The Commissioner’s Court of Lamb County held their regular meeting Monday morning in the Commissioner’s Court Room at the Lamb County Courthouse in Littlefield to discuss a 7-item agenda.
The meeting was called to order at 10:01 a.m. by Lamb County Judge James DeLoach and the invocation was given by District Attorney, Rickie Redman. Judge DeLoach led the U.S. Pledge of Allegiance and Texas Pledge of Allegiance.
There was nobody present for public forum.
Consent Agenda: (a) Consider and take appropriate action on the minutes from the previous meeting( s); Judge DeLoach stated there were no minutes from the previous meeting, they will be on the next agenda.
(b) Consider and take appropriate action on budget and salary amendments and/or line-item transfers; there were 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 $669,029.68.
(d) Consider and take appropriate action on payroll; Jerry Yarbrough asked the commissioners to approve payroll for Lamb County ending on June 28 in the amount of $159,359.91, and for LHC ending on June 29 in the amount of $218,097.78.
(e) Consider and take appropriate action on departmental reports; packets.
(f) Consider and take appropriate action on Tax Deeds, R19243, R19994, R19992; Judge DeLoach stated that the first deed is 285 N. Austin in Littlefield. We have a bid on this property for $4,000 from Rachel Salinas of Littlefield. The second deed 429 W. 5th Street in Littlefield. We have a bid of $8,000 for this property from Michelle Paneda. And, the other deed is 420 W. 4th Street in Littlefield. We have a bid of $3,500 from Johanna Aguirre of Sudan.
(g) Consider and take appropriate action on Treasurer’s Quarterly Report; “This is a report for the first quarter of the year, but it is the second quarter of our budget,” Yarbrough said. “We ended with $ 8,390,370.37 and of that $121,224.82 was interest that we earned.”
The motion to approve the consent agenda as presented was made by Commissioner Danny Short and seconded by Commissioner Lee Logan. The motion carried.
Item four on the agenda was to consider and take appropriate action on termination of contract with BIS Inc.
“Several years ago Judge Klein signed a contract with a company out of Florida that basically covered the sound system in the district court room,” District Judge Scott Say said. “It was fairly expensive, but we’ve been running into problems finding court reporters. Charlie has been great, but I only have him two days per week. There is basically a shortage; some of the courts are going to a digital recorder, where they record everything that happens and if you need a transcript, you send it off to get it transcribed.
He added, “Judge DeLoach also needs the ability to record court proceedings in his court room, which he doesn’t currently have. For about $5,000 per court room we can upgrade the sound equipment. I can still use most of what I have already in my court room, but it will give us the ability to digitally record court proceedings and not have to pay a court reporter. Right now it costs us about $600 a day to have a court reporter, whether they record anything or not.”
The motion to approve the termination of the contract with BIS Inc. was made by Commissioner Logan and seconded by Commissioner Kent Lewis. The motion carried.
Item five was to consider and take appropriate action on Burn Ban.
No action was taken. Future agenda items were discussed.
Lamb Healthcare Center CEO Mike McNutt gave a brief update on the hospital stating, “June volume was steady, especially after a slow start. Our ER ended up with 18 admissions through the end of June, which is really good for any month much less the middle of summer. 340-B looks like it is going to hit $92,000, which is our second best month, so things are continuing to go well.”
Pursuant to Government Code 551, sub-chapter D and authorized by the Texas Open Meetings Act, the Commissioners went into Executive session at 10:24 a.m. to discuss personnel matters. They returned to regular meeting at 10:36 a.m.
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 10:37 a.m.