Fannin County Commissioners Court receives favorable Auditor report 

Fannin County, Texas – Fannin County Judge Randy Moore presided over a regular meeting of Fannin County Commissioners Court held Tuesday, May 3, 2022, with commissioners Edwina Lane, A.J. Self, Jerry Magness and Dean Lackey present.

The meeting opened with an invocation by Jeramie Sweet, minister of Savoy Church of Christ and pledges were led by Major James Manis (Ret.).

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Fannin County Commissioners Court took a moment to recognize National Correctional Officers Week and National Police Officers Week.

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A brief update regarding restoration of the 1888 Fannin County Courthouse included:

Air conditioning is not working properly.

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Fannin County Commissioners Court approved an order transferring roadway Right of Way purchased by NTMWD to Fannin County and to authorize easements to Fannin County across other NTMWD properties.

Alan Hendrix, P.E., a transportation engineer with the consulting and engineering firm Freese and Nichols, called this the culmination of 12 years of work.

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Fannin County Commissioners Court approved the reinstallation of shelves for County Court at Law criminal files at a cost not to exceed $500 to be taken from the moving expenses budget line item.

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The court approved minutes from a regular meeting April 19, 2022.

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The Fannin County District Clerk’s office reported $25,343.66 collected for April 2022.

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Justice of the Peace, Precinct 2 office reported $529 collected for April 2022.

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Justice of the Peace, Precinct 3 office reported $3,845 collected for April 2022.

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Mark DeMay, Fannin County Indigent Healthcare Director, gave a review of indigent healthcare activity for April 2022.

Mr. DeMay reported that the department is more than $28,000 under budget at this time.

Judge Moore thanked DeMay for his efforts and added, “TMC has bent over backwards to make sure our Indigent Healthcare system works.”

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Fannin County Commissioners Court approved Auditor monthly reports for April 2022.

Fannin County Auditor Alicia Whipple reported General Fund revenue of $12,709,038.92 and expenditures totaling $7,930,082.63.

“We are $4.7 million ahead right now,” Ms. Whipple stated and noted that all four precincts’ Road & Bridge funds are in good shape.

R & B #1
Revenue $796,171.24
Expense $474,613.85

R & B #2
Revenue $919,712.13
Expense $610,904.06

R & B #3
Revenue $1,398,140.82
Expense $720,728.84

R & B #4
Revenue $774,911.81
Expense $444,824.16

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Fannin County Commissioners Court held a lengthy discussion regarding employee salaries.

Pct. 1 Commissioner Lane said that her precinct has open positions and can’t get people to apply because the county pay structure needs to be competitive in order to attract and retain good employees.

“We’ve become a training ground, just like the sheriff’s department has,” stated Pct. 3 Commissioner Magness.

“We’ve got to make this a priority in next year’s budget,” remarked Pct. 2 Commissioner Self.

“We are going to have to address the income side of the formula,” Pct. 4 Commissioner Lackey interjected, noting the significant increase in the cost of rock, materials and fuel, in addition to the salary dilemma.

Dale McQueen addressed commissioners court and suggested that funds from Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) programs can be used any way the county needs.

A PILOT payment is defined as a payment made to compensate a government for some or all of the property-tax revenue lost due to tax-exempt ownership or use of real property.

“There is no reason you can’t take that PILOT money and put it into Road & Bridge,” Mr. McQueen advised.

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Fannin County Commissioners Court voted to approve and send a letter to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs expressing disappointment with the proposed closing of certain services at the Bonham VA.

“This is just one step,” said Judge Moore. “We are still telling people to continue sending letters to Congressman Pat Fallon and other representatives.”

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Fannin County Commissioners Court voted to enter into a service contract with H&G Services for the HVAC system at the Fannin County Courthouse for an annual amount of $6,429.72.

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Fannin County Commissioners Court voted to transfer $115,000 from TexPool account to cash account and then transfer from cash account into Purchase of Equipment account for Precinct 3.

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Fannin County Commissioners Court voted to purchase a 2020 Chevrolet HD 3/4-ton pick-up from Blackland Motors for $46,067.02 for Precinct 3.

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Fannin County Commissioners Court voted to issue two invitations to bid via the competitively sealed bid process used for items costing more than $50,000; items to be bid are a dump truck for Precinct 3 and a motor grader for Precinct 1.

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Fannin County Commissioners Court voted to approve payment of bills.

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A discussion regarding moving in to the Fannin County Courthouse revealed that employees have moved in, but some work continues in both courtrooms.

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Fannin County Commissioners Court voted to approve and adopt the Fannin County Historic Courthouse Facility and Grounds Use Policy and reservation application.

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Fannin County Commissioners Court passed on an agenda item that would have set the new location of certain Fannin County Courts and Fannin County Commissioners Court.

This agenda item will be addressed next week.

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In public forum, Chris Wilson spoke in opposition to the wind farm project.

“This project is an economic disaster in my opinion,” remarked Mr. Wilson.

He said the proposed wind farm represents 20% of the county’s tax-bearing acreage and asked that the company receive no tax abatement.

Wanda Oliver said residents need specific answers regarding the proposed wind farm, such as what technology Cielo Wind Power plans to use, what noise level residents can expect, where Cielo Wind Power currently has similar projects located and how residents in those areas have been impacted.

Ms. Oliver said she doesn’t feel that the company is operating in an open and transparent fashion. She asked commissioners court to either petition a representative of Cielo Wind Power to come to Fannin County for a formal presentation, or send a delegation to Austin.

Fannin County Clerk Tammy Biggar explained that the Bonham ISD $53.6 million bond referendum resulted in a tie and that the deadline for 43 unaccounted-for mail-in ballots has passed. Eight ballots have defects, one of which has been addressed, and the remaining seven voters have until Friday at 5:00 p.m. to make appropriate corrections.