On a full agenda at the Monday, Aug. 8 Erath County Commissioners Court meeting, two familiar faces were welcomed back. Both County Judge Alfonso Campos and County Auditor Kent Reeves were back in attendance.
Campos has been out for a couple of months while dealing with an ongoing battle against cancer and Reeves has been out since April while recovering from a shooting incident.
Though Black Mountain Energy Storage was once again on the agenda, action was not taken on the item, this time simply because of an error posted on the agenda.
The proposed project is a battery storage facility site off of County Road 300. For months, representatives have been asking the court for a variance for a roadway to gain access to the property. Width requests have varied from 60-feet to 120-feet before settling on 130-feet in the variance.
Numerous citizens have expressed concerns about the project in general over the past few months ranging from a potential drop in surrounding land values, environmental concerns, drainage hazards and general questions about how the project benefits Erath County.
The primary issue in the past two Commissioners Court meeting is that the piece of property, though under contract, is not yet owned by Black Mountain therefore they cannot be the ones to request the variance.
Property owner Rita Freels was present at the meeting to request the variance. Freels was questioned if she intends to sell any more property to Black Mountain and she stated that she was not.
Freels said that whether Black Mountain was involved or not she still needs the variance approved for someone to gain access to the property.
“It is your property and you’re asking for this,” Campos said, in regard to questions about Black Mountain. “None of that has anything to do with this variance.”
At this point, Campos and the commissioners realized the agenda item should have stated the variance was for Freels instead of Black Mountain and legally they could not take action.
The item is set to be brought back at the next Commissioners Court meeting.
Erath County Emergency Management Coordinator Cyndi Smith provided the court with an update on the sheriff’s office radio system, an update on the communications system and a SERI grant application.
“As some of you may notice, you no longer hear the sheriff’s office on your radios. It has been changed to digital without my knowledge,” Smith said. “We are going to leave it. We need to work on getting all radios programmed to the digital channel. Those that are allowed to transmit on it should get that changed over such as our constables, surrounding counties and commissioners if needed.”
Smith said it is just the sheriff’s office that moved to the digital channel since they have not received information from the fire departments to see if their radios have digital capabilities.
“It does eliminate some of the scanners which will help stop people just showing up on scenes,” she said.
The sheriff reported better transmission with the new radios.
“It has made a big difference,” Sheriff Matt Coates said.
Smith reported Erath County did not receive the SERI grant and is moving forward with research on how to improve emergency communications in the county, especially to interface with Hood County.
A $2 million estimate for communication improvements as budget preparations begin was discussed by Smith. The funds, if approved, would provide new vehicle radios for the sheriff ’s office, some for Erath Fire, Bluffdale VFD, EMS and Morgan Mill because all of them work with Hood County and need the multi-band dual radios because of the system the other county uses.
“There have been a lot of problems like during the Big L fire with communications with Hood County. It’s a liability issue,” she said.
It would also include at least one more tower, a brand new tower in Lingleville and the equipment move.
A discussion was also held regarding an extra $1.50 tax that could be added to vehicle registrations to be utilized for child safety items such as crossing guards.
The county believes it could be utilized for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), but more research needs to be done.
“It is an additional tax,” Commissioner Jim Buck said.
Incoming County Judge Brandon Huckabee was acknowledged from the floor and he inquired whether the money could potentially be given to county ISDs to aid with school security items.
County representatives are going to do research and bring it back to the commissioners.
The commissioners also renewed the burn ban for an additional 60 days.
In other business the commissioners: Accepted the juvenile probation office lease for the next year Moved forward with the auditor preparing bid requests for road materials for the next year Appointed the Erath County Tax Assessor Collector Jennifer Carey as a designated officer to calculate tax rates Approved to city-telecoin contract with the jail for inmate phone calls Approved a replat for Mountain Lakes, Lots 604-605 to join them into a single lot.
Approved going out to a proposal to get quotes on health benefits that are comparable for county employees.