GROVETON – Although not officially committing themselves to the plan, county commissioners promised Monday they would seriously consider creating a new department to help oversee the clean up of abandoned or hazardous property in rural subdivisions.
During the public forum portion of Monday’s Trinity County Commissioners Court meeting, Lakewood at Livingston subdivision resident Carl Dyer once again raised the issue of subdivision clean-up and received strong encouragement from county officials.
Dyer had appeared during the commissioners’ April meeting to raise the issue and at that time commissioners asked County Attorney Joe W. Bell to research the matter to see what the county could do under state law.
On Monday, Bell told commissioners that if they had a full-time environmental officer to handle the situation, the county could take greater action – including using county equipment to clean up subdivision lots that posed a danger to health and safety.
“To do this, we will need a full-time, salaried employee to oversee and operate the nuisance abatement program,” Bell told commissioners.
Dyer said he had been working with a coalition of four Lake Livingston area subdivisions on the problem and he would be glad to volunteer to take on the job for free or $1 per year.
Bell said a volunteer many not meet the requirements of state law and suggested the county check with other counties of similar population size to find out how they are handling the problem.
“We’re right on the verge of working on the budget for next year,” County Judge Mark Evans added. “This might be something we might want to include – an environmental officer.”
Evans said such a person could also be assigned the task of investigating and arranging the clean-up of illegal dumping sites along county roads.
“In addition to helping the subdivisions, an environmental officer also would be able to help you with the trash being dumped in your precincts,” Evans told the commissioners.
He said they should be able to come up with the funds to create what would essentially be a new county department when they put together the fiscal year 2010 budget this summer. That budget will go into effect on Oct. 1.
Evans noted there should be more than enough work to keep an environmental officer busy.
Dyer agreed, noting that in Lakewood at Livingston alone, 46 of the current 216 property owners appear to be in violation of the state’s nuisance laws.
He noted that similar situations exist in Port Adventure, Harbor Point and White Rock Estates subdivisions and the property owners associations at all four developments have been working to correct the situation.
“We need your help and we will work with you on this problem,” he said.
He added that he also would like the county to help get abandoned property back on the tax roles. He noted that in many cases, no property taxes had been collected on some of the lots for 10 to 15 years but they have been allowed to sit and become eyesores.
“The county and the schools need to take action and do something to get these lots in the hands of someone who will pay the taxes and hopefully take care of the property,” he said.

Courthouse work set to begin
During the meeting, commissioners also formally approved a $4.7 million performance bond submitted by the J.C. Stoddard Construction Co.
The company was the winning bidder for the county courthouse renovation project.
Project Architect Michael Gaertner of Galveston told commissioners Monday the contractor was ready to start but was awaiting word from the county that they had removed all of their files and other items from the building.
As of last week, both the county clerk and district clerk still had old filed stored on the courthouse’s third floor.
During Monday’s meeting, County Clerk Diane McCrory said she had removed the last of her files – some dating back to the 1890s – and that District Clerk Cheryl Cartwright also was completing her move.
The county departments had already moved out of the building into temporary offices located across Highway 287 from the Trinity County Jail. Monday’s commissioners’ court meeting was the first to be held in the new location.
Construction is expected to take at least 14 months and will include the restoration of both the inside and outside of the building as well as the installation of an elevator and central air/heat systems and the replacement of the electrical system and plumbing.
Evans told commissioners that he expects the contractor will begin work by June 1.
In related action, the commissioners designated the front of the jail as the location for sheriff’s sales during the renovation of the courthouse.
Normally, such sales are held the first Tuesday of each month on the front steps of the courthouse but due to construction, that location will not be available for the next 14 months.
Bell said that under state law, they have to give a 90-day notice of the change so it will not become effective until Aug. 10.
“In the meantime, we’ll just have to have the sale as close as we can get to the front steps of the courthouse,” Bell said.

Other business
During the meeting, commissioners also:
• Held a closed session with Bell to discuss possible litigation involving property owned by Ruby Bierman and Oscar Bierman on the Moore Cemetery Road. No action was taken by commissioners following the meeting.
• Accepted a bid of $292,800 from Timberline Constructors, Inc. of Lufkin for the construction and restoration of the Kickapoo Park Recreation Area located off Highway 298 east of Groveton. The project is being financed using special funds issued to the county by the U.S. Forest Service. Because the park area is on USFS property, Evans said a meeting with U.S. forest officials, the contractor and county officials will be held in the next few days to finalize the project.
• Voted to name KSA as the engineering firm who will work with the county on the $1.7 million2008 Supplemental Disaster Recovery Fund. The grant money is designed to fix things that were damaged or that did not work during Hurricane Ike this past September. Among the projects being considered will be upgrading the Trinity County VFW Post in Trinity and the Groveton Community Center as shelter facilities; providing electrical generators to the county’s three senior citizens centers; upgrading the Apple Springs and 356 volunteer fire department stations so they can serve as point of delivery (POD) sites for the distribution of water and food during future emergencies; and providing additional emergency generator assistance to rural water supply companies.
• Authorized both the Trinity Rural and Glendale water supply corporations to extend or replace water lines along county road right-of-ways.
• Approved a consignment agreement with Trinity Auction Gallery and authorized the company to handle the sale of a number of items being removed from the courthouse which have been declared as surplus. Items to be sold include window blinds, new light fixtures, ceiling fans, window air conditioning units, bathroom fixtures, a ceramic space heater, benches and podium from the commissioners courtroom and some of the interior doors.
• Approved an agreement with Angelina County to use their juvenile detention center.  According to Jean LeBlanc, director of the juvenile probation department, the juvenile center in Montgomery County is their primary facility and they use the Angelina County site as a backup.
• Scheduled a hearing for 9 a.m. on June 8 on setting a 25 mile per hour speed limit on the Groveton-Flat Prairie Road from FM 2187 to Highway 297.
• Reappointed Bell as the county’s representative on the Deep East Texas Council of Government’s board of directors.