County nails down Road and Bridge contracts

At a Special Meeting of the Grimes County Commissioners Court Monday, Sept. 20, commissioners wrapped up Road and Bridge contracts for 2021-2022 and addressed the Grimes County salary structure. Commissioner Chad Mallett was absent.

R&B action

The annual Mowing Contract was awarded to Wayne Pool, LLC, the current contract holder and only bidder.

Of two Culvert Contract bids received, the contract was awarded to the current contractor holder, Wilson

Culverts.

Two bids were received for Tree Trimming and Removal Services with the contract going to Brock Construction.

Regarding contract extensions, Engineer Harry Walker said, “We felt like the service we’ve been receiving from these vendors was good, and the pricing based on last year’s bid was probably better than if we rebid it, so we exercised the option to extend these contracts.”

One-year extensions were approved with current contract holders for Flexible Base, Frost Crushed Stone; Fuel, Key Performance; Contract Hauling, Clayton Hess; Cold Mix, Waller County Asphalt; and Bridge Labor Construction, Nathan Bridge.

Commissioners also approved a sole-source designation for Arcosa Lightweight Aggregate.

Positions and salaries

Commissioners approved the reclassification of the Facilities Director/Community Service Coordinator, currently held by Al Peeler, to Department Head 3.

According to Human Resource Director Talitta Coleman, after reviewing job descriptions against the salary structure after the recent cost-of-living increase, the job description for that position needed updating.

Coleman said, “Mr. Peeler’s job description was way out of date. He’s had a couple of different changes, from a 6 to a Department Head 1 to a 2. Because he has a degree and the County is using his degree at this time, we are making the recommendation that he be moved to a Professional 1.”

Coleman added that to allow for the option of hiring a non-degreed person, the position was included in both the Department Head 2 and Professional 1 salary grades, and the change would allow Peeler’s position to be in compliance with the new salary structure.

Discussion covered what determined a “professional” – i.e., licensure, certification, degree, the benefits to the County of a degreed person in that position, consideration of a Department Head 3 grade level, and comparison of salary structure for Department Head 2, 3 and Professional 1 positions.

Moving on, after a grade-by-grade review of additions and deletions to each grade level, commissioners then approved the Grimes County Salary Structure. The high end of each grade level was increased by 5% to reflect the cost-of-living adjustment and the high end of the Law Enforcement grade level was extended by the $3 per hour increase recently approved.

Walker requested that next budget year, commissioners consider reflecting cost-of-living adjustments in the starting pay of each salary grade.

He said, “The cost of living is going up, but we seem to have the expectation is that we can hire people in at the entry level at the same rate we had four or five years ago.”

The meeting may be viewed in its entirety at /www.facebook.com/GrimesCountyCourtHouse.