July 13, 2016 - The commissioners continued discussion at their July 11, 2016 meeting on the Land's End subdivision road which Mary Masterson, a resident of the subdivision, spoke with the commissioners about at their last meeting.
Shelby County Judge Allison Harbison asked Gary Rholes, Shelby County Attorney, for his opinion on the matter.
"There's some hoops you have to jump through to make a county road and what I said before is basically this is a public road, I believe, by implied dedication, which allows the county to work on the road," said Rholes. "My recommendation would be that if the commissioners are going to take action, it would be to recognize this as a public road eligible for county maintenance."
Maxwell Whitley, Land's End resident, addressed the commissioners about the potholes on the subdivision and the school buses that travel the road. Whitley has a child with special needs and according to Whitley the potholes are something that directly affects her and other students when they ride the bus.
"We have school buses that come down our road and the holes, they're very bad. We've got Brooklyn [Oliver] and my little girl and it jars them very bad, it bounces them up and they get sore," said Whitley.
Whitley explained the rain from yards is beginning to constantly travel the road and erode the surface even more.
"It would make it better for the children and everything else too, so it would be deeply appreciated, just it would help the kids a lot. Their safety is the most important thing," said Whitley.
Judge Harbison clarified for the public knowledge, Commissioner Allen is not repaving the road, he will be helping with potholes and trying to even out the road preventing drivers from getting stuck and allowing a smoother ride for school buses.
David Masterson stated the residents have been maintaining the road for years, "we would be more than happy if you could just bring us the patch. I've got a front end loader. Max and I and the rest of the guys in the neighborhood, we'll get our own shovels, we'll do it ourselves. It's just, it's got to the point with the cost of asphalt and patch that at this point we're looking at a lot of money."
A motion carried to recognize the road as a public roadway allowing for maintenance by Commissioner Allen.
Stephen Shires, Assistant District Attorney, spoke with the commissioners about his request of the last commissioners' court meeting relating to the rental of office space in the Shelby County Annex building for his personal office until December 31, 2016. Shires stated he is currently operating his private practice out of Cornelia Hartman's office located on San Augustine Street on the Center square.
"We actually call that the DA Satellite Office, because I take a lot of meetings and stuff there. The District Attorney job is 24/7, so I never know when a search warrant is coming in or something like that. So, I immediately tend to that business first," said Shires.
Shires said the Shelby County District Attorney is under the Professional Prosecutor's Act, and beginning January 1, 2017 he can no longer take any new cases in private practice.
"I can finish what I've got, but I cannot take anything new and I'm already in the process of paring that down now. If it's something I think I can get done relatively quickly, I get it done, otherwise I'm tending to my other stuff and getting all that finished so hopefully come January 2017 I'll have very little private stuff left," said Shires.
According to Shires the office in the Annex building is currently not being used and, the office would make him more efficient and he can "consolidate" his practice.
"I'd like to do it through December of this year, and then look at it again and see if I need it to finish off everything left after that," said Shires.
Seemingly it is not just up to the commissioners if they choose to allow Shires to rent the office space, local government code relating to such circumstance exists and Judge Harbison presented it for Shires examination.
The code reads as follows: Sec. 263.001. Sale or lease of real property. (a) The commissioners court of a county, by an order entered in its minutes, may appoint a commissioner to sell or lease real property owned by the county. The sale or lease must be made at a public auction held in accordance with this section unless this chapter provides otherwise.
(b) The appointed commissioner must publish notice of the auction before the 20th day before the date the auction is held. The notice must be published in English in a newspaper in the county in which the real property is located and in the county that owns the real property if not the same county. The notice must be published once a week for three consecutive weeks before the date the auction is held.
(c) If the real property is sold, a deed that is made on behalf of the county by the appointed commissioner in conformance with the order entered under Subsection (a) and that is properly acknowledged, proved, and recorded is sufficient to convey the county's interest in the property.
(Read the full code here: Local Government Code Chapter 263)
\Shires agreed the county needs to follow the code and stated there is no rush, he would like to have space as close as possible. Rholes also agreed the county needs to comply with the government code provision and there would be some cost involved. Shires stated he would pay that cost.
Judge Harbison asked Shires what the proposed rental cost would be and he stated $500, which Judge Harbison stated she was thinking the same.
The commissioners decided to advertise the office space for lease and take sealed bids to be opened in court the first meeting after the notice has been perfected.
Judge Harbison entertained motions and a motion carried.
The commissioners adopted policies for deceased paupers in Shelby County. Judge Harbison stated she has been working on policy prospects with Rholes and her assistant, Cindy Clark, trying to find a basic policy that covers the county. Judge Harbison explained the difficulty without a policy of handling two to three calls a year without any plan on what to do under those circumstances.
County Attorney Rholes agreed a policy is needed, and after working with one for a while it will likely have to be amended in the future.
