Erath County Commissioners made another move in the joint dispatch center project approving a master services and preliminary services agreement for McKinstry to begin renovation and expansion plans.
The new dispatch center will take the old tax office and renovate it to house one dispatch for the entire county including Dublin, Stephenville, Sheriff’s Department, all EMS and all Fire.
County Judge Brandon Huckabee explained the contracts had passed unanimously through the emergency dispatch board and Emergency Management Coordinator Chris Brooks stated both the county attorney and the auditor’s office had given a nod of approval.
“They’ve been great to work with so far,” Huckabee said.
McKinstry representatives stated they are hoping to hit a target opening date of March 2026 for the new dispatch center.
The court also approved a lease agreement between the county and Alec Fambro for a land lease for an emergency communications tower near Bluffdale for a period of 10 years.
The court unanimously approved putting the county back into a burn ban due to an increase in high winds and low humidity this week and low rains this spring.
Election contracts for both Bluffdale ISD and city of Dublin were approved for the May 3 elections.
Since they are the only two entities with elections, voting will be held at the Dublin Annex (219 S. Grafton) and at Bluffdale ISD (710 Church St.)
No voting will occur in Stephenville. Court also gave approval for HR to utilize Comanche County Medical in Stephenville for pre-employment testing.
Employees were also the topic of conversation as approval was given for a 457b plan with BMY, which allows another avenue for county employees to contribute more for their own retirement.
“It do like people looking forward and saving for retirement,” Precinct 3 County Commissioner Sherman Edwards said.
Unanimous approval was given for the county to pay for 11 state employees to have a membership to CareFlite Air Ambulance service.
Huckabee explained with such elected officials such as the district attorney and the district judge being classified as state employees and not county, they were not eligible to have county insurance. All county employees have Mesa insurance which covers all types of emergency transportation. Offering the state employees a CareFlite membership adds a level of protection for them, Huckabee said.
Approval was given to Jacob and Martin Engineering for Erath County’s 2025-26 Texas Community Development Block Grant Fund Program.
After opening sealed bids in court, commissioners unanimously awarded the bid in the Mountain Lakes Overlay project to DFW Paving who had the lowest bid at $81,882.20. Other bids include Elite Asphalt with $120,894.25and HD Cooks Rock Solid Inc. with $88,185.60.
In other business the court: ■ approved budget adjustments
■ gave approval for the bills to be paid
■ discussed the reclassification between capital/no-capital allocations
■ approved a lease agreement for the Dublin tax office
■ gave two employees with the sheriff’s office approval to travel to Colorado for animal cruelty case training
■ approved a fee schedule for court-appointed attorney in district court