The county took care of business at a meeting with a significant pause so they could mourn the loss of Precinct 4 Commissioner Jim Buck.
Buck’s service took place on Monday morning, so after calling the regularly scheduled meeting to order, County Judge Brandon Huckabee recessed the meeting until Monday afternoon.
Buck’s absence could be felt by everyone in attendance at Monday’s meeting.
The court unanimously approved terminating a contract with Govpay for both the Tax Assessor and Motor Vehicle offices after a year of nonstop issues.
Tax Assessor-Collector Valerie Stephen stated it was not just Erath County having issues, but statewide.
After terminating the contract, commissioners moved forward with a new contract with Municipal Services Bureau.
MSB will provide payment capabilities for both the Tax Assessor-Collector office and Motor Vehicle Offices.
For credit and debit cards, there is a 2.85% fee. For E-check there is a $1.50 fee. All of these fees are comparable to the fees accessed by Govpay.
There will be a $4,360 charge for 14 new terminals in both the Stephenville and Dublin tax locations.
The court also approved surety bonds for the Tax Assessor Collector.
The court also received an order from District Judge Jason Cashon for the payment of salaries for Erath County Auditor, Auditor Assistants and the District Court Reporter.
Amounts are $162,000 for auditor Kent Reeves, Senior Assistant Auditor Cambree Chance is $65,000, Assistant Auditor Melissa Armstrong is $48,000, Assistant Auditor Carson Cabral is $53,500, Assistant Auditor Zoeie Webster is $43,320, Assistant Auditor Angie Cervantes is $50,000, and Court Reporter K.C. DeBusk is $110,000.
Salaries for these positions are set by Judge Cashon.
Approval was also given for Microsoft licensing for the Unified Dispatch Center at a cost of $6,679.20 for the year. This cost will be split between the city and the county.
An ancillary policy for retired employees was also approved, with the only change being the letter that identified the policy – changing from Plan F to Plan G.
A job description was approved for Environmental Control Assistant since the position is new within the county.
More interlocal agreements between Erath County and Volunteer Fire Departments were approved including Morgan Mill, Lipan, Harbin, Hico and Carbon VFDs.
An annual records and preservation contract between the District Clerks Office and Kofile was approved in a not-to- exceed amount of $100,956.40.
The project, which was budgeted from the records management fee which can only be spent on those related items, is to scan land record documents from 1800-1900s for Erath County.
It is estimated to take about 10-12 years, and the county is on year five of the project.
Approval was also given to allow the Erath County Sheriff’s Office to use Govdeals.com to purchase a used vehicle worth no more than $5,000.
Govdeals.com can be utilized by the county without going out for bids.
An anonymous donation of 50 custom challenge coins was accepted by the court on behalf of Erath County EMS and presented to Assistant EMS Director Colby Swearingen.
In other business the court: ■ corrected the 2027 Holiday calendar (moving Thanksgiving holidays to Thursday and Friday, instead of Wednesday and Thursday)
■ approved an agreement for assessment and collection of taxes between the county and Stephenville ISD approved corrected dates on contracts between the county and SRO’s for Bluff Dale ISD and White Horse Christian Academy