Erath County received a clean audit after its annual financial report by Eide Bailey.
At the Monday, April 27 meeting, representatives from Eide Bailey reviewed the audit with the county and delivered an “unmodified” opinion, which is the best outcome that can be received on an audit.
There was no material weaknesses identified, no significant deficiencies reported and no instances of noncompliance.
County Judge Brandon Huckabee shared his appreciation for the auditor and treasurer’s office hard work to make the audit go smoothly.
During public comment, Amber Smith, a resident on CR 512 spoke to the commissioners about an ongoing issue they are having with the county road repaired.
She stated last summer she spoke to Commissioner Sherman Edwards about getting the county road repaired.
“Commissioner Edwards told me that he ‘knows the area well, the white gate with a circle and stars,’ to which I confirmed we were discussing the same location. The commissioner then stated, ‘take the gate down and promise it will stay down and we can get the road fixed.’ This started the process of asking neighbors about the gate, ownership, and feelings towards removing it to fix the road,” she said. After a consensus was gathered on removing the gate, they let the commissioner know they were ready to proceed.
“The gate was removed on Sunday, March 29. Josh Smith then called Commissioner Edwards the following Monday. On this call the commissioner stated, ‘This is a private road, we will not trespass on private property, and we cannot fix your road.’ He mentioned a paper he received, and so Josh’s wife started the process of trying to find what this paper was stating we lived on a private road as this was news to us.”
After a meeting and calls, it was revealed Commissioner Edwards was presented a document from 1983 in which the then-current owners – Black, Jones and Tidwell – requested the road be discontinued from county maintenance. This document was not part of the closings in 2025, and the home/property owners had no knowledge of its existence.
Smith asked for clarity on three key issues: the legal status of the road, options to turn the road back over to the county and to understand whether the 1983 action was properly recorded and whether it is still applicable under current conditions.
Though no action could be taken in open session, Judge Huckabee said the county would be looking into it.
The court awarded a bid on the Precinct 2 building project at the Dublin county barn for a shed to cover vehicles.
The $74,305.85 bid by Build All in Bluffdale was accepted.
On the building’s fence project, neither bid was accepted and Commissioner Albert Ray said they would be going a different direction.
Approval was also given to Precinct 1 to go out for bids for a new building to be built on FM 847. The money has already been allocated for this project in their budget.
A change order was approved for the Unified Dispatch Center. Erath County Emergency Manager Chris Brooks explained this was to use some of the money built into the contingency fund to redo a ceiling that was rotten and for a wall that turned out not to be attached to the rest of the building.
“This does not change the bottom line,” he said.