The Orange County Convention and Expo Center will be getting a new employee to assist Event Coordinator Sabrina Gray. The Commissioners Court approved Tuesday Gray’s request to hire the new employee. Gray said the new employee would assist her in setting up for events in the center, janitorial duties in the ballroom, the center’s kitchens, and keeping up with landscaping at the center. The employee would work under Gray’s direction, and she would use the employee for 40 hours a week.
Commissioner John Banken made the motion to approve the hiring of the new employee. Banken stated that he knows Gray needs the new position to help keep the Expo Center in proper order and reminded that the new position would be paid for from hotel-motel tax money. The Commissioners were split 3-1 on the motion with Jody Crump voting against the hiring expressing the opinion earlier that part-time employees that were approved a pay raise recently should be given the opportunity to handle the jobs that would be assigned to the new employee. Following a discussion it was approved that the new employee would be hired at a New Employee 1 classification and would work 40 hours a week.
County Employees wanting to serve on a grievance committee have two weeks to submit their names to the Human Resources Department. The Commissioners Court approved going out for volunteers to serve on the committee at the recommendation of County Attorney Doug Manning. The county attorney advised that the members on the committee would serve 2-year terms, and recommended the Court work to get the committee selected and that it keep a committee in place.
The Grievance Committee is called for in the county Personnel Policy, but it was dissolved since the terms of all its previous members expired earlier. Interested employees will be instructed to submit their names to the Human Resources Department before the December 15 meeting of the Commissioners Court. Names will be drawn at that day’s Commissioners Court meeting for the seven members to be on the committee. Elected officials, department heads, and members of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office collective bargaining unit are not qualified to serve on the committee.
Emergency Management Coordinator Ryan Peabody was given permission Tuesday to purchase a badge making machine by the Commissioners Court. Peabody said the machine will make ID badges for county employees that can be used in the case of a county emergency or disaster. Homeland Security grant funds will pay for 52 percent of the purchase.
Peabody also received the Court’s approval to follow through on an agreement with the United States Coast Guard that will allow them to use the Orange County Convention and Expo Center during a natural disaster if their primary operations facility in Port Arthur is rendered uninhabitable by a disaster. The Coast Guard would pay a monthly rent to the county if they needed to use the Orange County facility.
The county received a check for $1,600 from the Texas Association of Counties. The check covered county employees that completed their health assessment and an 8-week wellness challenge.
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