Polk County News - Breakout

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Members of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas performed several cultural dances as part of a tribal historical presentation, including the grand entry, the round dance which is also known as the friendship dance and the hoop dance which represents the circle of life, during the November meeting of the Deep East Texas Council of Governments held Tuesday at the Alabama-Coushatta Multi-Purpose Center. Photo by Emily Banks Wooten

By Emily Banks Wooten
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The commissioner of the Texas General Land Office (GLO), Dawn Buckingham, M.D., was the featured speaker for the November meeting of the Deep East Texas Council of Governments (DETCOG) and the highlight was Buckingham’s presentation of over $100 million dollars of funds to various cities and counties within the 11-county DETCOG region.

Community Development Block Grant Mitigation funding is administered by the GLO and will be used for a variety of projects to mitigate the impact of future disasters including hurricanes and floods. More than $161 million in mitigation funds were allocated to Deep East Texas following Hurricane Harvey.

Through a method of distribution developed by DETCOG and approved by the GLO, two-thirds of the mitigation funding is going to local jurisdictions, including seven counties, 14 citie4s and the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas, giving each community the ability to implement mitigation projects that meet its own unique needs. One-third is going toward regional projects to improve broadband and interoperable public safety communications.

The City of Onalaska was awarded $679,000 for street improvements. The City of Livingston was awarded $2,541,000 for street improvements. The City of Corrigan was awarded $561,000 for water storage rehabilitation. Polk County was awarded $15,510,000 for water facilities, street and drainage systems improvements. Polk County was also awarded $1,588,000 for road and water control systems improvements at three plants.

“The Texas General Land Office is proud to help communities grow knowing that the projects we fund will help protect local infrastructure, businesses and the homes of those who live here,” Buckingham said.

“Federal funds can be complicated to administer, but the GLO is helping communities across Texas cut red tape and turn funds promised into projects delivered. These projects were prioritized at the local level by those who live in the communities that will ultimately benefit from the improvements. We are in Deep East Texas because we care about this region and want to help move these projects forward for the benefit of these communities,” Buckingham said.

With November being Native American Heritage Month, it was only appropriate that DETCOG’s monthly meeting be held at the multi-purpose center of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas.

Members of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas performed several cultural dances for the crowd as part of a tribal historical presentation, including the grand entry, the round dance which is also known as the friendship dance and the hoop dance which represents the circle of life.

Welcoming the DETCOG members and representatives to Polk County were Polk County Judge Sydney Murphy; County Commissioners Guylene Robertson, Mark Dubose, Milt Purvis and Jerry Cassity; Livingston Mayor Judy Cochran; Alabama-Coushatta Chief Kanicu Mikko Choba Donnis B. Battise; and Alabama-Coushatta Tribal Council Chairman Ricky Sylestine.

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St. Joe’s Council 9564 and Bishop Bernard J. Ganfer Assembly 2816 of Livingston recently contributed $1,000 to G.R.A.C.E. Pregnancy Outreach Center in Livingston. The center has extensive repairs required after heavy storms damaged half of the center totaling $60,000 in damages. G.R.A.C.E. Pregnancy Outreach Center covers the following 12 counties: Angelina, Brazoria, Hardin, Harris, Liberty, Lubbock, Montgomery, Polk, Rusk, San Jacinto, Trinity and Tyler counties. To offer assistance, contact the center at 936-327-8440 or go online to https://gracepo.com/donate/. Back row (l-r) Michelle Rose, Dewayne Coburn, Tonya Carter, Mike Wolinski and Dave Lambrix. Front row (l-r) Larry Johnson, Jared Jernigan, Katelyn Napier, Karen Coburn and Edward Arrich. Courtesy photo

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The Royal Brigade band received an award for their recent appearance on a news station. COURTESY PHOTO

From Enterprise Staff

The Livingston band was awarded and updates on emergency management and construction were given at November’s Livingston ISD Board of Trustees meeting Monday.

Chuck Kramer and Jason Haden with Kramer Autoplex opened the meeting by presenting the Livingston Royal Brigade with the Chevy Spotlight Award. The band was recently spotlighted during a news segment on KHOU Channel 11, Inside High School Sports. Band director Emily Albert and assistant directors Jesse Albert, Daniel Munson, and Candice Cozart, along with members of band leadership accepted the award.

