteria for what they call capital leases which is the same as if you bought them and financed," said Matthews. "We've gotten the assets on the books and we've got a liability that offsets it."
Paying the leases is counted as a liability rather than just being an expense.
Most of the decrease in fund balance comes from the Road and Bridge departments, and most of that is just due to repairs, explained Matthews. There was a large gravel expense during last year, making a lot of that impact. This also includes equipment purchases.
"When you look at expenditures of $1.6 million rest assured we did not have a cash outlay of $1.6 million.," said Clint Porterfield, County Auditor. "That was not the budget, but as Justin has explained what the capital leasing that we do, that expenditure for the new lease of a piece of equipment, even though we've only made one payment on it, the grand total of the lease is in that number."
Porterfield explained that is a good example of year end accruals for the capital lease that Matthews described affecting the county expenses. When reviewing actual expenditures, especially on the operating expense line.
One glaring issue the outside auditor presents to the commissioners every year is inadequate segregation of duties. The county doesn't have an adequate separation of duties in the Justice of the Peace offices to assure that all transactions are properly accounted for during the year.
The audit report indicates there is a risk due to a lack of preventative controls of material misstatement in the financial records due to the lack of adequate segregation of controls related to these financial transactions. The county relies on detective controls to detect and correct errors after the fact with review processes.
A direct example of this issue not openly addressed in court was when former Justice of the Peace for Precinct 4 Jenny Hicks, who was also Tenaha City Municipal Judge at the time, was alleged to have unlawfully appropriated and/or misused traffic fines paid to the city of Tenaha in the amount of $6,685.50. As a result, she was indicted for theft, and abuse of official capacity August 1, 2018. The case remains open and not yet prosecuted, and the question remains, are any county funds through the JP office unaccounted for from that time period?
"Anytime we see some of those duties that are held by one person we say, we might have an issue, just be aware of it," said Matthews. "It's not always something that we have to put something in place to address. It's just something we need to be aware of."
Commissioner Tom Bellmyer asked Matthews if he audits other counties and what the resolution there may be in dealing with issues of segregation of duties.
"The best way to alleviate segregation of duties issues is to add additional staff," said Matthews. "I wouldn't say it's always necessary to add an additional staff, but rather split the responsibilities of those people amongst others.
Measures have been taken by the County Auditor and Treasurer to catch any financial error in the JP systems.
"We have done some things to help alleviate that. Not necessarily hiring a body or another set of eyes, but we do now have some access to by our, treasurer and others, myself included to those systems used by the JPs, which we did not have before," said Porterfield. "So we now have some oversight on the desk review responsibility, where we can go into those systems and see what activities are taking place that we did not have before. So we're taking steps."
Agenda items approved during the meeting include: 1. Pay weekly expenses. 2. FY2020 Budget Line Item Transfers. 3. County Holidays for 2021. 4. Adjourn.
June 23, 2020 - The Shelby County Emergency Management office reports as of 8:00am on Tuesday, June 23, 2020, TxDSHS has reported 5 new cases for a total of 257 cumulative cases of COVID-19. DSHS also reports 123 total recoveries and 122 active cases.
The death count remains at 8, however, TxDSHS does show 9 deaths on their COVID-19 dashboard for Shelby County.
DSHS also reports of the 257 cumulative cases, 34 of those cases are "lost to follow" which means DSHS has not been able to contact them to follow up on their recovery.
Breakdown of cumulative cases by zip code and ages:
Cases in each zip code:
Center (75935) - 186 (5 New)
Joaquin (75954) - 10
Shelbyville (75973) - 17
Tenaha (75974) - 25
Timpson (75975) - 19
Ages of Confirmed Cases:
Ages 1 to 20: 17 cases
Ages 21 to 40: 82 cases
Ages 41 to 60: 84 cases, 4 death
Ages 61 to 80: 46 cases (1 New), 3 death
Ages 81 to 100: 23 cases (4 New), 1 death
Age unknown: 5 cases
June 22, 2020 (Update) - Shelby County Outreach Ministries is glad to announce that we were not exposed to COVID-19 and feel it is safe to resume operations. Helping Hands will be open on Wednesdays from 10-2 and on Fridays from 10-2 in order to distribute emergency food boxes. We will continue to serve clients through Drive-Thru only. Please stay inside your vehicle with your windows rolled up. Have your ID available to show through the window. Senior Citizens will continue to be served through frozen meals and phone calls. We appreciate your understanding while we strive to take care of those in need in our community. For questions or concerns please call 936-598-4990.
June 19, 2020 - Due to the possible exposure of employees to the COVID-19 virus, we believe it is in the best interest of our staff and clients to shut down operations of Shelby County Outreach Ministries for 14 days to prevent further exposure.
We will have all facilities and equipment cleaned and sanitized before opening back up to the public.
Thank you for your patience during this time. But we must keep everyone as safe as possible. So, at this time all programs will be shut down from today, June 19, 2020 to reopen on July 6, 2020.
June 22, 2020 - The Shelby County Emergency Management office reports as of 9:00am on Monday, June 22, 2020, TxDSHS has reported 15 new cases for a total of 252 cumulative cases of COVID-19. DSHS also reports 123 total recoveries and 122 active cases. The death count remains at 8.
DSHS also reports of the 252 cumulative cases, 34 of those cases are "lost to follow" which means DSHS has not been able to contact them to follow up on their recovery.
Breakdown of cumulative cases by zip code and ages:
Cases in each zip code:
Center (75935) - 181 (10 New)
Joaquin (75954) - 10
Shelbyville (75973) - 17 (2 New)
Tenaha (75974) - 25 (2 New)
Timpson (75975) - 19 (1 New)
Ages of Confirmed Cases:
Ages 1 to 20: 17 cases (1 New)
Ages 21 to 40: 82 cases (6 New)
Ages 41 to 60: 84 cases (5 New), 4 death
Ages 61 to 80: 45 cases (2 New), 3 death
Ages 81 to 100: 19 cases (1 New), 1 death
Age unknown: 5 cases
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