The Commissioners Court heard Tuesday from a representative with HDR about the Masterplan it is preparing for the Orange County Courthouse. HDR was hired by the county to prepare the Masterplan which will be presented to the Texas Historic Commission to allow the county to apply for grant funds to help repair the historic structure.
John Dineen with HDR said the document is about 80 percent complete and will continue to be developed before a draft is submitted to the historic commission before the January 5, 2018 dead line. The application for grants begins in April. Orange County is needing the grants to help pay for repairs to the marble façade which has come loose from the building.
A revised mutual agreement between Orange County and the Port of Orange was approved by the Commissioners Tuesday. The agreement concerns the temporary transfer of possession of the barracks at the former Navy base which is owned by the Port District.
The barracks are being used to house volunteers that are assisting with the recovery in the county from Tropical Storm Harvey. The agreement is good for up to one year with the possibility of an extension. The agreement includes a token consideration for the use of the facility, and there will be no exchange of money between the county and the port.
The Commissioners approved accepting a $10,000 check from the Sabine River Authority (SRA) which was issued to the county to assist with the recovery from Tropical Storm Harvey. The SRA has issued similar checks to several local drainage and water districts in Orange and Newton counties. The Commissioners discussed using the funds from the check to pay utilities at the Navy barracks housing the volunteers who are helping with Harvey recovery.
The Court approved terminating the contract with Virtus to do repairs to the building at the Courthouse complex that houses the Sheriff’s Office. County Judge Brint Carlton said it was with reluctance that the contract with Virtus had to be terminated since the company had done a good job helping with cleanup after the storm. Virtus is not an approved vendor on the state’s BuyBoard list thus the county would have needed to go out for bids before awarding the contract. SpawGlass which is on the state’s BuyBoard list has since been given the contract to perform repairs to the Sheriff’s Office.
Tax Assessor-Collector Karen Fisher presented the current and delinquent tax rolls to the Commissioners. Orange County currently has over $30 million in taxable property and over $150 thousand for Farm to Market taxes. There are $3,535,181.31 in delinquent taxes in the county.
Ralph Valenciano was formerly introduced Tuesday at the close of the meeting as the new Emergency Management Coordinator for Orange County. Valenciano previously worked for the county in emergency management before moving into the private sector for several years. Valenciano stated the number one goal currently is clearing the debris from the county which estimates now put at over 300 thousand cubic yards when it is all collected. Judge Carlton appointed Valenciano to his new position on Monday.
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