The Commissioner’s Court of Lamb County held their regular meeting on Monday, June 26th, at the Lamb County Courthouse.
The meeting was called to order at 10 a.m. by Lamb County Judge James DeLoach, and there was nobody present for Public Comment.
Consent Agenda Items: a) Consider and take appropriate action on minutes from previous meeting(s); Judge DeLoach stated there was one set of minutes and they appeared to be in order. b) Consider and take appropriate action on budget and salary amendments and/or line-item transfers; none. c) Consider and take appropriate action on bills presented by the County Auditor; Gina Jones asked the Commissioners to approve bills in the amount of $811,943.55. d) Consider and take appropriate action on payroll; Terra Hopper presented payroll for Lamb County ending on June 16th in the amount of $156,738.02, and payroll for Lamb Healthcare Center ending on June 17th in the amount of $193,810.13. e) Consider and take appropriate action on departmental reports; Packets.
The motion to approve the Consent Agenda Items was made by Commissioner Danny Short and seconded by Commissioner Lee Logan. The motion passed unanimously.
The Fiscal Year 2022 Audit was presented to the commissioners by John Merriss, CPA with Doshier, Pickens & Francis, LLC.
The motion to approve the Audit was made by Commissioner Kent Lewis and seconded by Commissioner Logan. The motion passed unanimously.
Jones explained to the Commissioners, that Item five on the agenda was just a contract renewal for our phone line and internet with Vexus.
“This is just a renewal of our phone system and in some of our buildings it will be increasing the internet speed,” Jones said. “Some of the old internet speeds have gone away, so by default it is getting increased. We’re also adding the Olton Community Center, the Library and JP 1 and 2 The motion to approve the contract with Vexus was made by Commissioner Cory DeBerry and seconded by Commissioner Logan. The motion pass unanimously.
The next item on the agenda was allowing beer to be sold on County Property during the Flat Land Music Festival.
“As far as the celebration and being able to sell beer at the celebration, Rickie and I met with Buddy Holmes on Thursday, because we’re coming up to the end and we’ve gotten most of the stuff we asked for her, he was supposed to bring the rest by today [Monday],” Judge DeLoach said. “There are two contracts that they still have that Rickie wants to look at, which are the contracts with River Smith’s and their security contract with KT Black. I think we’re getting there slowly but surely.”
Redman added, “I was not in court when Judge brought this up to you all a couple of months ago. And at that time he had been pretty informally approached by Buddy, Mr. Yesel, or the Flatland Music Festival. In between that time, the only thing that was provided to my office was a policy quote for general liability insurance from 2021. I felt that was very much lacking when it comes down to you all being able to make a final determination of are we comfortable with alcohol sales happening on our property, do we understand what we’re getting into, is the county protected sufficiently. I expressed my concerns to the Judge, he explained that to Buddy, who very quickly got us the policy quote that the Chamber of Commerce has gotten from Allen Newton Insurance.
Redman continued, “From a personal standpoint and from a liability standpoint, the Chamber’s decision to move from allowing people to bring in their alcohol to a clear bag, no outside food or drink at all policy, is definitely a move in the right direction. The plan is to have people come in the gate, they will be carded, only people over the age of 21 will be given a certain color wrist band along with the different color wrist band for entering the festival. This will help the people who are selling alcohol identify who they’re allowed to sell to, as well as law enforcement, security personnel, chamber staff, other vendors, identify who is allowed to have alcohol and who is not.”
Redman stated that she feels they need to get something on the books that is much more comprehensive and protects the county and our interests and specifically what you guys as our governing body want to see happening on our property.
“I would want something in place that says if you are going to have this kind of event for this purpose, as opposed to a civic purpose, the county is going to charge this amount of money,” Redman said. “If it is a civic event like this that is going all back in to the chamber then that is fine, but if you’re going to have alcohol sales or whatever else, here is a time frame by which all of that must be presented to the court in writing, so that the court can properly consider it and vote on it and we’re not doing this two to four weeks before the event.”
The motion was made by Commissioner Logan and seconded by Commissioner Short to approve allowing beer to be sold on county property during the Flat Land Music Festival, contingent upon review of River Smith’s and KT Black’s contracts with District Attorney and County Judge DeLoach’s signature. The motion passed unanimously.
LHC CEO Cindy Pope was in attendance to give an update on LHC Operations.
Pope gave the financial report for the hospital as well as an update on the Sleep Lab and 340B/ MTC.
Judge DeLoach went over future agenda items and the motion to adjourn was made by Commissioner Logan and seconded by Commissioner Short. The motion passed unanimously and the meeting was adjourned at 11:18 a.m.