County, Wind Turbine Company To Meet
The Glasscock County Commissioners’ Court will meet with a representative of a wind turbine company April 28 at 1 p.m. in the courtroom of the courthouse. The company is considering an installation on private land in the county, and will discuss their plans with the court. Possible tax abatements could be part of the discussion, but so far, the company has not asked for abatements, according to commissioners. The meeting is open to the public.
Engineer Dan Glass discussed paving bids, which will be opened at the special meeting April 28. The county plans to pave 3.67 miles of County Road 270 from R.M. Highway 33 east to the road’s end, one-half mile of Sherrod Road and 1.96 miles of C.R. 495 from C.R. 490 north to the Martin County line.
No Civilians, Family with On-duty County Personnel
County Treasurer Alan Dierschke gave commissioners copies of a memo from West Texas Rural Counties Association regarding risk management. The memo’s focus was that when a county public official or county employee is acting in the scope of his/her official duties, there should never be a civilian and/or family member riding in the car. A policy statement to this effect will apparently be put into the county’s personnel manual, which is currently undergoing revision. According to WTRCA, if an accident occurs under such conditions, the liability cannot be assumed by the employee or official, but will always rest on the county and is not covered by the county’s insurance.
Dierschke also presented a legislative alert from the Texas Association of Counties asking that local officials and county residents contact their state representatives and ask them to vote no on three bills which are before the legislature: HJR 35, which proposes a constitutional amendment setting a five percent appraisal cap, HB 784, which is the enabling legislation for HJR 35, and HB 1006, which proposes a three percent revenue cap. According to TAC, if either revenue caps or lower appraisal caps become law, counties could no longer use tax abatements for economic development and there would be budget cuts to such things as EMS, fire protection, sheriffs’ patrols and road maintenance, plus senior’s and other discretionary services. County Judge Wilburn Bednar said he would contact representatives.
Volunteers Provide Services for Extension Program
County Agent Randall Rakowitz, noting that National Volunteers Week is approaching, reported that Glasscock County’s cooperative extension program records 7,400 volunteer hours per year. He said using a national figure of $17.55 per hour, volunteers provide almost $130,000 worth of volunteer work to the programs each year. Bednar said his office would issue a proclamation recognizing the volunteers. Rakowitz gave the court 4-H caps in appreciation of their support of the program.
Note: Next month’s commissioners’ court meeting has been changed from May 9 to May 10 and will be held at 9 a.m. in the community center due to district court being scheduled May 9 – 11 in the courtroom.