The Commissioners of Lamb County met in regular session on Friday at the Lamb County Court House to discuss an 11-item agenda.
The meeting was called to order by County Judge Mike DeLoach gave the invocation and led the United State Pledge of Allegiance and The Texas Pledge of Allegiance.
The meeting was opened up to public comment, in which there was no one to comment, so Judge DeLoach closed the public comment portion of the meeting.
The consent agenda items included:
The approving the minutes from the Sept. 27 th meeting. County Auditor Gina Jones requested that the commissioners approve the budget and salary amendments and/or line-item transfers. Jones presented bills, requesting that the commissioners approve bills totaling $614,820.69. Jennifer McKinnon requested that the commissioners approve payroll for Lamb County ending Sept. 24, 2021, in the amount of $147,395.12 and for Lamb Healthcare Center ending Sept. 25, 2021, in the amount of $172,180.80.
There was one tax deed, R17669. They received one bid for the property in the amount of $4,000. It is a trust lot, and Judge DeLoach recommended the approval of this bid.
The motion to approve the consent agenda items was made by Commissioner Lee Logan and seconded by Commissioner Cory DeBerry. The motion carried.
“Bob Bass with Allison Bass McGee negotiates our Tax Abatements for us; these guys know Bob real well and are working with him on some other projects and I requested that they take care of this project as well,” Judge DeLoach said. “I have a retainer agreement, it is the same one we have on the other project. It is my recommendation that we allow them to negotiate this as it goes forward.”
A motion was made by Commissioner Danny Short and seconded by Comissioner Kent Lewis. The motion carried.
Representatives from Ernst & Young LLP discussed the Sunbuddie Solar Project with the commissioners.
“This project is a solar facility that is 200 megawatts in size. It generates enough power to power roughly 40,000 homes annually,” they said. “We anticipate the life of this project to be about 35 to 40 years. It is estimated to be located within in Muleshoe and Springlake-Earth ISD’s. The potential investment is about $185 million and once it is constructed there will be one full-time job in place. But, as it is being constructed, they’re estimating about 250 full-time construction jobs.”
They added, “It is slated to begin construction in January of 2024, if everything moves forward, and would be set to go online in January of 2025.”
The commissioners accepted the application for the Sunbuddie Solar Project, contingent of receiving the $1,000 application fee.
The next item on the agenda was regarding the Texas Indigent Defense Formula Grant Resolution.
The motion to approve the grant came from Commissioner Short and was seconded by Commissioner Lewis. The motion carried.
Jones discussed the Special Budget for Additional Revenue received after start of Fiscal Year Pct. 1, saying, “That is the one that has the $65,000 on it. The company that we went through to finance the baco, processes our stuff a little differently than Aim Bank used to, so we actually write the check to fund the baco and we recognize the revenue and expense.”
The motion to approve that item was made by Commissioner DeBerry and seconded by Commissioner Short. The motion carried.
The Commissioners considered and took action on Emergency Budget Amendment for R & B 1.
Jones stated, “Cory has had some unexpected repairs he has had to make this year and so we’re increasing his overall expenditure budget by $9,000.”
The motion was made by Commissioner Lewis and seconded by Commissioner DeBerry. The motion carried.
Jones said, “There are two donations for the Lamb County Library, one from Continental Dairy for the Children’s Story Hour programs in the amount of $500 and another from NTC in the amount of $173.20 for a rabbit hutch.”
The motion to approve these donations was made by Commissioner DeBerry and seconded by Commissioner Short. The motion carried.
Judge DeLoach discussed future agenda Items and the Meeting was adjourned with the motion made by Commissioner Logan and seconded by Commissioner Short. The motion carried.