County cleans up after Christmas waterworks
Grimes County commissioners kicked off their first Regular Meeting of 2023, Wednesday, Jan. 4, by welcoming the newest member of the court, Pct. 2 commissioner David Tullos. They also received an update on the Christmas Day water damage to portions of the Grimes County Justice and Business Center.
Building Maintenance Manager Rodney Floyd said, “We’ll know more tomorrow (Jan. 5) after the adjuster comes as far as what our insurance directive is going to be. Our moisture reports came back and we’re already taking care of that - making sure the drywall that needs to come out as well as some of the floor furnishings that have to come out so that mold doesn’t have a place to grow, is taking place. We’re taking all the precautions.” He continued, “Now we’re waiting on TAC (Texas Association of Counties) and their representatives to give us direction on what will be replaced per our insurance and the correct direction to head from that step.”
According to Floyd, flooring and furniture suppliers report lead times of 6-10 weeks. With a number of offices displaced, Judge Joe Fauth inquired how soon employees could move back into their offices and work with the furniture they have.
Floyd said, “As long as our secondary or our final moisture report comes back as not going to grow or spread mold, we can do that.”
In other maintenance matters, commissioners approved Floyd’s request to adjust the Grimes County Salary Structure and employee salaries and authorized the auditor to make the necessary changes. According to Floyd, following the retirement of fairgrounds manager Randy Krueger, the fairgrounds custodial staff retired earlier than anticipated.
Floyd said, “Planning for this, Commissioner Cox, the judge, myself and the auditors put in a line item during budget season to possibly move a part-time janitorial service employ from part-time to full-time. Now that we are without an employee at the fairgrounds location, we have discussed doing away with that full-time location and adjusting our part-time in the maintenance department to a full-time to cover the loss of Ramon out there.”
Other court action:
•Approved Consent Agenda items which included the Treasurer’s list of claims and bills, the November 2022 Monthly Report, payroll and budget amendments and/or line item transfers.
•Approved the presentation of finalist, Andrea Ryan, for Agri-Life County Extension Agent for Family and Community Health in Grimes County.
•Rescheduled to Feb. 1, a request to permit GCHC to use the old county clerk building for office space and storage.
•Received updates from Maintenance Manager Rodney Floyd about projects at the GCSO and Iola annex.
•Approved Human Resource Director Talitta Coleman’s request to revise verbiage in the Grimes County Personnel Policy related to leave time and actual hours worked.
•Approved Road & Bridge Engineer Harry Walker’s request to renew a Special Road Use Agreement for Blue Jay Solar located in Pct. 1.
•Received Walker’s R&B Report.
•Approved a selection committee’s recommendation to hire GrantWorks for administrative services and Bleyl Engineering for engineering services for the CDBD-MIT MOD (Community Development Block Grant Mitigation-Regional Method of Distribution).
•Approved a selection committee’s recommendation to hire Public Management for administrative services and Goodwin Lasiter Strong for engineering services for Texas Department of Agriculture 2023-2024 grant programs.
•Approved an ARPA expenditure adjustment to deallocate $7,700.18 for IT and CDL salaries.
•Received an introduction to Plantersville’s new fire chief, Jessica Bomar.
•Approved the bond of Commissioner Pct. 2, David Tullos.
Burn Ban: The burn ban remains lifted.