An Erath County Elections Administrator position was formed at Tuesday’s County Commissioner Court meeting with an official start date of Oct. 1.
At the May 28 special called meeting, due to the Memorial Day holiday, commissioners unanimously agreed to move forward with an order to form the position after ongoing discussions.
Currently, different portions of the elections process are done by individual people, including Tax Assessor-Collector Jennifer Carey and County Clerk Gwinda Jones.
“We have reached a point where this is more than just a part-time position that can be handled between individuals,” County Judge Brandon Huckabee said.
Huckabee said with ongoing law changes regarding elections the job keeps getting bigger and bigger.
The position will be hired by the County Elections Commissioner comprised of the county judge, the county clerk, the tax assessorcollector and the two party chairs.
Huckabee explained that it is possible to start work 30 days prior to an official start date, therefore the elections administrator will be up and running before the Presidential election.
The elections administrator will be housed in the new Annex II near where voting registration already is housed.
The court also moved forward with signing a new electric contract for the county with TXU. The 5-year plan will have the county paying .0790608 vs. its current rate of .0439809 and it was negotiated through electricity broker TES Energy Services.
“It’s almost more than double what we are paying,” Huckabee said. “But they all went up.”
Commissioner Dee Stephens said TXU has been the county’s provider forever and there have been no issues.
The only provider that was cheaper than TXU, Huckabee said, was BP at half a cent cheaper, however, the broker recommended going with TXU.
The court also discussed requesting the state of Texas to allow local control to lower the speed limit on all county roads from 60 mph to 45 mph.
“They are dangerous and more traveled,” Huckabee said about county roads referencing a major accident that had occurred on a county road over the weekend.
Currently, several counties in the area including Hood, Bosque and Palo Pinto are either researching or asking the state for local control that would allow counties to make the decision on what the speed limits inside their counties on county roads should be.
“We need some control over this,” Commissioner Jim Buck said. Buck said Johnson County has found rules in the transportation code that could potentially allow counties to have control over the speed limits on county roads.
Buck said it could also potentially save money on speed limit signs since after a certain amount of time, the county would not have to post signs on every roadway county-wide.
A nod of approval from all commissioners was given when asked if they were in favor of moving forward with local control on the issue.
“We will continue to work on this,” Huckabee said.
A new monument is in the process of being placed on the southside of the courthouse after approval from the court.
The monument will include Travis’ last letter from the Alamo and donors have already stepped forward to pledge funds for grommets and the cradle for the plaque, which is being donated to the county.
In other business the court:
■ gave approval of a replat to take lots in the Hifam Industrial Park from four lots to six lots
■ approved a variance request for a Mobile Home Park on CR 461 to not have to pave the road since to get to the MHP you have to drive down two miles of dirt roads
■ gave approval to the Sheriff’s office to sell a 2019 Ram 1500 and a 2007 Ford Van through Enterprise
■ gave approval to the Sheriff’s office to zero value a list of items and to destroy them
■ allowed temporary supplemental pay for a County Attorney employee