The Commissioners Court of Lamb County met in regular session on Monday, May 13th in the Lamb County Courthouse in Littlefield to discuss a 12-item agenda.
Lamb County Judge James DeLoach called the meeting to order at 10 a.m. and the invocation was given by District Judge Scott Say.
There was nobody present to speak during the public comment portion of the meeting.
Consent agenda items;
(a) Consider and take appropriate action on minutes from previous meeting(s); Regular Meeting, April 22, 2024, and Special Meeting May 6, 2024.
(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. She requested that the Commissioners approve bills totaling $929,130.22.
(d) Consider and take appropriate action on payroll; Jerry Yarbrough asked that the Commissioners approve payroll for Lamb County ending on April 19th in the amount of $157,822.62 and for LHC ending on April 20th in the amount of $193,892.70.
(e) Consider and take appropriate action on departmental reports; In Packet.
(f) Consider and take appropriate action on Tax Deed R20529; $4,000.00 Bid to Juan Ramirez.
(g) Consider and take appropriate action on bond for Lesa Kloiber, “We do this annualy,” Judge DeLoach stated.
(h) Consider and take appropriate action on donations; $1,000 for Lamb County Library Summer Program.
The motion was made by Commissioner Danny Short and seconded by Commissioner Lee Logan to approve the consent agenda items. The motion carried.
Item four on the agenda was to consider and take appropriate action on the purchase of three Hotspots for use during Elections and travel.
“This is something that Jerry and I have talked about a time or two and it has been discussed some,” Judge DeLoach said. “After a situation that I was made aware a couple of weeks ago; it was more of a tabletop exercise, but it did happen. A situation with an election, this past election, the internet went down where they were doing elections and they had no internet. They were set up around this internet and they lost it, so it caused a big delay in election counts and they had to go and recount all the ballots.”
He added, “They said the solution to that was a hot spot, so that they could get back on the internet. Also, at the West Texas Conference, I had a conversation with some folks and they’ve had several situations where they have gotten viruses on their computers by using hotel wifi or conference center wifi. I’m proposing that we get three hotspots for use for people who are traveling and to have as a back-up for elections.”
The motion was made by Commissioner Logan and seconded by Commissioner Cory DeBerry to approve the purchase of three Hotspots for use during Elections and travel. The motion carried.
The next order of business was to consider and take appropriate action on out of state travel for Toni Montes for the West Texas Juvenile Chief’s meeting, which will be held June 11-14, 2024.
“She is going to Ruidoso, for the West Texas Chiefs meeting, it has been in Ruidoso for several years,” Judge DeLoach said.
The motion was made by Commissioner Kent Lewis and seconded by Commissioner Short to approve out of state travel for Toni Montes for the West Texas Juvenile Chief’s meeting June 11-14, 2024.
The motion carried. Item six on the agenda was to consider and take appropriate action on applying for the unclaimed property capital credits for counties.
“This is the unclaimed property that we go and apply for each time,” Cynthia Bussey said. “Whatever is not claimed, then they turnaround and distribute money back to us and it goes into an account. There are certain things based on a criteria that we can use it for.”
Judge DeLoach added, “Several years ago we used it for minority scholarships and then we quit doing that and have started using it in a few other places. There are certain places that we can direct it. We won’t know the amount until we do the application.”
The motion was made by Commissioner DeBerry and seconded by Commissioner Logan to approve applying for the unclaimed property capital credits for counties.
The motion carried.
Item seven on the agenda was to consider and take appropriate action on adding Texas Republic Life Insurance Company to our County Employee purchase insurances.
“Right now we have insurance with a company called National Farmlife and they have been good, and have been around a long time,” Yarbrough said. “They have a sister company Texas Republic Life Insurance Company and it is totally a Texas insurance company. Right now if you have National Farmlife, you’re probably paying $30 for a $10,000-$15,000 life insurnace policy. With this one you would be paying $10 for a $50,000 life insurance policy. It’s cheap good insurance and it is Texas based.”
The motion was made by Commissioner DeBerry and seconded by Commissioner Logan to add Texas Republic Life Insurance Company to our County Employee purchase insurances.
The motion carried. The next order of business was to consider and take appropriate action on request for Sudan Senior Meal Program.
“This is something we did last year and didn’t promise them we would renew it,” Judge DeLoach said. “Michelle emailed me and asked me if we were going to and if we would.”
The motion was made by Commissioner Logan and seconded by Commissioner DeBerry to approve a maximum of $1,000 request for Sudan Senior Meal Program and for all communities in Lamb County with the same request. The motion carried.
Item nine on the agenda wa to consider and take appropriate action to accept bond for County Auditor.
The motion was made by Commissioner Lewis and seconded by Commissioner Short to approve to accept bond for County Auditor.
The motion carried. Item 10 was to acknowledge the Re-Appointment of the County Auditor; Judge DeLoach read letters from 154th District Court, signed by Judge Scott Say, appointing Gina Jones to serve as County Auditor of Lamb County, Texas, for a period of two (2) years term to expire on March 31, 2026, and appointing Marie Rene Trevino as an Assistant to the Lamb County Auditor.
Future agenda items were discussed.
With there being no further business to come before this Commissioners Court, the motion was made by Commissioner Logan and seconded by Commissioner Short to adjourn. The motion carried and the meeting was adjourned at 10:53 a.m.