At a brief commissioners court meeting Monday, Jan. 23, Erath commissioners handled 24 agenda items.
Commissioner Dee Stephens provided an update on the new county annex building under construction.
Stephens explained the completion date is the middle of June.
“They are right on track,” he said.
County Judge Brandon Huckabee said the county is excited about the project, and many citizens had expressed interest in meeting rooms available in the new building.
The roof should be completed Feb. 20, painting will be underway Feb. 1 and underground utilities, minus one gas line, are complete.
Two variances were under consideration for the Rio Verde Addition with one of them being denied.
Representatives from the project were on hand to ask the commissioners for a variance that would allow six of the 11 lots in Phase 1 of the project to be reduced down from a required 200 foot width.
Four of the lots were seeking a variance for about 190 feet width, one of them 130 feet and one 127 feet.
The project is located on CR 380 at Hwy. 377.
“A variance to me is a last resort and they have a remedy; they are choosing not to seek it,”Commissioner Albert Ray said.
Ray said they could reduce the number of lots and not have to seek a variance. He also said he had spoken to Joe England, the county engineer, and he did not recommend approving the variance.
The variance was denied unanimously.
A second variance, for extending the block length inside the project was unanimously approved.
The maximum length of a block inside of a plat is 1,800 feet and one block in phase 1 of the project exceeds the requirement.
The court approved accepting a shotgun on behalf of the sheriff’s office that was recently donated to them.
“A lot of times this happens because a weapon was evidence, it has been cleared and the owners do not want it back,” Sheriff Matt Coates said.
That shotgun along with several other weapons was approved to be sold to Texan Guns and Gear after being designated surplus items.
“We plan to trade them for ammunition which will help us save in our budget,” Coates explained.
The weapons were previously patrol shotguns and were simply collecting dust, the sheriff said.
The court approved an interlocal agreement with the city of Stephenville to help them move some dirt off of city property.
“This is simply cooperation between entities,” Huckabee said.
The dirt is being moved off of one piece of city property to another. It is where the new rodeo grounds are going to be.
Two bids were rejected by the court, on a ¾ crew cab and a one ton cab chassis after the bid came in higher and the time frame to get the vehicles was longer than anticipated.
The court also approved placing surplus soil/dirt that is being removed from CR 397 to be distributed onto the J. Procter Farm.
Ray explained there was already a pit on the land and the landowner was fine with them placing the soil and rocks into the pit.
“It will save us money and time,” Ray said.
The court also agreed to remove trees along a fenceline along County Road 301 for Yohan Koke, in exchange for some property to convert into a turnaround for the deadend road. Other items included: ■ approving the consent agenda with the monthly and quarterly department reports
■ scheduling a public hearing Feb. 27 for revised regulationsof manufactured home rental communities ■ appointing Dublin Mayor David Leatherwood as Erath County’s representative to Cen-Tex Rural Transportation District Board.
■ filed and recorded the deputation of district clerk’s office, county clerk’s office, Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 and Justice of the Peace Precinct 2.
■ adopted the County Investment Policy for 2023 ■ approved the Dec. 2022 monthly Treasurer’s report ■ took no action on the burn ban ■ approved invoices for regular and reoccurring payments