The Commissioners Court was possibly going to reconsider funding the Orange County Economic Development Corporation (EDC) Monday. Commissioner Barry Burton attended the EDC’s board of directors meeting in place of County Judge Brint Carlton last week. Burton said he was encouraged the EDC might be saved by accepting some suggested changes to its structure until news from the Orange County Port District Monday that it was going to cease funding to the EDC. Burton was disappointed and expressed that Orange County might have reversed its decision not to fund the EDC, but now it is not possible for the county and just the remaining cities to fund it. He hoped that economic development was still possible in the county, but this recent action removes one of the arrows out of the quiver for economic development so to speak.
The Port District provided 45 percent of the funding for the EDC. The next two largest entities to supply funding were Orange County and the City of Orange which both announced in the last couple of weeks they would not fund the EDC as of October 1.
Orange County joins its neighboring counties by implementing a burn ban until further notice. Emergency Management Coordinator Ryan Peabody spoke to the Commissioners Court about the need to impose a burn ban in the county. Peabody informed the court that heat indexes show Orange County in the red and will probably remain there for the next two weeks indicating that fires are likely and his department recommended the Commissioners institute a burn ban at this time.
Newton, Jasper, and Hardin Counties had already implemented burn bans, and Peabody received information Monday that Jefferson County did the same. The County Road and Bridge Department will install signs on roads leading into the county notifying of the burn ban and red flags indicating the same will be flown at all county buildings.
In other business the Commissioners Court approved Peabody hiring a deputy coordinator effective Thursday of this week as a new employee with no years of experience. Peabody says there is an applicant who has 11 years with the Coast Guard that he wants to hire. The Court instructed Peabody to proceed with offering the job to the applicant at a beginning salary and go to the Reclassification Committee to see if he could get a raise in the salary to one with some years of experience. Peabody has been without a deputy coordinator for six weeks as of this Thursday.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-
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