,
,
Freestone County Commissioners Court established a sixth reinvestment zone and a tax abatement plan for a new solar project.
The commissioners made that decision Wednesday, Feb.7, at their regular meeting, when they also approved investing in a $250,000 Certificate of Deposit; took steps to ensure county employees use their county email to conduct business; approved applying for several grants for the Sheriff’s Office; and made other decisions regarding the county’s finances and well-being.
As for the new solar project, the company is called Electera, and the project is called Buffalo Springs Solar, a 200-230 mega-watt solar facility/ farm. The project will be a $186 million capital investment by Electera. William Coats, one of the owners/ partners of Electera, attended the meeting, along with tax consultant Steven Van Dyck.
The project will take up a little over 5,000 acres of land at Buffalo Creek Ranch, which is in Precinct 2. A PILOT (Payment In Lieu Of Taxes) of $242,937 will be paid to the county annually for ten years as part of the tax abatement.
The company expects the project to be completed in 2026.
The majority of the project will benefit the Teague Independent School District, said Precinct 2 Commissioner Will McSwane.
Waco attorney Mike Dixon, who represents the county, facilitated the public hearing on establishing Reinvestment Zone 6. No one from the public spoke at the hearing, either for or against the reinvestment zone or the tax abatement. After the hearing closed, the Commissioners voted to approve both the reinvestment zone and the form of the tax abatement.
DECISIONS REQUESTED BY COUNTY TREASURER
The court made three decisions requested by the County Treasurer: First, the court approved the county’s investment policy, which the court is required to do annually. The only changes made were the addition of two funds: the Dispatch Fund and the SB 22 Fund; and the establishment of a Certificate of Deposit at Prosperity Bank, which offered a higher rate of return than Citizens Bank, the county’s depository bank; but without the establishment of a depository account, since the county is currently using Citizens Bank for its depository account.
In a second decision concerning the County Treasurer, the court approved a Public Funds Collateral and Pledge Agreement with Prosperity Bank so Prosperity can pledge 110 percent of a $250,000 CD.
In the third decision concerning the County Treasurer, the court approved a service agreement with Texas Association of Counties’ CIRA program, which provides the county’s website and email service, and is the same amount as last year.
County Attorney Brian Evans reminded the court that all county employees have a county email but some are simply using their personal email accounts to conduct county business. IT Director Dane Mc-Broom noted that since the county is legally required to save all emails, if and when an employee leaves county employment, those emails from their personal accounts are no longer able to be saved.
McBroom confirmed that emails were a function for the IT Department, and the court agreed that setting up county emails would be transferred from County Judge’s Assistant Beth Smith, who is currently performing that task, to the IT Department and Mc-Broom.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Lloyd Lane wondered whether the court could simply send a letter to each department head, telling them to ensure their employees were using county emails.
Ultimately, Judge Grant asked McBroom to ensure county employees use their county email accounts and not their personal email accounts.
“Now that you’re here, we’ll know and you’ll take care of all that,” Grant told McBroom.
SHERIFF’S OFFICE GRANT APPLICATIONS
Several agenda items were requested by Sheriff Jeremy Shipley and involved submitting grant applications for various items for the Sheriff’s Office:
• Approval of a grant application to the Criminal Justice Grant Program to buy mobile terminals for the deputies’ squad cars that would allow deputies to communicate with the new Dispatch system;
• Approval of a grant application to the State Homeland Security Program for training to form a local tactical (SWAT) team and not have to wait hours for a tactical team from another county;
• Approval of a grant application to the Dickey’s Foundation to help purchase new Tasers;
• Approve of a grant application to the Hillcrest Foundation for firearms and equipment for use by the new SWAT team.
“New Tasers are about $1,000 apiece,” Shipley said, “so when you’re trying to equip 12-14 people with new Tasers, it gets expensive.”
OTHER BUSINESS DECISIONS In other matters, the commissioners:
• Took no action to initiate a burn ban;
• Approved the county’s participation in a Texas Association of Counties’ Cybersecurity Course.
• Agreed to move the Feb. 21 Commissioners Court meeting to Monday, Feb. 19, at 9 a.m. since several commissioners will be attending required training meetings on the 21st.
• Agreed for the county to sign up for an extended warranty and preventive maintenance program for the county’s voting machines. The program agreed upon ensures that personnel from the company will inspect each voting machine annually and provide any required maintenance.
• Approved purchasing an extended warranty, preventative maintenance and support agreement with JAVS (Justice Audio Visual Solutions) for its court recording system.
• Took no action on an invitation from Post Oak Resource Conservation & Development program, in which the county would pay $1,800 membership fee and receive certain benefits.
“I don’t think this is a monetary benefit to our taxpayers at all,” said Precinct 3 Commissioner Lloyd Lane.
The other commissioners agreed that the benefits were not worth the price.
EXPRESSION OF GRATITUDE TO FIREFIGHTERS
At the end of Wednesday’s meeting, when commissioners are invited to comment, Precinct 4 Commissioner Clyde Ridge Jr. expressed gratitude to all the Freestone County and Limestone County firefighters who responded to the fire at the home of his late brother the previous Sunday.
“It was a major undertaking to see all those people there working, and even citizens, pulling hoses and helping with fire trucks, things like that,” Ridge said.
Most Popular
Comments / 0