The Commissioners Court of Lamb County met in regular session on Monday August 28th in the Lamb County Courthouse to discuss a 16-item agenda.
Lamb County Judge James DeLoach called the meeting to order at 9 a.m. and there was nobody present for Public Comment.
Next, was the consent agenda items; (a) Consider and take appropriate action on minutes from previous meeting(s); Regular Meeting, August 21, 2023 (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 bills were approved in the amount of $195,106.83.
(d) Consider and take appropriate action on payroll; None.
(e) Consider and take appropriate action on departmental reports; None.
(f) Consider and take appropriate action on JPO –Special budget for grant Revenue; For Juvenile Probation Detention and Supplemental & Emergent supplies and upgrades; “This is certifying that we’ve received grant money after the start of the fiscal year,” Jones said. “Juvenile Probation received two additional grants; one was for $98,275 for detention and one was $12,600 for supplemental and emergent. They upgraded some security at the Resource Center and were able to buy some new computers and supplies.”
(g) Consider and take appropriate action on JPO Certification of Grant Revenue after the start of Fiscal Year; $98,275.00 for Juvenile Probation Detention and $12,600.00 for Juvenile Probation Supplemental and Emergent.
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 to change the classification of a part-time position in the Tax Assessors office from Temporary to Permanent.
“What we did in Tammy’s office back before the summer started, we created a temporary part-time position in that office,” Judge DeLoach said. “She has asked to make that a permanent part-time position because she would like to keep the young lady that is in there for a while. I’m going to revisit this next summer to make sure that is still a justifiable position.”
He added, “We’re budgeting 29 hours per week and she will be working 23 hours per week around her school schedule. She has done some stuff in other offices in the building as well.”
The motion was made by Commissioner Cory DeBerry and seconded by Commissioner Logan to approve to change the classification of a part-time position in the Tax Assessors office from Temporary to Permanent. The motion carried.
The next item on the agenda, was to consider and take appropriate action on opening a Credit Card Account to Costco for County purchases.
“Costco does not take Master Card, therefore we can’t use our County Credit Card there,” Judge DeLoach said. “I’m asking to basically get a Costco Credit Card to make county purchases on that card and we need authorization from the court to do that.”
The Motion was made by Commissioner Logan and seconded by Commissioner Short to approve opening a Credit Card Account to Costco for County purchases. The motion carried.
Item six on the agenda was to consider and take appropriate action on request from LHC to fund a IGT for approximately four weeks.
“Back before COVID, every so often and especially this time of year, LHC would come to us and basically what we have to do, we’re going to send in $136,027.37 and the government is going to send the hospital more than that back in about three-to-five weeks,” Judge DeLoach said. “We’ve always done this in the past, and we always get our money back within a few weeks.”
The motion was made by Commissioner Kent Lewis and seconded by Commissioner Short to approve action on request from LHC to fund a IGT for approximately four weeks. The motion carried.
Item seven on the agenda was to acknowledge receipt of Adult Probation CSCD Budget.
Lamb County Adult Probation Director, Ben Diaz, presented the Adult Probation CSCD Budget.
The next order of business was to acknowledge receipt of the County Auditors Budget.
Lamb County District Judge Scott Say approved the County Auditors Budget last week and the Commissioners Court acknowledged receipt of the budget from Judge Say.
Item nine on the agenda was to discuss Lamb Healthcare Center operations.
Dylan Brown gave a report on Lamb Healthcare Center financials.
Item 10 on the agenda was a Public Hearing for 2023-2024 Fiscal Year Budget.
Judge DeLoach opened the Public Hearing at 9:22 a.m. and County Auditor, Gina Jones stated the Budget reflects an increase in utility expenses, Tax Assessor Collector employee from Temporary part time to Permanent part time, District Clerk travel expenses, Rural Fires and paving a road in Sudan in Precinct 4.
Judge DeLoach closed the Public Hearing at 9:26 a.m.
Item 11 was to consider and take appropriate action on Adoption of the 2023-2024 Fiscal Year Budget.
The motion was made by Commissioner Short and seconded by Commissioner Logan to approve Adoption of the 2023-2024 Fiscal Year Budget. The vote being called for and four voting Aye, and one voting Nay, the motion carried.
The next order of business was a Public Hearing for the 2023 Tax Rate.
Judge DeLoach opened the Public Hearing at 9:29 a.m.
The County Auditor stated that the property tax rate of 0.7460 is the Voter Approved Rate, which is the rate it can be increased without an Election.
Judge DeLoach closed the Public Hearing at 9:34 a.m.
Item 13 on the agenda was to consider and take appropriate action on Adoption of the 2023 Tax Rate.
The motion was made by Commissioner DeBerry and seconded by Commissioner Short to approve Adoption of the 2023 Tax Rate of 0.7460. The motion carried. T h e next item on the agenda was to consider and take appropriate action to Ratify Property Tax Increase Reflected in the Fiscal Year 2023-2024 Budget.
The motion was made by Commissioner Logan and seconded by Commissioner Lewis to approve to Ratify Property Tax Increase Reflected in the FY 2023-2024 Budget. The motion carried.
The next order of business was future agenda items.
Future agenda items were discussed. Commissioner’s Court will meet on Regular Schedule beginning in September to every second and fourth Monday at 10 a.m.
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