Dr. Brent Hawkins reported on the district logistics of the emergency management plan. The superintendent said he was proud of how district employees reacted to the recent shelter in place due to a chemical fire in Shepherd.

“When districts go into a lockdown, hold, or shelter in place, it inherently makes the job of the staff in that building exponentially more difficult. There are things that have to continue and go on, but there are also additional duties and responsibilities that go above and beyond the regular school day. I appreciate the outcome that we had in the chemical fire, and that outcome is because a team pulled together and executed the emergency management plan. Lana Smith is our director who is responsible for ensuring the plan is of quality by meeting state compliance, that our stakeholders are communicated the plan via training, and that it is practiced.

“The plan includes best practices put out by the Texas School Safety Center, but Lana Smith ensures that the plan works for us here in Livingston. Mrs. (Jennifer) Birdwell and the communications department disperse information on the website and communicate it to our stakeholders. I sent an email to the district and gave appreciation to the Polk County Emergency Management staff. If there wasn’t clear communication between the county emergency staff and the LISD staff, we simply would not be successful.  Our staff act as loco parentis, which means “in place of parents,” and they do not take that responsibility lightly in these situations. They treat the students as their own children. That’s what public servants do, as evidenced by such emergencies as Sandy Hook.”

Hawkins said there are contingency plans for everything imaginable, including evacuation of the facilities. If the chemical fire had dictated different circumstances, the district would have had to evacuate 4,060 students and 600 employees.

“This would, in essence, be an evacuation of the entire city the size of Livingston, which doesn’t happen without proper planning, training and practice. We continue to train with the hopes that it never happens, but we are ready. Our families have been through several emergency scenarios, and they are to be applauded as the vast majority understand the language and terminology involved in these situations. We execute the plan based on each unique situation and the facts that we have. We have an inordinate number of parents who are doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing. I want to assure the community that the staff is protecting their children. During these situations, it is crucial that we continue the successful implementation of our plans or chaos develops. For example, if 4,000 people call into our phone lines, we do not have 4,000 phone lines to receive that many calls. Another example would be when we go into a “hold” or a “shelter in place,” no one can come into or exit the building, as this could put someone in danger and, at minimum, distract staff from focusing on their job at hand. Our staff continues to show leadership at every level of our organization during these times, and I’m thankful we have good people in our district who can be depended on.”

Board member Mandi Pipes said, “I wanted to reiterate how well all of our staff did, that our leadership was excellent, and everyone did a fantastic job. I know the teachers are in the classrooms with students a lot longer than normal.”

Hawkins later gave the board a construction update on the new football stadium.

“Our facility committee met, and Mrs. (Lisa) Pearson has enacted the survey. The geostudy signed off on Wednesday. The board facility committee discussed the pre-schematic design with the architect. We anticipate the schematic design will be at the January meeting. We will need to approve a timeline and a timeline with the construction manager at risk and will go out for bids and bring back a guaranteed price in late spring. This facility will be something the students and our whole community will be proud of. It has been a long time since the district has had this opportunity. We have seen districts even close to us have bonds that fail or districts that have bonds that pass for athletic purposes, and we haven’t had to go down either of those roads. The 2015 tax ratification election set the district up for a sound financial future, and since that time, the school boards have all operated fiscally conservatively to make this happen. My best description is that this is a miracle of school finance in the pines, as you just do not see districts fortunate enough to operate and make these moves without raising taxes.”

Included in approved items under the consent agenda were the purchase of transfinder bus software for $91,822, campus and district plans, and a budget amendment.

The board approved casting 834 votes each for Mike Nettles and Dan Ellis for the Polk County Appraisal District Board of Directors. The remaining 96 votes were split, distributing 32 votes each to Pam Pierce, James Arnett, and Tom Curran. 

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By Emily Banks Wooten
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The Polk County Commissioners Court approved requests for capital purchases to be paid from the general fund balance and included on the fiscal year 2024 reimbursement resolution for the year-end issuance of legally authorized debt during its regular meeting Tuesday. Both requests were for software and service agreements with Tyler Technologies. One is for land and vital records software for the county clerk’s office in the amount of $37,500 annually and one-time fees in the amount of $65,000 and the other is for enterprise justice module for the county court at law in the amount of $4,100 annually and one-time fees in the amount of $15,200. While the annual costs have been factored into the budget, the one-time fees will be financed.

