Crooks Interim County Judge

Dean Crooks will be the interim County Judge for Orange County.  The Commissioners Court needed two closed sessions with its legal counsel and two votes before appointing Crooks to the position of County Judge.

Following about a 40-minute meeting with Assistant County Attorney Denise Gremillion, the Commissioners reconvened.  John Gothia made a motion to appoint Crooks as the interim county judge.  When the vote was taken only Gothia and Johnny Trahan voted yes.  Both Commissioners Barry Burton and Jody Crump voted no adding as they cast their votes that they did not believe Crooks had the experience to take the position at this time.

Burton then nominated previous County Judge Carl Thibodeaux as the interim.  His nomination died for the lack of a second.  The Commissioners went back into a second closed meeting with Gremillion.

About twenty minutes later they met in open session.  When Gothia nominated Crooks a second time the vote was unanimous to appoint him as the interim County Judge.

At the end of the Commissioners Court meeting, Crooks thanked the Commissioners for their appointment of him as County Judge.  He promised them and all of Orange County that they will get a good four years out of him.  Dean Crooks will be the Republican nominee for County Judge in the November general election and if he wins that election he will be sworn in again for a four-year term beginning on January 1, 2019.

The next step is a swearing in ceremony of Crooks as the interim.  The time is still to be determined.  Crooks indicated he will be meeting with Gremillion and Human Resource Director Lori Ardoin to work out the details of when and where the ceremony can be held.  He hoped to be in his seat as County Judge by next week’s meeting of the Commissioners Court.

The remainder of the meeting mostly dealt with approving various budget line item transfers.  The Commissioners did approve an amendment to the agreement with Beward, Wendorf, & Partners that changed the effective starting date from March 13, 2018 to February 6, 2018.  Beward, Wendorf is serving as a grant administrator for Orange County following Tropical Storm Harvey.

The Court officially approved accepting the donation of a Skid Steer Loader and a heavy-duty grapple bucket donated by the Kubota Corporation to the Orange County Road and Bridge Department.  The equipment is valued at over $39,000.  County Engineer Clark Slacum hopes to get a photo of the Commissioners Court with the loader and send it to Kubota with a thank you from the county.

As a follow up to last week’s public hearing on changes to road signs in the county, the Commissioners approved Slacum’s and the Sheriff’s Office’s recommendations.  The changes are: adding stop sign to the intersection of Van Dee Drive with Stephenson Road; adding stop signs at the intersection of Connell and Terry to make it a 3-way stop; lowering the speed limit to 20 miles-per-hour on three roads, Honeybee west of Sawmill Road, Bland west of FM 1442, and Godwin west of Highway 62; adding no parking signs near the boat ramp on Pine Bluff Road; and reducing the length of the county road on Frederick Road.

The Parks Department requested to use contingency funds to purchase seven items to replace equipment lost in the flooding from Harvey.  The request included a gas pressure washer, two 4,500 watt generators, a drill, a back pack blower, a bushhog, a mower, and a delivery fee for the bushhog and mower.  The total cost will be over $6100.  The Commissioners approved the requested purchases.  None of the items were insured.

Mosquito Control Director Patrick Beebee’s recommendation to renew the contract with LJA Engineering for its consulting services was approved by the Commissioners Court.  LJA works to help the county’s Mosquito Control District  and the county Road and Bridge Department’s herbicide applications meet annual requirements from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality concerning Pesticide General Permit.
-Dan Perrine, KOGT-