The Gray County Commissioners Court meet for a regularly scheduled meeting Wednesdsay, March 1. Among the items discussed was the potential sale of a 10 Kilowatt transformer to Moore County. Gray County has two currently, and Moore County has ordered a replacement for a transformer that burned up. Although one has been ordered, Moore is unsure if it will arrive in time and if so will store it as a backup. The court approved the sell of one transformer at fair market value to Moore county. Item 1, ‘Pay Bills As Approved by the County Auditor’ was approved with the exepence of ARPA funds towards the GCSO Watch Guard project, Constable laptop replacement and equipment for HVFD, with a remaining budget left for HVFD all items listed were approved. For items 2 and 3, there were no line-item transfers or budget amendments. Item 4, ‘Consider Proposal from the Justice of the Peace Precinct 2&4 for File Maintenance and Archiving. JP Connie Ogle was in attendance for the meeting to discuss the matter. The JP and Juvenile Probation office has two rooms of files that are needing to be securely archived as well as to be discarded in an appropirate manner.
“I have reached out to DSS out of Amarillo for document shredding, they have a method of doing so that it is very secure,” Ogle said. “The court house has used them before so they are an established company with the court house, but they aren’t cheap.”
The job would cost roughly 9 to 10 thousand dollars, but it isn’t money that Ogle or her office have available. Commissioner Arrington raised the question of if these files were needed to be kept, followed by Commissioner Baggerman asking if this project could be postponed until the next budget is set.
“These are files we have to keep, and maintain securely,” Ogle said. “DSS will scan everything in a secure manner and then dispose of everything correctly. When it comes to these sensitive documents, we want to make sure that we are getting the job done correctly.”
The court postponed the item to take under consideration the best solution to solving the problem. In the meantime, County Judge Chris Porter is going to reach out to surrounding county judges to see how they handle these matters within the guidelines of the budget.
“I want to do this in the best way possible,” Porter said. “Finding a solution is of importance and something that matters.”
Item 6 was a matter already agreed upon by Sheriff Michael Ryan for the ‘cooperative law enforcement agreement between Gray County and the USDA Forest Service.’ The court approved the matter as a minsterial act as it was matter already set in motion by the sheriff.
Also discussed was line item 7, ‘Consider Transfer of Lots 39 and 40 of the Perry Lefors Airport to Stephen E. Martin from John Hawley’ APPROVED. The court approved the previous meetings presentation of an updated burn ban order for Gray County. While Gray County is not actively in a burn ban, the ban order needed to be updated and was approved by the court. Item 5, ‘Consider Enrollment with TAC for Cyber Security Training for All Employees with Access to Internet and Data Systems’ was approved.
The final item, Item 9, ‘Consider Approval of Expenditure of ARPA Funds for Purchase of Fuel Trailer Compressor for Lefors VFD. As the department has remaining funds to be used, this motion falls within their budget and was approved by the court.
The next Gray County Commissioner’s Court meeting will be held in the second floor court room on March 15th, starting at 9 am.
