Newly elected tax assessor-collector takes office May 1
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County Judge Sydney Murphy administered the oath of office to Tatum White, the newly elected county tax assessor-collector, following the Polk County Commissioners Court meeting Tuesday. White will take office effective May 1. Photo by Emily Banks Wooten
By Emily Banks Wooten
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Results of the March 5, 2024 Democratic and Republican Parties’ Primary Elections were received by the Polk County Commissioners Court during its regular meeting Tuesday, allowing the Court to approve the appointment of Tatum White to fill the unexpired term for Polk County tax assessor-collector, effective May 1.
The Court received and took no action on the fiscal year 2025 budget adopted by the Polk Central Appraisal District on March 28. The budget reflects a 12.56% increase over the previous year.
An updated agreement with Michael D. Matthews II, attorney at law, for legal advice and representation was approved.
The Court took action on the emergency management request for proposals (RFP 2024.16) to procure a contractor to update the Polk County Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan, approving Langford Community Management Services.
An agreement with Goodwin Lasiter & Strong to provide professional engineering services for the FEMA Hazard Mitigation DR-4485 Grant Program administered by Texas Department of Emergency Management was approved.
The Precinct 2 Road and Bridge purchase of a 2023 Freightliner with oil distributor from Houston Freightliner with a five-year term and net capitalized cost of $268,916 was approved.
The Court approved amending the agreement with Komatsu for courthouse architecture services to include site utility relocation and building interior electrical/fire protection/plumbing network.
Termination of the agreement between Arro and Emergency Management was approved. Multiple delays and other issues led to termination of the program that was supposed to track expenses and time during disaster response.
The Court approved, upon conditions met, the Green Pines Subdivision application, located in Precinct 4.
Offers to purchase the following tax foreclosure properties were approved – Cause No. T12-004, Lot 25 of Allen Woods in Precinct 2 and Cause No. T22-0080, Abst 1097 of Tract 2 of E. Clements Survey in Precinct 3.
In personnel matters, the Court approved a personnel management system update to add deputy investigator and intern positions for the district attorney’s office, reviewed personnel action form requests submitted since the last meeting and seven authorized emergency hires – three at the jail, three at the sheriff’s office and one at the district attorney’s office.
The Court also approved a request to pay out equivalent comp and FLSA comp hours earned by jail and telecommunications staff as of March 24, 2024, as requested by Sheriff Byron Lyons, utilizing available funds from the sheriff and jail salary line items.
Fiscal year 2024 budget revisions and amendments, as presented by the county auditor’s office, were approved.
The Court approved payment to Sam Houston Electric Cooperative (SHECO) in the amount of $35,566.80 for power to the interoperable communications tower in Precinct 3, to be funded by the American Rescue Plan Act. Precinct 3 Commissioner Milt Purvis abstained from the vote as he sits on the Board of Directors of SHECO.
During informational reports, the 2023 annual report from the Piney Woods Lakes Texas Chapter Master Naturalists for the Gazebo Nature Preserve at the Lake Livingston Dam was presented.
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Five proclamations were presented by the Court – one recognizing the 101st birthday of Ellis James “Willie” Williamson, one declaring April 14-20 as Public Safety Telecommunications Week in Polk County, one declaring April 21-27 as Crime Victims’ Rights Week in Polk County, one declaring April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month and one declaring April as Child Abuse Prevention Month.
Items on the consent agenda included:
• Approval of the minutes of the March 26 regular meeting;
• Approval of the schedules of bills;
• Approval of an order designating surplus property;
• Approval of a county constitutional court confidentiality policy and agreement;
• Approval of a sheriff’s office request to purchase physical fitness equipment;
• Approval of lease agreements with Texas Document Solutions for addition and replacement of printer/copier machines;
• Approval of an amendment to Lexis Nexis agreement for the district attorney’s office, extending the agreement to April 30, 2025; and
• Approval of the use of $3,639 from information technology capital outlay repair/replace IT equipment (budgeted funds) for the replacement of wireless access points throughout county buildings.
Dennis Hodge with Wildwood Gospel Church opened the meeting with prayer.
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