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Limestone County commissioners and County Judge Richard Duncan took time to recognize important, service-oriented groups and discussed some procedural and reporting issues with County Auditor Natasha Goodman at their meeting Tuesday, April 9.
Duncan read two proclamations, one designating April as Child Abuse Awareness Month, and one recognizing April 14-20 as National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week.
“Child abuse prevention is a community responsibility and finding solutions depends on involvement among all people. We must work together to educate our community about what can be done to prevent child abuse and how to support survivors and their families,” Duncan read from the proclamation.
A group of Child Welfare Board Members and BiStone CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) members/volunteers were in attendance, a show of support for the proclamation, but rejected Duncan’s invitation to speak.
Regarding the telecommunicators (better known as dispatchers), Duncan was happy to sing their praises.
“Public Safety Telecommunicators serve our citizens daily in countless ways. The work of these ‘unseen first responders’ is invaluable in emergency situations, and each of these dedicated men and women deserves our heartfelt appreciation,” Duncan said. “Americans place their trust in these individuals every day of the year.”
At the last meeting, commissioners tabled a decision about changing the county’s Financial Policies and Procedures and the Purchasing and Debarment Policies and Procedures. Duncan had cited the need for specific language about the use of federal funds that is currently not included.
Commissioners approved removing the item from the table and Duncan took a moment to explain what he had learned about proposed changes to the Policies and Procedures at hand.
“I called the lady back from the state, and she said really this is just an addendum to your policy, and the main reason for the addendum is to make sure the federal information is in the policy, so Matt (Groveton) can get the grant that he needs,” Duncan said.
Commissioners approved the addendum with no further discussion.
Related to the Order for Dispersement of Salaries and Routine Office Expenses, Duncan inquired about speeding up the processing of routine utility payments.
“If the postal service sends out our electric bill – all y’all know how long it takes the postal service to work nowadays – it takes a little while just for us to get it. Once it comes into my office, and I have to be responsible for the electric bills for the whole courthouse evidently, I guess, but if Chantel is off or I’m gone, and I can’t approve it, that’s another day or two or three waiting, before it actually gets to the auditor’s office,” Duncan said.
“Natasha (Goodman), you can help me on this, but once it gets to your office, then approved, then it has to go back down to the Treasurer’s office, and then we wait? Is there a reason we can’t have routine utilities or credit cards go straight to your office for payment?”
“There’s a government code that each bill or invoice be approved by a department head before my office then processes it,” County Auditor Natasha Goodman responded, passing a paper to each commissioner citing the referenced code.
Some back and forth between Duncan and Goodman ensued, about potential late fees and procedures already in place, and Commissioners Bobby Forest (Pct. 4) and Bill David Sadler (Pct. 1) reiterated the courts’ order for payment of routine office expenses, mainly to avoid late fees around the holidays that had been approved in December 2021.
Duncan explained that his aim with this matter was to eliminate some of the processing time with routine bills, and asked commissioners to table the item so he could research other options and the Federal government code Goodman cited. Commissioners obliged and tabled the matter.
Duncan and Goodman also appeared to be on different pages regarding fuel reports, documentation that Duncan was surprised to learn the auditor’s office does not require. Goodman stated that some departments keep fuel logs for future reference, and Sheriff Murray Agnew chimed in that the Sheriff’s Office keeps a hand log for budgeting purposes. He further stated that he had never received any kind of automated report related to the key fobs provided by the county three or four years ago. With the clarification that the fuel reports were not required by anyone, commissioners took no action on the matter.
In other business, the court:
Approved the consent agenda;
Took no action on the county burn ban (it remains off at time of press);
Approved the Utility Line Agreement with Murphy’s Septic for LCR 763; and
Approved for Record the reinstatement of sick days and vacation days for an employee who filed a workers comp claim.
Duncan used the Judge’s Comments portion of the meeting to comment on the successful watch parties at Old Fort Parker and other locations in the county.
A special meeting has been called for Monday, April 15, at 9 a.m. to discuss a personnel matter in executive session.
The next regular Commissioners' Court meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday, April 23, in the county courthouse. The meetings are open to the public but also available for live-streaming or later playback on YouTube (search: Limestone County Commissioners Court).
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