County Commissioners moved to take legal action against an individual that has repeatedly violated the county’s subdivision rules.
According to information discussed at the Monday, Nov. 28 Erath County Commissioner’s Court, Jose Berreras purchased a parcel of land off County Road 347 outside Dublin approximately three years ago.
“We mapped it and explained to him about the subdivision rules and he ignored them and laughed at us,” Precinct 2 Commissioner Albert Ray said. Ray represents Precinct 2 which includes the Dublin area.
After that, Berreras started moving old, torn up mobile homes in to rebuild them, Ray said. A road has also been put into the parcel.
“The houses have no electricity, no water and no septic system, but he has people living in them at this time,” Ray said.
The commissioners said they have met with him, and the sanitation department has gone out to the property since there is raw sewage on the ground and illegal septic systems.
“We have visited with him and he doesn’t seem to want to do anything. Basically he told us once that it was his property and he could do what he wanted to,” Ray said. “Three weeks ago, they were back out there and there was still raw sewage running on the ground, more septics put in and some citations have been issued to him.”
Under the subdivision rules and regulations, a violation of the rules is a Class B Misdemeanor, which is an arrestable offense.
The county’s attorney Lisa Pence advised Ray to bring the item to the commissioners court to see what action they wanted to take.
“Do we want to have him arrested? If so, we have to follow some procedures. Or do we just want to meet with him again, talk to him and give him some time and see what happens,” Ray asked. “We have talked to him numerous times, the sanitation department has talked to him. I’ve talked to him three times and the county judge has talked to him.”
County Judge Alfonso Campos questioned if he couldn’t be arrested for noncompliance of citations.
Fire Marshal Tommy Shelton said in the meeting that he had recently written him citations for violations in the Texas Health and Safety Code.
Those violations have been assigned to Judge Rutledge’s court, Shelton said, and she is waiting to set up a date for a summons for him to come to court.
Campos questioned why the court needed to take action if there were already citations underway.
“What I understand is that these citations are for sanitation. It’s not for a violation of illegal subdivision,” Ray said.
Campos questioned who would be responsible for filing on a violation of an illegal subdivision, and Ray said that the commissioner’s court was ultimately responsible.
“Do we have the documentation?” Campos asked. “It sounds like we do.”
Ray explained that the Environmental Health Department had started a file on the case and documentation could be provided.
“I feel like this guy has had three years to get this right. We are making everyone else follow the rules ... that’s a slap to everyone else who is doing their subdivisions right. I feel like we need to pursue this matter,” Commissioner Jim Buck said.
Ray said he had sympathy for those who were living in these houses with no water, no sewer and no electricity.
“They have no 911 addresses because the appraisal district is holding off. Once they get a 911 address, they can get electricity. We are trying to use that as a little incentive to get something done,” Ray said.
Campos questions who would offer testimony and witnesses would be if the court moved ahead.
Assistant Environmental Officer Austin Gibson with the Erath County Environmental Health Office said that most likely that would be his office.
“We issued him three more tickets two weeks ago. Those tickets are solely for his septic problems. They are not going to rectify the subdivision. He has come into our office multiple times and he has told us his goal is to subdivide this piece of property.”
Campos said it was important to assign someone to get the documentation together otherwise the case was just going to sit there.
“I would use this as a check off list and make sure we can provide what the county attorney needs,” Campos said.
The court unanimously approved moving forward with taking action on the subdivision violation.
In an unassociated agenda item, the court gave unanimous approval to Gibson to be able to write summons after he recently completed code enforcement classes and passed all associated tests.
The commissioners also approved a $5,000 for a partnership with Stephenville Economic Development Authority for downtown holiday lighting/decoration along with the city of Stephenville and Main Street.
“We are just asking you guys to partner with us,” Ashleigh Feuerbacher with SEDA said. The entire rental contract for the lights, she said, was $20,000.