Town meeting briefs

Young County Commissioners Court By Will Sadler

Monday, June 24, the Young County Commissioners Court was called to order, followed by the prayer and the pledge. The meeting highlights are as follows:

- Receipt of hotel occupancy tax (HOT) reported $4,962.73 for May from the Wildcatter Ranch & Resort.

- The Regional Public Defender for capital cases annual participation fee was reported to cost $ 6,724.

- County Extension Agent Justin Rogers resigned because he is moving out of the area.

- Greg Scott Coker was named as the Emergency Management Coordinator for Young County. Coker is a retired Army

Spec-Ops soldier who donates time flying a helicopter for annual hog hunts for veterans. Coker has a long list of achievements for his service in the Army.

- There were no updates to consider for the Treasurer’s financial report.

- The commissioners approved a $5,000 bond (5-0) for Diana D. Gardiner, deputy tax collector for the Olney office.

- The three used vehicles that have been for sale sold after minimum bids were met and exceeded. The funds from the sale will go toward the new cars that will be purchased to replace the used vehicles.

- The commissioners discussed the burn ban and placed no restrictions; also they acknowledged there are still no restrictions for shooting fireworks for the Fourth of July. However, commissioners are urging the public to be responsible and watch for fires caused by individuals who use the fireworks. Olney ISD School Board By Will Sadler

Monday, June 25, the Olney ISD school board met for a brief meeting. After a quorum was acknowledged and the meeting called to order, the board called for a closed session to discuss the employment of Tim Orsak as chief financial officer/business manager.

After the 30-minute closed session, the meeting was opened back up to the public, and a motion was made to give Tim Orsak a one-year probationary contract as chief financial officer/business manager, which the board passed unanimously. After welcoming Orsak, the meeting was adjourned.

City Council by Ronni Walker

The Olney City Council met at 6 p.m. Monday, June 10, and June 24. The highlights from both meetings are listed below. Please refer to the City’s website: http://www.olney.tx.citygovt.org/ for the complete meeting minutes. The city council meetings occur every second and fourth Monday at 201 E. Main Street in Olney, Texas. The meetings are open to the public.

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Considering the Air Tractor Municipal Airport Property Purchase Request for two tracts of land, Jim Hirsch appeared before the council to make a request for the purchase. Hirsch said Air Tractor builds between 120 to 150 airplanes a year and provides approximately 275 jobs in the area. He continued with an explanation of the use of the land they want to purchase. “We are looking to grow through new products and vertical integration and to bring some work home,” Hirsch said. He added that the need to install a fire protection system is what ignited the idea to purchase additional land. Hirsch said these projects might take three years to complete; and the first phase entails the installation of the infrastructure, which includes a tank system that will store 200,000 gallons of water. Hirsch ended his presentation with a copy of the proposed site plan presented to the city council. The motion was accepted and unanimously approved for City Administrator Neil Welch and Air Tractor to enter negotiations for the possible sale of two tracts of land.

The city administrator presented a proposal to extend the electrical contract for an additional four years. The initial rate was 5.071 then dropped to 3.76. With the new contract set to expire at the end of May 2023, the rate will drop to approximately 2.928 cents. Welch said it might be a bit lower than the proposed amount. The council authorized the city administrator to enter into the contract.

Cris Lemon, CPA presented his findings of the 2017-2018 annual audit. Lemon’s report concluded that he did not identify any deficiencies in internal control that he considers to be material weaknesses in financial reporting, compliance and other matters. The council voted to accept the auditor’s report.

Mayor Phil Jeske performed the required reading of the Ray Perkins will, which requires the city council to read a section of the will every two years. The selected section was concerning two beneficiaries—Olney Community Library and Arts Center and the Tommy Perkins Memorial park. The will states that these two entities should use 75 percent of the income from the endowment fund established for operations, maintenance and additions with the remaining 25 percent balance to be placed in the permanent endowment fund, which has a current balance of $109,381.30 according to City Secretary Tim Houston.

The final item on the agenda for the June 10 meeting was the departments’ financial reports. Houston reported that the City has received a little more than $3 million and has spent almost $3.23 million. There is an excess of revenues of expenditures for the year $695,000. Last month the expenditures exceeded revenues by $47,000, which included vehicle purchase. Sales tax dropped 1 percent compared to the previous year. Houston further stated that the City had collected 71 percent of what they budgeted for sales tax--$ 305,000.

Olney Police Chief Conny Clay reported that the police officers issued 19 tickets last month. He shared that Sonic and Dairy Queen are providing free coupons for ice cream that the officers will use as part of their community relations campaign. He also reported that the animal control officer has been released and is back on full duty. Clay ended with a report on the progress of the new officer, Dustin Hudson stating Hudson will spend two months in field officer training and then he will spend two weeks in S.R.O. school. He will work a regular shift as a police officer and will work as a code enforcement officer on his days off. The school will pay 75 percent of his salary as an S.R.O. officer during the school year. Clay plans to present a request to the city council for another officer.

During the meeting June 24, the council considered an accepted the changes to T.M.L. Health Pool Insurance plan, discussed the proposed FY 2019-2020 Young County Appraisal District budget and the FY 2019-2020 Budget.