The Commissioners Court appointed a new County Road Engineer at its meeting Tuesday. Corey Oldbury will replace Clark Slacum who retired in May.
Oldbury’s new job as the County Road Engineer begins effective Friday, August 27. Senior supervisor Trey Gilbert has served in the interim since Slacum’s retirement and was praised for his excellent running of the Road and Bridge Department. Gilbert is not a certified engineer and thus was not qualified to apply for the County Road Engineer’s position.
The Commissioners Court approved a 10-year tax abatement agreement with NXO JV in the Eagle Point Reinvestment Zone near the Hwy. 62 and I-10 Intersection. NXO JV is considering an estimated $24.37 million investment at Eagle Point. The project will consist of a medical complex and healthcare services center.
The agreement includes a 100 percent abatement for the first two years. The abatement will be reduced by 10 percent each of the subsequent years of the agreement.
Approval of the proposed budget for fiscal year 2021-2022 was tabled at the request of County Judge John Gothia. He said some last minute budget requests from department heads caused the delay. The budget should be approved at the next scheduled meeting of the Commissioners Court on Tuesday, September 14.
The proposed tax rate for next fiscal year was approved on Tuesday. The tax rate is unchanged from the current rate of $0.542 per $100 valuation.
The Civil Process Fees charged by County Constables and Sheriff’s Deputies were approved. The only fee that had any contention was the additional fee charged by officers serving eviction notices.
The fee for eviction notices jumps considerably after the first few hours the officer has been working. The standard had been after two hours in Orange County and the time was to be raised to after four hours before the higher fee goes into effect.
Sheriff Lane Mooney and the four constables settled on a compromise of three hours before the fee is raised. County Commissioner Robert Viator admitted to being a landlord of rental property and preferred the four hour timeframe. The Court voted 4 to 1 with only Viator opposed to the proposed Civil Process Fees.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
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