June 2, 2025 - The Shelby County Commissioners approved paying property tax refunds ion lawsuits to Tyson on the amount of $35,224.71 during their Wednesday, May 21, 2025 meeting.
In recognition of a court order from the 273rd Judicial District Court, the funds were to be paid out of the County Property Tax account.
Deborah Riley, Tax Assessor/Collector, addressed the commissioners about paying the tax refunds and she spoke about the process of running the exchange through her computer system, and then Eric Lawrence, Shelby County Appraiser, explained more about the lawsuits.
“The refund is for the processing plant that was under lawsuit from ’22 and ’23 on the buildings, just the building values,” said Lawrence.
Commissioner McSwain inquired if the buildings in the lawsuits had anything to do with the new feed mill which the county gave a $52 million abatement. Lawrence clarified the subject at hand didn’t involve the feed mill, but the processing plant.
County Attorney John Price reviewed the case files and confirmed the judgements were final on both cases involved. The cases involved were filed by Tyson Farms Inc. in 2022 and 2023 against Shelby County Appraisal District and both received agreed judgment in February 2025.
Riley asked where the court would like the money to be paid from and County Judge Allison Harbison said she had spoken with Clint Porterfield, County Auditor, who recommended the funds come from the county’s property tax collections accounts.
According to Riley, the city of Center has $33,793.07 to refund and Center ISD has $61,904.87 to refund per the judgment.
Commissioner Roscoe McSwain moved to approve the $35,224.71 to be paid out of the county’s property tax collections accounts, and the motion was seconded by Commissioner Shannon Metcalf.
The Commissioners considered authorizing funding to cover repair on the Historic Shelby County Jail in repairing the windows of the building.
Tom Bellmyer, Commissioner Precinct 4, referenced a presentation by Rayford Copelin on behalf of the Shelby County Historical Commission to participate in a grant from the Texas Historical Commission for repairs on the Historic Jail.
“Texas Historical Commission have invited us to, I guess, to come in for a grant that they've got open and they expressed that they would like for us to apply on the grant,” said Bellmyer.
Commissioner Bellmyer stated he began considering the monthly report given by Ann Blackwell, County Treasurer, and the amount of interest earned on investments.
“If I go back to the December time frame, on our investments alone, we made $59,600 in interest. And then if we come back to January, we made $67,300 in interest. If we go to February we made $65,000 in interest and then of course in March we made $72,000 in interest. So the January, February and March quarter we made $205,000 in interest alone,” said Commissioner Bellmyer.
Copelin’s presentation, Bellmyer reminded everyone, estimated the cost of repair to the windows in the jail to be between $150,000 and $190,000 and that the first quarter of the year appears that it would pay for that project/
“I am not excited about putting my hat in hand and going to the state historical society and asking for a hand out. We have the money. We have the money in interest. We don't have to get into our principle. This is a job that we can do and it won't affect our bottom line as a county or our financial situation,” said Bellmyer. “I think it'll do two things. First off, it will take the building and we will renew the integrity of the building from a weather type point of view and we'll make it from the exterior historically correct. The other thing it will do is because we do have a larger project that we want to do which is the courthouse and I think in the eyes of the historical society that we can go to them and say look we paid for the jail ourselves we didn't ask for your money we self-financed it ourselves with our own.”
Commissioner Bellmyer said he would like the historical engineering group that walked through the buildings about six months ago, who are approved by the Historical Commission for doing that kind of work and the design work, to come back for the jail project.
There are three main options available to the county, Commissioner Bellmyer remarked, in that the county could fix the building the right way with no out-of-pocket funding; eventually move the Chamber of Commerce out because the structure is uninhabitable, or put themselves out of their own misery and one day just bulldoze down the building.
“I’m not in favor of the last two ideas. I think we ought to fix it and keep the historical piece that we've got. So I'm just going to be blunt about it. I think we need to take and move forward on it and not keep waiting until next year to think about it,” said Commissioner Bellmyer.
Copelin confirmed for the commissioners that the amount spent on the jail will go toward the county match of funds for the courthouse project.
Commissioner Bellmyer moved to go forward with the repair of windows on the historical jail and to hire a preservationist, and Roscoe McSwain, Commissioner Precinct 1, seconded the motion.
Additional discussion clarified the Commissioners will meet with potential designers to estimate cost on the project.
The commissioners discussed hiring of an architect/engineer to begin the process of renovating the AgriLife campus.
“I'm hoping that that within, I might have a timeline of the next two weeks that we could bring one or two or three companies in our region that that's what they do can sit down and kind of get a bit of a grasp on what we want to do to that campus,” said Bellmyer.
Bellmyer envisions a three-step process involving work on the campus and he stated the first focus should be on the gym, which would help with office space for the Elections Administrator and security for equipment, as well as other potential office space.
“We also need to get that so that we can move some folks out of the other building over there where AgriLife is currently at, but I guess to make a long story short, I'm hoping that we can reach out and be able to interview some engineering architectural folks in the meantime, put together a group and at least come to the big-ticket items.”
Commissioner Bellmyer moved to reach out to some engineering companies to be interviewed by the commissioners to find out who they’re comfortable with. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Stevie Smith and the motion carried.
During Commissioner’s Court Reports Commissioner McSwain shared he would be traveling into Louisiana with his county vehicle to look at a pugmill similar to the one the county has purchased, and he mentioned it in the event that would need to be an agenda item.
Commissioner McSwain brought up the executive session held at the previous week’s meeting and he felt that there needs to be education on what executive session means.
“The information stays within the courtroom, I’m not going to detail why I know this happened, but everybody needs to be educated on what executive session means. Because there is consequences if they want to be pushed,” said McSwain, as he looked out to the audience.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:29am.
Agenda items approved during the meeting include: 1. Pay weekly expenses. 2. Pay current payroll. 3. Reach out to some engineering companies to be interviewed by the commissioners to find out who they’re comfortable with as an architect/engineer to begin the process of renovating the AgriLife campus. 4. Record completion of the 2025 Cybersecurity Training program. 5. Repair or replacement of the windows in the Historic Jail and hire a historical preservationist to complete the project. 6. Pay property tax refunds on lawsuits between Shelby County and Tyson, in the amount of $35,224.71, as ordered by the 273rd District Court with funds from the County’s Property Tax Account. 7. Adjourn at 10:29am.
