The December 2nd, 2021 Commissioners court meeting began at 9 a.m. with a presentation of Service Awards to Medina County Employees, included a public hearing on the creation of the Tally Ho Public Improvement District Number One and a public hearing on the reduction of the speed limits for County Roads 466 and 478 in Precinct 2. Commissions Jerry Beck, David Lynch, Larry Sittre and Tim Neuman were all present alongside County Judge Schuchart.
Approval Of Maintenance Position
The meeting began with the approval of an adjusted salary and new job title for the Hondo Buildings and Grounds Custodian position. Human Resources Director Glenda Moody approached the court to explain the plans for creating this custodial position.
“So for many months, when we moved to the Annex, we were going to add an additional custodial position here which we talked about upgrading to a maintenance position,” Moody said. “So I did all the work on that. I did a job description, I checked the salaries, I called the sheriff and then I compared it to what their maintenance person does.”
Moody said that because the maintenance position at the sheriff’s office would be similar to the one being created, she wanted to compare the two, especially the salaries.The pay for the maintenance position at the sheriff’s office was $18.60.
“So we’d like to move that custodial position to the title of maintenance, with the regular $16 to start and $18.60 for max,” Moody said. “But I would need the court to approve it.”
When further debating whether or not to approve this position, Commissioner Larry Sittre explained his feelings on the topic.
“If we’re going into the details, I don’t think I’m quite ready to have a full time person definitely on the pay roll,” Sittre said. “Maybe if we have one that roams around the county, that will probably be exactly what we need.”
While unsure whether or not they would make the custodial position available only in Hondo and have the new hire provide services to other cities or if they would have this custodial position open for other cities such as Devine and Castroville too, the court eventually approved the decision.
“Well let’s just create the position so it exists,” Schuchart said. “That’s what we’re doing today. Then we can move other people into it that need to be moved into it.”
Approval Of Liability Insurance Renewal
Next, the court moved on to approve a Liability Insurance Renewal with the Texas Association of Counties. Medina County Treasurer, Debbie Southwell, explained the situation.
“The main change is they’re suggesting that we increase our deductible on auto to $250 to $1000,” Southwell said. “We’ve had a 265% loss ratio for the last five years on auto liability and 50%, I believe, was from the storm. I did the math and they decreased the rate, not the dollar amount, the rate on everything else.”
Subdivision and Improvement District Approvals
After a short break, the meeting reconvened at 10 a.m. and began with the public hearing to receive comment regarding the creation of the Tally Ho Public Improvement District (PID) Number One, which was ultimately approved.
The Steinle Subdivision, located in Precinct 2 off of Potranco road, FM 1957, had its final approval along with the Yancey Fields Subdivision, located off of County Road 640. The preliminary approval of Medina Estates Subdivision, located in Precinct 2 off of FM 4471 was also accepted.
Castroville Postage Machines
The court then moved on to the acceptance and approval of proposals for postage machines located in Castroville, postponing the action until next agenda.
“We got some new postage machines, but one of the vendors was not reputable,” Commissioner Jerry Beck said. “They were the lowest bidder, so we’re going to talk to them about that before moving forward.”
Speed Limits Reduced
The court then had a public hearing on reducing County Road speed limits
After some discussion, the court approved to have County Roads 466 and 478; located in Precinct 2, with speed limits reduced to 35 miles per hour.
The Approval Of A Change Order
The court then approved the ratification of change orders for a project involving the 2nd level renovations of the Courthouse Annex. These changes included the removal of existing electrical outlet and data in the old sheriff office’s first floor, patching holes and repainting interior walls and exterior doors, repairing outside wall pack light fixtures, replacing light bulbs where needed, installing two new outlets in courtroom and weather proofing an exterior door. The order states that overall cost for this approved contract, including the changes, will come out to a total of $789, 464.00.
Court Meeting Cancellation
Lastly the court confirmed that they would be cancelling the Dec. 30th Commissioners Court Meeting.
By Christian Toler
News Correspondent