June 22, 2022 - The Shelby County Commissioners Court approved the purchase of a server from which both the County Appraisal District and Tax Assessor/Collector will operate during their meeting held Wednesday, June 22, 2022.
Bobby Pigg, Shelby County Appraiser, and Debora Riley, Shelby County Tax Assessor/Collector, presented the commissioners with a proposal including several options; however, the main one they were focused on was the purchase of a single server for the two offices to share both in expense and use.
Pigg explained the Appraisal District is expecting to pay half of the $21,000 for the server plus the $7,800 setup expense.
A motion carried to move forward with a combined server for the Tax Assessor/Collector's office and the Appraisal District at a cost of $30,900.
County Judge Allison Harbison stated there have been several presentations on the possibility of video and audio equipment being installed. She stated one previous quote presented by a district judge was quite costly; however, she said a more local company presented a quote that was not as expensive. District Attorney Karren Price has requested this be done, and presented the most recent quote to Judge Harbison.
"It is with Encore Music out of Nacogdoches, and both courtrooms for video and audio, the total amount is $31,017," said Judge Harbison.
Judge Harbison reminded the court that years ago the court had approved for the District Attorney's office to get a drop-down television installed, yet it did not happen.
"This is just pushing it forward and making it happen," said Judge Harbison.
Judge Harbison remarked to the court the video will be beneficial for the use of the court, and the audio will help everyone in the courtroom be able to hear. She stated the current quote is a lot better than the over$100,000 quote they had received from someone else before.
A motion carried to approve installing video and audio equipment in the District Courtrooms at a cost of $31,017.
There were line item transfers for the commissioners to consider during the meeting and Clint Porterfield, County Auditor, explained what these were.
"For the Coronavirus Relief Fund, these are the actions that you took last week in commissioners' court to approve the laundry room at the jail and the industrical washer," said Porterfield. "So, we're setting up a budget through this process."
Additional adjustments were also made to the commissioners individual gravel accounts.
A motion carried to approve the FY2022 Line-Item transfers.
The commissioners discussed the weekly expenses and Ann Blackwell, County Treasurer, spoke with them about issues with a couple of the bills. The first was for work on the Old Records Building where the bid from Hagler Construction was $13,800 and instead the bill came in at $14,000.
"We had a bid of $13,800 so that's what I put it in as, what the bid was," said Blackwell.
Blackwell said there was no description with the bill as to why the additional cost. Judge Harbison stated he did have an issue, but he didn't elaborate on the bill. Roscoe McSwain, Commissioner Precinct 1, said there should have been an explanation of why the cost went up.
"Mr. Teddy Hopkins was over there one morning and told them that that's not the way it was supposed to be and instead of listening to their boss, or asking me, his workers pulled it off," said Judge Harbison. "They'll never do that again."
McSwain said he had also been there on the same morning and questioned the workers as to why they were taking off brand new tin and he said they explained.
"The bid's still $13,800, he should have come to court," said McSwain.
Tom Bellmyer, Commissioner Precinct 4, had also been at the site that morning and spoke with the constractor about the issue.
"I said, then if you're going to add it to our bill we'll have to get the Historical [Commission] to pay that delta," said Bellmyer. "He had a hard money bid and the instructions that he had was to replace like in kind."
Porterfield stated there was no supporting documentation presented to for payment to prove anything was different from the bid.
"I'll get Paul [Hagler] to submit us a change order, we can have the Historical [Commission] come in and find out where they're going to pay that change order, in my opinion," said Bellmyer.
Another bill of concern was from Timberwolf Lake Works.
"We had an issue with them charging the wrong amount and I thought we had it straightened out," said Blackwell.
The invoice for Precinct 4 was in the amount of $2,882.76 and, according to Blackwell, the corret amount should be $2,874. Blackwell said they would void the invoice and pay the correct amount.
A motion carried to pay the weekly expenses with changes.
The meeting adjourned at 10:24am.
Agenda items approved during the meeting include: 1. The commissioners approved paying the weekly expenses and considered a couple of variations to bills which didn't come in as they were originally bid. The commissioners approved paying the weekly expenses with those two bills being paid that their original bid amount 2. Payroll was approved to be paid 3. Action was taken to increase the mileage rate on travel from .58 to .625. The IRS rate has been 58.5 4. The commissioners approved FY2022 budget line-item transfers, and Clint Porterfield explained this is a weekly action that has been being taking place to set up budget and do house keeping on items approved during the previous week's meeting. 5. A donation from the City of Timpson of a bulletproof vest for the benefit of the Precinct 5 Reserve Deputy Constable Billy Lusk . 6. The commissioners moved forward on the purchase of a server for the Tax Office and Central Tax Appraisal District at a cost of $30,900. 7. The commissioners approved equipping the District Courtrooms with a video and sound equipment system at a cost of $31,017. 8. The meeting was adjourned at 10:24am.
