The Gray County commissioners court met on Monday morning for a special meeting as a pair of county contracts were set to expire.
The first was the County’s contract with West Techs, who services the county in heating and air conditioning.
The total spent on this contract the last two years is $42,231.75 and the County is contracted with them through 2020.
County judge Chris Porter’s issues with the contract is the amount spent on the contract versus the quality of service.
“We’ve got them coming in four times a year at $2,754 and what happens is they come in and they find stuff,” Porter said. “Then Wink (County’s maintenance supervisor) basically fights with them on whether or not we need to do that.”
Porter has had discussions about switching from West Techs to Larry Baker Plumbing.
“The real sticky thing here is the boilers,” Porter said. “They (West Techs) have been on our boilers constantly and tried to fix our No. 1 boiler. We’ve talked to Kyle (Parnell, Larry Baker Plumbing) when the bid went south on the chiller at Gray County Sheriff’s Office. I talked to Kyle about the boiler and he has a guy that just works on boilers.”
The Larry Baker Plumbing boiler specialist made a small repair on the County’s boiler and it has worked without issue since. Porter said that wasn’t the case with West Techs as they had multiple calls on it racking up a number of bills.
Larry Baker Plumbing being local and accessible within 24 hours of the call is also appealing to the County.
The commissioners also discussed options on ventilation throughout the courthouse in various offices while trying to keep every office at the staff’s optimal temperatures.
“This animal (the courthouse) is a challenge to keep everybody happy,” Porter said. “....You’ve got a day that starts off at 32 degrees, it’s cold. But if you turn the heaters on and get this place heated up and at noon it’s 70 degrees, now everyone is going, ‘Hey, I need the air conditioner.’”
The commissioners did move to allow Porter to break the contract with West Techs and to work with Larry Baker Plumbing.
The commissioners also voted to approve a contract for Federal Motor Carriers Safety Administration Clearing House for CDL drivers.
The contract brings the County up to compliance with federal mandates taking effect Jan. 1 where there are more data flowing regarding CDL holders.
Panhandle Employers, who handles the CDL data and testing for Gray County, is offering to handle the new mandates. The contract is $550 a year plus $14 each on queries for employees screening for a job.
The queries have to be done for any employee hired or currently employed by the County.
Commissioner Jeff Haley asked if this was a service that could be done in-house, to which treasurer Scott Hahn said maybe, but when dealing with the federal government, it could be too much.
“It scares me to death to be dealing with the federal government on anything,” Hahn said. “If you don’t cross every ‘t’ and dot every ‘i’ then there’s the risk they won’t just fine the business they’ll fine you individually.”
Hahn added Panhandle Employers is better-equipped to handle the CDL business.
Porter said outsourcing this task is probably what’s best for the County.
“I have made a call to two county judges and they are doing this,” Porter said. “Their idea is the liability of missing something like this is huge for whoever is taking care of it. For $550/year and whatever the queries cost, it’s cheap compared to us dropping the ball and having someone slipping through the cracks.”
The next Gray County commissioners court meeting will be Monday, Dec. 2 at 9 a.m.
