June 14, 2016 - The Shelby County Commissioners' Court continued discussions at their Monday, June 13 meeting over the Sheriff's Department's new $7,000 website, which was approved at the May 9 meeting, and concerns of County Attorney Gary Rholes.
At the previous meeting Roscoe McSwain, Commissioner Precinct 1, and Travis Rodgers, Commissioner Precinct 3, initiated the motion which was approved giving the $7,000 website a green light pending the contract approval of Rholes.
Since that time, Rholes reviewed the contract with Lunabyte, Inc. and researched it with another website designer, according to a letter Rholes presented to the commissioners, County Judge Allison Harbison and Sheriff Willis Blackwell.
Rholes expressed concerns in the letter over "vague" language in the proposed contract and the possibility of extra cost. He also said some of the charges seem expensive and the contract contains "very broad clause" shielding the company from liability even for problems the website company might cause.
Sheriff Blackwell stated to the commissioners the proposed Sheriff's Department website is small scale compared to the DeSoto Parish Sheriff's Department website at $20,000; Bossier Parish at $30,000 and a television station in Baton Rouge at $100,000.
"They say that this guy is very reputable. I don't know what language needs to be in the contract that's not there that Gary said was vague. He has the man's telephone number, I mean if there's something that he needs to add to it, he'll be glad to add it to it, but he doesn't know what to add to it," said Sheriff Blackwell.
Rholes reaffirmed his concerns in the letter were not just what could be added to the contract. He said by reading the contract he couldn't tell what is included and when the county would be responsible for possible $125 an hour charges.
Judge Harbison asked Rholes to work on the contract and submit it to Lunabyte, Inc. for their approval and McSwain said it would then be in Rholes' hands until that time. Once everyone is in agreement, then Judge Harbison can sign the contract.
Eric Carver, of Axley & Rode, LLP, presented the annual Financial Report for the county, Fiscal Year 2015. He discussed the audit with the commissioners and in looking at the pension he stated the total liability for the county was $12,693,000 which is already set aside and is a well-funded pension.
"You have funded $12,476,000 of that, so basically y'all already set aside over $12 million for your pension fund, which is you only have $216,000 remaining in that liability," said Carver. "So, when I talk about it's a well-funded pension, y'all are in very good shape."
He state nationally most pensions are less than 30% funded with most in Texas being about 80% and Shelby County is at 97%, putting it ahead of the curve.
Carver indicated across the four precincts of the county $3.6 million in construction of roads was done while maintaining healthy fund balances.
According to Carver, the county is in possession of funds being held for "other people," and an issue has developed which Carver says the county needs to address. He said, within these funds, there's a fairly significant amount of money the county holds for other people that can't be identified, more specifically for whom the funds are being held.
"What's happened is, over the years you've gone from a manual records system to an electronic system, some of these records have been lost. You've got several hundred-thousand dollars at a minimum, probably more than that's not– you can't identify exactly who it's owed to," said Carver.
Some of the money may go to the county, state, or individuals and Carver says the county needs to make efforts to find out where the money belongs so it can be cleared from the county books.
"We do continue to have an issue with the segregation of duties of the JP office, we've talked about this over the last several years. I know there have been some changes in those offices but there's still situations where you have one individual controlling and processing financial information," said Carver.
He said as a result there is always a risk that something could occur and there could be a problem, which could also have an affect on grants in the future. Carver mentioned some budgets exceeded their funding this year, and when they exceed their budget, it takes from the funds of others to operate.
A motion was carried by the commissioners to approve the Shelby County, Fiscal Year 2015 report.
Stewart Cobb of First National Bank, Witchita Falls, presented leasing information for road equipment for Precinct 1 and Precinct 2. Following the presentation two motions carried with the first being a motion to approve Precinct 2 to enter into the contract for the purchase of a 140M3 Motor Grader at a rate of $15,000 a year. The second motion was to approve Precinct 1 lease contract for a CAT 926M Wheel Loader at a cost of $18,138.80 a year. Both agreements are at a 2.85% interest rate.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:26am.
Agenda items approved during the meeting include: 1. Minutes of the May 9, 2016 Regular Meeting and the May 23, 2016 Special Meeting of the Shelby County Commissioners' Court. 2. Pay monthly expenses. 3. Officers' reports. 4. Eric Carver of Axley & Rode, LLP Annual Financial Report for Shelby County, Fiscal Year 2015. 5. Precinct 2 to enter into the contract for the purchase of a 140M3 Motor Grader at a rate of $15,000 a year at a 2.85% interest rate. 6. Precinct 1 lease contract for a CAT 926M Wheel Loader at a cost of $18,138.80 a year at a 2.85% interest rate. 7. Take bids for a 2001 Dodge pickup and a 2008 Mac Truck owned by Precinct 8. Appoint Robert Hairgrove as Constable in Precinct 5 effective July 1, 2016. 9. Accept ROW donation from Emily Viskozki for the bridge on County Road 4564, Hilliard Creek. 10. Approve payment of $1,500 for ROW easement from Red River Nacogdoches II, LP for the bridge on County Road 4256, tributary, Flat Fork Creek. 11. Approve payment of $1,000 for ROW from Glodean Leadon for the bridge on County Road 4564, Hilliard Creek. 12. Accept ROW donation from John Watson for the bridge on County Road 4455, Spinney Creek. 13. Extend data processing agreement with Indigent Health Care Solutions for a period of two years. 14. Enter into agreement with Region 5 Prevention Resource Center of the Alcohol & Drug Abuse Council of Deep East Texas. 15. Resolution of the Shelby County Hazard Mitigation Plan. 16. Add two copiers under the office copier contract for the two district courtrooms at a total of $150 a month. 17. Adjourn at 10:26am.
Fees collected per office for May:
Deborah Riley, Tax Assessor/Collector, office: Property: $113.437.85; Motor Vehicle: $181,974.94 for a total of $295,412.79
Jennifer Fountain, County Clerk: $32,882.10
Lori Oliver, District Clerk: $16,985.87
Maxie Eaves, Justice of the Peace Precinct 1: $5,607
Marla Denby, Justice of the Peace Precinct 2: $839
Margie Anderson, Justice of the Peace Precinct 3: $5,543
Jenny Hicks, Justice of the Peace Precinct 4: $1,520
Mike Crouch, Justice of the Peace Precinct 5: $2,415
Zach Warr, Constable Precinct 1: $1,065
Jamie Hagler, Constable Precinct 2: $90
Billy Hearnsberger, Constable Precinct 3: $180
Bryan Gray, Constable Precinct 4:$180
Grand total: $362,719.76
CDs generated $18.29 for a total book value of $60,189.62
Money Market generated $365.67 total market value of $1,722,445.07
Total investments of $1,782,634.69
