The Lamb County Commissioners’ Court held their regular meeting on Monday, June 23rd in the Lamb County Courthouse, where a 10-item agenda was considered for appropriate action.
The meeting was called to order at 10 a.m. by Lamb County Judge James DeLoach, and the invocation was given by Lamb County District Attorney Rickie Redman. There was nobody present for the public comment portion of the meeting.
Prior to doing the Consent Agenda, Judge DeLoach skipped down to item number four, which was consider and take appropriate action to fund an IGT and additional funding for LHC.
“The first six months of the year went along really good, but these 2.5 months, we’ve seen a big decrease in volume. Some of that is seasonal and we are seeing it across the region as well,” Mike McNutt, LHC CEO said. “Dylan and I and some of our staff have taken this opportunity to figure out what we can do proactively to deal with some of this. We’ve been successful and have found some opportunities in some cost savings.”
He added, “We were expecting a good sized IGT in July, but last week we got a good surprise, which is a significantly larger IGT than we expected. It’s a total IGT where we see $1.9 million coming back to us. The flip side of that is that the money you have to have to front to get a big IGT is a lot of money. The amount to get that $1.9 million, is over $700,000, which is what we’re requesting from the court. It is similar to what we’ve done in the past, the money gets fronted, and then when that money comes back in late July, you guys are repaid that total amount when that $1.9 million comes back.”
McNutt continued, “We have to figure out to bridge that gap to get to the end of July, due to low census. Volume is low everywhere except for Sleep Lab.”
The motion to approve funding the IGT and additional funding for LHC was made by Commissioner Lee Logan and seconded by Commissioner Danny Short.
Consent Agenda a) Consider and take appropriate action on minutes from previous meeting(s); Judge DeLoach stated that there were two sets of minutes and they both 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 requested that the Commissioners approve bills totaling $1,706,697.52.
d) Consider and take appropriate action on payroll; Lamb County Treasurer, Jerry Yarbrough requested that the Commissioners approve payroll ending on June 13th for Lamb County in the amount of $164,975.48 and payroll for LHC ending on June 14th in the amount of $222,192.64. e) Consider and take appropriate action on departmental reports; Packets.
The motion to approve the consent agenda items was made by Commissioner Short and seconded by Commissioner Cory DeBerry. The motion carried.
The next order of business was to consider and take appropriate action on Lamb County’s 2025-2026 Renewal of Employee Health Insurance.
“I still recommend option 1, which brings the deductible up $500,” Yarbrough said. If we increase it, that’s another $333,000; right now if you do payroll, insurance and retirement, you’re looking at close to $1 million per month.”
Judge DeLoach stated, “We’re going to be raising the deductible from $1,500 to $2,000.”
Yarbrough added, “If you’re just going to the doctor and don’t have any other stuff going on, it’s not going to change anything for you. However, if you have to go to the hospital, that’s when you will see a difference.”
The motion to approve the Lamb County 2025-2026 renewal of Employee Health Insurance was made by Commissioner Kent Lewis and seconded by Commissioner Short. The motion carried.
The next item on the agenda was to consider and take appropriate action on the Purchase and Finance of Motor Grader for Precinct 3.
“Our problem started with engine issues on the machine that we’ve been using,” Commissioner Short said. “That machine has 8,000 hours on it and the shop has indicated that a replacement engine would be the cheapest way to go, but with the hours on it already and putting possibly, $46,000 into it, Gina has given me the green light to move forward with getting a different machine than what we have right now.”
Commissioner Short went over the two bids he received.
The motion to approve the purchase and finance of a Motor Grader for Precinct 3 was made by Commissioner Short and seconded by Commissioner Lewis. The motion carried.
Item seven on the agenda was to consider and take appropriate action on Fiscal Year 2024Audit.
John Merriss, CPA, Parter with Doshier, Pickens & Francis, LLC went over the Fiscal Year 2024 Audit.
The motion to approve the Fiscal Year 2024 Audit as presented was made by Commissioner Logan and seconded by Commissioner Short. The motion carried.
The next item on the agenda was to consider and take appropriate action to declare 2017 Tahoe salvage and authorize sale of salvaged vehicle.
Judge DeLoach stated that the plan is to get the vehicle to a salvage yard down there and not bring it back up here.
The motion to declare the 2017 Tahoe salvaged and authorize the sale of the salvaged vehicle was made by Commissioner Logan and seconded by Commissioner Short. The motion carried.
Future agenda items were discussed.
With their being no further business to discuss Commissioner Logan made a motion to adjourn and it was seconded by Commissioner Short. The motion carried and the meeting was adjourned at 11:07 a.m.