Orange County has a new County Auditor. The local district judges have appointed Pennee Schmitt to the position replacing Mary Johnson. The change was necessary since Johnson announced months ago she was stepping down as the County Auditor because her husband has taken a new job in a different county, and she will be moving away from Orange. Schmitt has worked in the County Auditor’s office for two years after holding various public and private accounting jobs since her graduation from Texas A&M. She will officially take the position October 1.
The discussion of vacation leave for county employees was split again Tuesday. The Commissioners approved by a vote of 3-2 implementing a graduated scale for employees’ vacation benefits. County Judge Brint Carlton moved that new employees hired after October 1, 2016 by the county would start with 2 weeks of vacation time a year. After 10 years the employee would earn 3 weeks and after 20 years they would earn 4 weeks. Carlton was joined by Commissioners Barry Burton and Jody Crump in approving the change for county employees hired starting in the new fiscal year. Current county employees earn 6 weeks of vacation after 20 years of service. The existing vacation policy is also on a graduated scale with new employees beginning with 40 hours plus an additional 40 hours after their first year. A week of vacation is added for each five years of service with the county after that.
A similar split vote appeared imminent when the discussion moved to the county paying health insurance benefits for county employees when they retire in the future. Commissioner Burton favored 100 percent payment of insurance coverage only for employees that worked at least 20 years with Orange County before retiring. A graduated scale would cover employees that worked 16, 12, or 8 years with the county. A question arose over the term “continuous service” with the county, so the item was tabled for further review until next week. A similar policy as the one suggested by Burton was approved in August by a 3-2 vote for future county employees hired after the new fiscal year.
Also tabled was consideration of approving funds to reactivate the County Court with Judge Carlton presiding. Carlton informed that the last county judge to preside over a court in Orange County was James Stringer over two decades ago. The state has approved the reactivation supposed to relieve some of the backlog at the two County Courts at Law. Commissioners John Banken and David Dubose specifically requested a delay in the decision until they could hear from the judges of those two courts, both of which were out-of-town this week.
The Commissioners Court approved line item transfers of over $860,000 which will be used to purchase requested capital outlay items. The Sheriff’s Office made intra-department transfers of over $366,000 to purchase ten Dodge Chargers for patrol vehicles. The Commissioners transferred almost half a million dollars from various departments’ budgets to the contingency fund to purchase road equipment for the Road and Bridge Department, computer equipment for the MIS Department, and an infirmary intercom for the Orange County Jail. These items were asked for next fiscal year by department heads in their budget requests.
The Commissioners Court unanimously approved Tuesday a little over $109,000 to help fund the Orange County Economic Development Corporation in the next fiscal year. Executive Director Jessica Hill addressed the Court and said the EDC should have commitments next year from all the municipalities in the county in addition to some school districts and some private industry.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
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