The Commissioners Court of Lamb County held their regular meeting on Monday, Feb. 26th, at the Lamb County Courthouse in Littlefield to discuss a 10-item agenda.
Lamb County Judge James DeLoach called the meeting to order at 10 a.m. 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 their was one set of minutes from the regular meeting that took palce on February 12, 2024, 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 in the amount of $1,108,266.45.
(d) Consider and take appropriate action on payroll; Jerry Yarbrough requested that payroll for Lamb County be approved ending on Feb. 9th in the amount of $166,023.23 and for LHC ending on Feb. 19th in the amount of $195,501.30.
(e) Consider and take appropriate action on departmental reports; None 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 Lamb County’s Renewal of TAC’s ART’s Program for 2024.
“It’s the same thing that we have done since 2015,” Yarbrough said. “They’re going to do our 1099-B’s and C’s. You shoud have gotten your C’s in the mail.”
Motion was made by Commissioner Logan and seconded by Commissioner Cory DeBerry to approve Lamb County’s Renewal of TAC’s ART’s Program for 2024. The motion carried.
The next item on the agenda was to consider and take appropriate action to use TAC for Cybersecurity Training.
“It’s the exact same this year, except that they are charging us $ 5 per person this year,” Yarbrough said.
Judge DeLoach added, “It’s one of those things that is mandatory for all employees.”
The motion was made by Commissioner Logan and seconded by Commissioner Short to approve action on action to use TAC for Cybersecurity Training. The motion carried.
The next order of business was to consider and take appropriate action to replace copier in JP3 Office.
“Judge Walker has visited with myself and Gina about this copier. What we have done in the past is purchase copiers, but Judge Walker would rather lease his,” Judge DeLoach said. “We have a quote from Advanced Business Solutions for a RICO Copier and it is a bit of an upgrade. The lease is for a 48-month term at $204 per month.”
The motion was made by Commissioner Kent Lewis and seconded by Commissioner Logan to approve to renew the lease on copier in JP3 Office, as the price is the same as replacement. The motion carried.
Item seven on the agenda was to consider and take appropriate action on bids for Commissary and Inmate phones.
“It’s coming up on five years since we have renewed our contract with our Commissary and Telephone company and it is coming up in March,” Sheriff Gary Maddox said. “The Phone carrier company changed that they’re dealing with so there will be some changes that are going to have to be made. I just wanted to go out for bids and whoever wants to bid can come and turn in a bid and we’ll see where it leads.” The motion was made by Commissioner Lewis and seconded by Commissioner Short to approve Sheriff getting bids for Commissary and Inmate phones. The motion carried.
Item eight on the agenda was to discuss Lamb Healthcare Center operations.
Mike McNutt gave update on various operations within the Healthcare Center.
“I want to focus on our plan that we keep talking about and the progress we’re making on that,” McNutt said. “Our 340-B plan began in January and we got our first numbers back; they started January 1st and came in at about $3,000 on that program, which is really a little ahead of schedule in my opinion, being the first month. We had a new billing and collection company start with us on Feb. 1st, and it’s been so far so good. They implemented a lot of changes to processes and job duties for a lot of people. That includes the hospital and the clinic. There is a big transition going on and it’s a little early to see what the return will look like on that.”
He added, “We got our policies and procedures finalized for the sleep lab. We also overcame an equipment situation where our vendor who we purchased equipment with a while back said they were getting out of the sleep business and canceled our order. Within a few days, Kenna was able to regroup and we found another vendor and it’s going to work out for the better. We could have accredidation wihtin 45 days, but they told us not to be surprised if it’s here sooner. We’ve done about 16 self-pay home studies and we’ve got about twice that many refferals waiting. In January we had 17 admissions come through the ER, this month we’ve had 13 admissions and that is way more than we had the first couple of months I was on board.”
Dylan Brown gave the financial report.
Future agenda items:
The Burn Ban was reinstated by Judge DeLoach on Sunday 2-25-2024, and will be put on the next Commissioners Court agenda.
OtherFuture agenda items were discussed and with there being no further business to come before this Commissioners Court, the motion was made by Commissioner Short and seconded by Commissioner Logan to adjourn. The motion carried and the meeting was adjourned at 10:35 a.m.