The Hill County Commissioners Court met in a special session Tuesday, April 1, and accepted its annual list of bids for products and services.
Commissioners are required by law to seek bids on most goods or services they plan to spend more than $50,000 on in a year’s time. Bids were requested in several categories, including fuel, asphalt and emulsions, corrugated steel pipes and culverts, road base materials, hauling and bridges.
For asphalt and emulsions, commissioners approved bids from Ergon Asphalt, P2 Emulsions and Wright Asphalt based on quality, quantity, availability, price and location.
For road base, bids were approved from Janek & Whitten Construction, Conners Crushed Stone, Cemex, PRC and Canfield Materials.
Precincts 1, 2 and 3 accepted a bid from Blue Diamond Surface Cleaning Solutions for power washing services, and Precinct 4 accepted a bid from 4R Services Unlimited.
Commissioners accepted bids from Yoder Bridge and CXT Inc. for bridges and box culverts.
Wilson Culverts and a local railroad yard submitted bids for steel pipes and culverts, which were both accepted.
Material hauling bids were accepted in all precincts except Precinct 2, which handles its own hauling. Janek & Whitten Construction was selected by the other three precinct commissioners.
Accepted fuel bids were: Precinct 1 – Scott Oil for offsite fuel; Precinct 2 – Independent Oil for onsite and offsite fuel; Precinct 3 – Independent Oil for onsite fuel and Farmers Gin for offsite fuel; and Precinct 4 – Itasca Grain Co-op for offsite fuel.
All accepted agreements went into effect April 1 and will continue until next April.
In other action, the court selected Schaumburg & Polk, Inc. of Terrell to provide engineering and architectural services for the county’s hazard mitigation plan, which is up for its five-year renewal. The plan needs to be in place for the county and other cities and entities in the county to be eligible for federal funding related FEMA and hazard mitigation.
County Judge Justin Lewis said that county officials would be meeting with the Texas General Land Office to request that the county receive grant funding for the plan. The county’s eligibility has been on hold due to the delayed fiscal year 2023 audit that was recently completed and showed one finding related to a missed grant reporting deadline.
Lewis said that he had gone through 15 years of audits that showed no previous issues. He said that the problem was caused by former county auditor Sahib Rao missing a deadline. Otherwise, the judge said that the county is in great financial shape.
Lewis said that the General Land Office wants to see the 2024 audit before reinstating the county’s eligibility, but the issue is already solved because the former county auditor is no longer in that position. The county plans to make that case to the state agency while moving forward with preparations for the new hazard mitigation plan.
The court observed and recorded an award received from the Texas Association of Counties that recognized Hill County for safety, with no employees filing workers compensation claims in 2024.
The court observed and recorded the annual Child Protective Services Board report, which lists the board’s activities over the past year. Highlights included office space moving to the Covington Street annex, Go Blue Day in April and the annual children’s Christmas party with 200 attendees.
The board also sent out 11 adoption baskets filled with welcoming items to celebrate the adoption of children in foster care.
The board thanked the court and county judge for the $20,000 per year the county allocates to purchasing clothing and shoes for children in foster care in Hill County.
Memorandums of understanding between Hill County Sheriff’s Office and Aquilla, Blum and Covington schools were renewed. The agreements enhance school security by facilitating joint law enforcement work when needed.
Commissioners approved holding a public hearing Tuesday, April 22, on a proposal to place a “no thru trucks” sign on HCR 2134, also known as Big Jim’s Road, in the Whitney area. A speed limit is also being proposed for the road, but Lewis told Precinct 2 Commissioner Larry Crumpton that a speed limit of less than 35 miles per hour cannot be implemented without a traffic study. Crumpton said that 35 miles per hour is too fast for the road, and he will look into options for a traffic study.
The court also accepted donations from Chris Clark in the amount of $200 and Martin Lake in the amount of $100 for the volunteer Hill County Community Emergency Response Team.
The court’s next regular meeting date will be Tuesday, April 8, at 8:30 a.m. in the Hill County Courtroom of the courthouse.
The Lakelander 