Commissioners approve insurance proceeds

Oct. 24--The Ector County Commissioners passed two resolutions during their regular meeting Monday that would provide the city with nearly $2.5 million in insurance proceeds to repair and replace several structures damaged by hail.

One claim they will receive from OneBeacon Insurance Group will be used in response to the damage caused by the June 14 hail storm, the proceeds totaling $1,553,815.33. Another claim from March 28 totals $916,205.45, which will be used for numerous structures at the Ector County Coliseum, located at 4201 Andrews Highway, which also received hail damage at that time.

Maintenance Director Octavio Carrillo told commissioners they would need to look over the buildings and would need further guidance from the commissioner's court as to how to proceed.

"When you have a claim like this, they are going to discount for depreciation and pay the actual cash value, which is what these checks are," County Judge Ron Eckert told Carrillo. "Once you're done with that, you submit the receipts back to the insurance carrier for the replacement value."

Eckert mentioned the county has been through this process before with repairs at the coliseum and the jail, and that this would be the same process.

Carrillo also told the court that new code updates would have to be put into place under the insurance, and that the roof and the main office of the coliseum would not be covered.

Both items were approved unanimously.

Commissioners unanimously approved an intergovernmental agreement between Hale County and Ector County for the housing and care of Ector County inmates.

"We have not housed any inmates in there since October of last year," Ector County Sheriff Mike Griffis told Commissioners, adding that they have raised their daily rates to house inmates. "We're not going to utilize them unless it's a dire emergency."

The Hale County agreement is one of eight that the sheriff's office maintains with other Texas counties to try to stay in compliance with state jail standards. The Ector County Law Enforcement Center is slowly working toward expanding to keep those inmates within the county. Commissioners approved a $25 million bond for an expansion of the LEC that is expected to allow the county to cease the transport of inmates to jails across the state.

An item related to the LEC's addition was also unanimously approved by commissioners Monday.

Commissioners unanimously approved an item regarding the LCA Proposal for Civil Engineering and Surveying Services for the ECLEC's public waterline improvements, composed of a 12-inch waterline and everything that goes along with constructing that, was withdrawn. Eckert said afterwards this was withdrawn because they needed to discuss with the City of Odessa who will be picking up the cost of the improvements.

The commissioner's court also unanimously approved a proposed interlocal Agreement between Lubbock County, acting through the Regional Public Defender for Capital Cases, and Ector County, pertaining to the provision of court-appointed counsel to indigent individuals charged with capital murder.

The agreement is with a capital defense litigation group which works with the state to provide lawyers for capital murder cases. This item was previously tabled, as the commissioners wanted District Attorney Bobby Bland to speak about the program to see if the agreement was worth renewing.

Bland questioned the utility of hiring this organization to take capital murder cases, having dealt with them in four separate cases in the past eight years.

"Whenever I waive the death penalty, that particular organization asks to get off the cases and the judge lets them off the case," Bland said. "If they'd stayed on the case, it would have saved us some money, but obviously they didn't stay on the case, so we wound up appointing local counsel."

Bland advised commissioners that they should have discussion with the organization to let them know that once they take a case, they cannot get off of it.

"There are very few people in Ector County that are qualified to handle death penalty cases," Bland conceded to the court. "It serves a purpose; it's just hard to weigh how much we spend."

Ector County Auditor David Austin said the one-year contract costs the county $105,938, and it has been renewed every year since 2008.

Precinct 3 Commissioner Dale Childers said that due to Ector County averaging 3.8 capital murders per year, he made a motion to approve the agreement, which was approved.

A request by Texas A&M University for Ector County to supplement the salary of a Family and Community Health Extension Agent up to Step 3 with an annual auto allowance of $2,700 and an annual cell phone allowance of $300 was approved unanimously, with some acknowledgement the position may be hard to fill.

"I don't think it will be filled for a year or two at this rate, because it's so expensive to live here," Childers said, noting that Midland has had the same position unfilled for five years. "This position helps teach Ector County residents how to be healthy. It's one of the biggest things that they do, especially for kids in school."

Commissioners unanimously approved two public works requests that involving replats of lots in the Westlake Addition, a subdivision of Ector County, and the abandonment of a 209-foot portion of an alley located in Westgate Acres. Projects Manager David Peck told the court this section of the alley needed to be abandoned to then be replatted, as it wasn't originally platted straight and will be replatted straight north to south.

IN OTHER BUSINESS

-- A request from Downtown Odessa, Inc. to use the Ector County Courthouse lawn for the showing of family-friendly Halloween short films for Downtown Odessa's Treat Street event on Oct. 31 was approved unanimously.

-- A proposed Software as a Service Agreement with Data Management, Inc. d/b/a Time Clock Plus for the Electronic Time Sheet was approved unanimously.

-- A proposed service subscription for the Virtual Emergency Operations Center on the internet emergency management software was approved unanimously. Rickey George, Director of Ector County Environmental Enforcements, told commissioners the service would be paid for through the emergency management budget.

-- A request by the Human Resources Director to post the vacancy of the Veterans' Service Officer position was approved unanimously.

-- A request to post and hire a TVFC/Immunization Program Specialist and Outreach Coordinator at a Step 5 was approved unanimously.

-- Setting the salary for the current new hires at Grade 709, Step 3 in accordance with the Ector County Salary Pay Plan Guidelines was approved unanimously.

-- A request for the Highways and Streets Department to alter its employees' work schedule of 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday to 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, eight hours daily, for the duration of the non-seasonal period of Nov. 1 through March 31, 2018 and returning to the current work schedule for the seasonal period of April 1, 2018 through Oct. 31, 2018 was approved unanimously.

-- The proposed MHRC plans were approved unanimously.

-- A proposed budget amendment to the 2013 Capital Projects Fund, DP Sup-plies for $250, to Software Maintenance Contracts to Contract Services for $36,985 from Unreserved Fund Balance for $78,088 was approved unanimously.

-- The Accounts Payable Fund Requirements Report for Oct. 23 was approved unanimously.

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