The Court also approved requests from the Office of Emergency Management for software purchase agreements. One is a software license agreement with ARRO for real-time personnel and equipment tracking during emergencies in the amount of $3,000 annually and the other is a master services agreement with Veoci for virtual emergency operations center software in the amount of $10,395 annually. Both of these items have been factored into the budget.

Replacement of the roof at county-owned property located at 321 N. Beatty Ave. and paying for it from the fund balance was approved. “The maintenance department has been battling leaks and we knew those leaks were there when we bought it,” County Judge Sydney Murphy said.

Although the Court was slated to canvass the Nov. 7 election results, the item was deleted from Tuesday’s agenda and will be considered during a special called meeting at 2 p.m. Friday.

Murphy apprised the Court that Angelina College is no longer under contact with the Polk County Higher Education & Technology Foundation for the Polk County College-Commerce Center and that the foundation is going to sublease a portion of the facility to Lamar. She added that signage on the building will need to be changed and bids sought for some renovation and landscaping projects but that the foundation has agreed to participate in the cost.

The Court cast ballots for the election of the Polk Central Appraisal District Board of Directors for the 2024-2025 term. Polk County has 1,804 votes so the Court opted to give 834 to the county’s representative, Polk County Tax Assessor-Collector Steven Hullihen; 280 to Tom Curran, Onalaska ISD’s representative; 453 to Paul David Evans, Corrigan-Camden ISD’s representative; 120 to Pam Pierce; and 119 to Mike Nettles.

Action regarding the request to the Texas Department of Transportation for surplus materials was approved, with $23,446 being the amount allocated to Polk County.

The Court approved the purchase of two vehicles for Precinct 4 Road & Bridge, utilizing Precinct 4’s remaining available American Rescue Plan Act funds in the amount of $34,297.93 and the Precinct 4 fund balance.

Regarding Magnolia Creek Ranch located in Precinct 2, the Court approved releasing the developer from the construction bond requirement and also approved the plat.

Action regarding the Langford contract for wildfire defense grant administration was approved.

The Court heard a proposal from representatives of Republic Services regarding the citizen collection stations, specifically, modification of the hours of operation and a request for changes. However, action on the matter was tabled until more information may be received.

In personnel matters, the Court approved personnel action form requests submitted by department heads since the last meeting and approved an update to the personnel management system.

Fiscal year 2023 and fiscal year 2024 budget revisions and amendments as presented by the county auditor’s office were approved.

The Court approved a proclamation recognizing Nov. 12-18 as Polk County Recycles Week.

Items on the consent agenda included:

Approval of the minutes of the Oct. 24 and Nov. 1 meetings;

Approval of the schedules of bills;

Approval of an order designating surplus property;

Receipt of and recording personnel action forms submitted by elected officials since the last meeting;

Approval of total loss offer for 2013 Chevrolet Tahoe;

Approval of total loss offer for 2011 Crown Victoria;

Approval of the Lower Trinity Groundwater Conservation District request for the appointment of John Sexton as presiding officer for the term of Jan. 1, 2024 through Dec. 31, 2026 and Scott Saxe as a board member for the partial term of Jan. 1, 2024 through Dec. 31, 2024;

Approval of a one-year maintenance agreement with Chester Moore and Sons for the animal control center septic system;

Approval of payment in the amount of $5,394 to Texas Department of Criminal Justice Manufacture and Logistics Division for the repair of six stainless steel toilet fixtures at the IAH Secure Adult Detention Facility to be reimbursed by the operator (Management Training Corporation);

Ratifying an offer from a property owner for the donation of a right of way along Darden Road as related to the bridge replacement at Bluff Creek in Precinct 4;

Approval of the purchase of rights of way along Kennedy Road and Carmona Road as related to the off-system bridge replacement at Piney Creek and tributary of McManus Creek in Precinct 3;

Approval of a resolution designating County Judge Sydney Murphy as the authorized signatory for USDA-FS-2023-CWDG-SGSF Program;

Approval of a revised order authorizing and assigning space in county-owned buildings; and

Approval of a request from Precinct 1 Constable Scott Hughes for an asset forfeiture expenditure of seized property in the amount of $1,266.97 for furnished transportation.

Chris Borden of First Assembly of God opened the meeting with prayer.