Commissioners reject Purchasing Forest Service Work Center

 GROVETON – After tabling the matter in January for additional review, Trinity County commissioners decided Monday not to purchase the old U.S. Forest Service Work Center site in Apple Springs.
Commissioners had been considering buying the 10-acre site and building complex for $130,000. It would be used to house the Precinct 4 Road and Bridge Department as well as to provide office space for both the Precinct 4 justice of the peace and constable offices.
However, during Monday’s meeting of the Trinity County Commissioners Court, they decided the county could not afford to make such a purchase at this time.
“It’s a nice site but I cannot afford to pay for it out of my road and bridge money,” Pct. 4 Commissioner Travis Forrest of Apple Springs said.
“I agree that if we do decide to buy it, we would have to help pay for it out of the general fund,” County Judge Mark Evans added.
Pct. 2 Commissioner Jannette Hortman of Trinity, who took office last month, said she was concerned that the site was just took expensive.
“The work center had been vacant for so long, we’re going to have to spend additional money to restore and remodel it,” Hortman said.
She added that during her inspection of the facility, she noticed that asbestos tiles had been used for the flooring and that the USFS had at one time stored chemicals on the site.
“That’s going to take some more money to clean up,” she said.

Trinity County had tried to purchase the site last year when the U.S. Forest Service put it up for bids. At that time, the county entered the minimum bid required by the USFS -- $130,000.
However, they were outbid by Britt Gibson, who lives near the site.
Gibson, the county’s DARE officer, subsequently said that had he known the county was interested in the site, he would not have bid. He then offered to sell the county the site for their bid of $130,000 but wanted to retain a small portion of the land located outside the fenced compound.
Forrest noted that when the county initially bid on the site, they thought that funding to pay for at least part of the purchase could be obtained through a special federal forest service account.
Now it appears that those federal dollars would not be available, the commissioner said.
Although commissioners took no formal action regarding the work center site purchase, commissioners all agreed the county could not afford the $130,000 price at this time.

Trinity sub-courthouse
In other building-related business, Evans reported that the purchase of the old Trinity County Appraisal District Building in Trinity is being finalized and that the county could soon begin relocating offices into the facility.
Commissioners voted in December to buy the building, located next door to the existing Trinity Sub-Courthouse, at a cost of $30,450.

Pct. 3 Justice of the Peace Bobby Nicholds of Trinity met with the commissioner to discuss the use of the new building and Evans asked the JP to work with Hortman to develop a design for the entire facility.
At present, both Nicholds and Pct. 2 JP Robert Stubblefield are scheduled to relocate their offices into the Appraisal District Building which would free up space in the existing sub-courthouse.
Evans said he feels one needed addition to the existing sub-courthouse would be public restroom facilities.
Nicholds added that both he and Stubblefield would like to use some of the space in the existing sub-courthouse for a small courtroom.
“I’d like Commissioner Hortman to act as our point person on this project and work with you on developing a schematic design (for both buildings),” Evans told Nicholds.
That design would then be presented to commissioners for final approval.

Other action
During the meeting, commissioners also:
• Voted to clarify a 1987 order regarding the collection of fees for the service of civil papers by constables and sheriff’s deputies. Under the clarification, the fees would be collected even if the officers were unable to successfully serve the papers. County Attorney Joe Bell noted that this is “fairly standard” throughout Texas but needed to be clarified under the old commissioners court order.

• Approved a request from Pct. 4 Constable Kent Blanchard to appoint David Ford and Brent Phillips as deputy constables.
• Approved the plat for a subdivision located in Precinct 1 off Camp Branch Road. The plat was filed by Reggie Land Co. for the development of 165.68 aces and included 18 lots ranging in size from one to 17 acres.
• Approved a resolution requested by the Deep East Texas Council of Governments dealing with the control of beavers and feral hogs in a 35-county area that includes Trinity County. The resolution asks the state legislature to appropriate $4.5 million to hire 20 wildlife specialists for two years and to obtain needed equipment.
• Approved $500 payments for the pauper funerals for Joyce Perez and Rose Hobbs.
• Authorized Evans and County Auditor Sheila Johnson to sign documents for the 2006 Texas Community Development Program Hurricane Rita Disaster Recovery Grant. Under the grant, the county was awarded $267,000 to purchase emergency generators to power rural water supply systems.
• Learned from Evans that while the federal government appears to be phasing out its current federal forest fund program for counties and school districts, it now appears that it will be extended through the 2008 fiscal year. The county currently receives about $300,000 per years under the program, which is used to help fund the road and bridge departments. Money under the program is designed to help offset the loss of tax income for counties and schools which contain large tracks of federal forest land, such as the Davy Crockett National Forest.

• Learned from Evans that efforts are now underway to convince the Texas legislature to fund a new round of courthouse renovation grants using money from the general fund. Two years ago, the grant program was approved but federal highway funds were allocated to the program. The federal highway administration subsequently ruled that those funds could not be spent for courthouse projects and the grant program has been on hold since.
“We are all ready to go with our restoration project,” Evans said. “If the legislature cooperates, we have an excellent chance to be funded on the first rattle out of the box.”
• Learned from Evans that the state has awarded Trinity County a $17,851 grant to fund a mosquito abatement education program. Evans said the Texas Department of Health officials suggested setting up some type of program through the Trinity County Extension Service.