Roscoe McSwain, Commissioner Precinct 1, confirmed with Judge Harbison the policy is for cremations. The county can only assist in such situations before any services have been handled.
A motion carried to adopt a policy for deceased paupers in Shelby County.
Stephen Arline spoke with the commissioners in requesting larger culverts and repair to existing culverts as well as road repair on County Road 4671, located in Precinct 4.
The roadway has single access and has a dead end and one reason this is a current concern is a landowner off the roadway has 350 acres, which will be thinned soon. Arline stated the road will not be able to handle the excess traffic. Additional issues he stated is the new school year is approaching, making school bus traffic a consideration and transit buses that transport senior citizens have also been having difficulty traversing the road.
"I've been asking for this request for some time, and I'd like to get it done you know," said Arline.
Accompanying Arline's request were letters from other residents living on the road as well as the owner of the timber soon to be thinned asking for the road to receive attention.
Harbison asked Bradley Allen, Commissioner Precinct 4, if he was aware of the pending timber project. Allen stated he was and asked Arline if his property is adjacent to the property where the timber is to be thinned.
"The thing is Mr. Allen, there's one way into all this property, and that's the only way they're going to go out. I discussed it with him, and he said they're going to do whatever they need to do to get it out," said Arline.
Allen stated he would put some rock on the road, and Arline said it's going to take more than what the commissioner has done before.
Regardless of Arline's statement, Allen said, "Well, we'll do what we done before."
Arline said he's not the only resident who has a job to go to and will be traveling over a culvert which is a regular issue, which will become worse with the presence of timber traffic. Allen said the culvert would also be addressed.
"That's been the same issue for 35 years, I hope we can get this taken care of," said Arline. Allen Replied, "We're getting it taken care of."
Travis Rodgers, Commissioner Precinct 3, asked Allen how wide the road is, and Allen stated it's 25 feet to each side of the roadway from the middle. Rodgers said the larger Allen makes the culvert, the more narrow the road will become.
"He's already put base on that helped, but it needs benching," said Arline.
Arline said, if there were another way out than the one roadway he would not be as concerned; however, that is not the situation.
Judge Harbison assured Arline, Commissioner Allen would do some work on the road.
Daniel O'Rear with Juvenile Probation informed the commissioners the state awarded each region of the state with a certain amount of funds for diversion plan. He said each of the regional chiefs associations developed a plan on how the money would be spent.
"Our region, the northeast region, we decided to use those funds for counseling. The portion that Shelby County got was $7,759," said O'Rear.
A motion carried to recognize the income and amend the budget for counseling for that amount of money.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:21am.
Officers' report
Fees collected per office for May:
Deborah Riley, Tax Assessor/Collector, office: Property: $148,185.55; Motor Vehicle: $29,491.18 for a total of $177,676.73
Jennifer Fountain, County Clerk: $33,232.44
Lori Oliver, District Clerk: $17,892.80
Maxie Eaves, Justice of the Peace Precinct 1: $7,095.90
Marla Denby, Justice of the Peace Precinct 2: $773.10
Margie Anderson, Justice of the Peace Precinct 3: $6,165
Jenny Hicks, Justice of the Peace Precinct 4: $256
Mike Crouch, Justice of the Peace Precinct 5: $2,997
Zach Warr, Constable Precinct 1: $1,165
Billy Hearnsberger, Constable Precinct 3: $360
Grand total: $247,613.97
CDs generated $18.31 for a total book value of $60,207.93
Money Market generated $353.95 total market value of $1,722,799.02
Total investments of $1,783,006.95
Interest Bearing Checking Accounts for June 2016
General Fund: 0.10% - $778
DA Forfeiture Non-Traffic: 0.05% - $0.25
DA Forfeiture - Traffic: 0.05% - $0.14
County Attorney Collections: 0.10% - $1.12
County Clerk Account: 0.10% - $1.23
Tax Assessor VIT: 0.10% - $2.66
Tax Assessor Property: 0.10% - $26.66
DA Forfeiture Fund 37: 0.10% - $0.43
Total Interest Collected: $810.31
Agenda items approved during the meeting
1. Minutes of the June 13, 2016 Regular Meeting and the June 27, 2016 Special Meeting of the Shelby County Commissioners' Court.
2. Pay monthly expenses.
3. Officers' report by Ann Blackwell, Treasurer.
4. Reappoint John Howard for another term as a member of the Board of Trustees of Burke Center representing Shelby County.
5. Adopt a policy for deceased paupers in Shelby County.
6. Bid from David Cook in the amount of $10,000 for a 2008 Mack truck.
7. Bond prepared by Farmers Insurance for Constable, Precinct 5.
8. Recognize grant income and amend the Juvenile Probation budget.
9. New hire for motor vehicle department.
10. Adjourn at 10:21am.
