Arissa Viering | Goodday Mineral Wells | 11/09/2020 | Palo Pinto County Court Updates
Palo Pinto County, TX – The Palo Pinto County Commissioner’s Court met on 11/09/2020. All members of the Palo Pinto County Commissioner’s Court were present and no public comments were brought forward. Important presentations were made in regards to the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone in Mineral Wells and the budgetary plan for the remaining allocations of the CARES Act funding.
Mineral Wells City Manager Randy Criswell and Economic Development Executive Director David Hawes were in attendance at Commissioner’s Court to review the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) amendment to the participation agreement and the most recent TIRZ extensions. David Hawes officially presented the amendment and current progress. Hawes explained, “not many increments increased in value in the last ten years . . . the extended area to the TIRZ, as approved by the Mineral Wells City Council, included mostly agricultural and long corridors with no water/sewer facilities.” Currently, the TIRZ Board is working to bring developers in and have them “pay for it and have them reimbursed.” Additionally, the TIRZ has been extended by 15% within the downtown area. In reference to the downtown area, Hawes stated the Board “cannot guarantee any increase at all.” Currently, one developer has purchased 100 acres. The importance of the TIRZ was reiterated to the court as well by Hawes: “This is critical for the county. With more rooftops and more commercial [properties], there will be more sales tax.” The TIRZ board has also presented these extensions to the Baker Hotel Group and shall be presenting the extension to the MWISD board.
“We are looking to improve your 100% participation. We crafted 50% so that you can enjoy the benefits now and then enjoy the future benefit when rooftops increase,” Hawes stated. “We did include many parks and recreation areas so that, if this really takes off, we can really beef up that for tourism,” Hawes stated.
Furthermore, both Criswell and Hawes reported that the TIRZ board is working on a contract to complete an Airport Corridor. “With the Mineral Wells Regional Airport, there are great benefits for Parker and Palo Pinto County to develop a good plan to stimulate the airport . . . This could be a really great development for the county. We are here today because the TIRZ board passed this project/finance plan and the city has agreed. We wish to amend.”
Criswell noted that the primary point of importance for the public to remember is that “as the property values increase, the property becomes worth more; that is the increment that is used. There is no risk for any of us who participates because we are going to receive those tax revenues anyway. We ultimately see further benefits without any risk at all.”
The Commissioner’s Court will further consider the TIRZ presentation and will make a decision on the amendment at the next Commissioner’s Court meeting.
The spending plan was presented for consideration for the CARES Act funding and included $20,000 for the use of contract inmate housing (some inmates currently being housed in Jack County at a cost of $10,000/month), $49,000 for a temperature screening kiosk at the courthouse, sheriff’s office, and in the Bank of America building and for PPE, $34,1314.06 for payroll expenses including the Sheriff staff at the detention office, and $148,048.52 for the use of new body-worn cameras and in-car video cameras so deputies may spend less time in the office uploading/downloading content. Altogether, these expenses would exhaust the remaining funds.
The total funding for the CARES Act allocated to Palo Pinto County was ~$1.6 million. The Treasury first allocated a lump sum to Texas, then distributed to the county and municipalities based upon population. Mineral Wells received approximately $920,000 and Gordon, Mingus, and Strawn all received an allotment as well. The county then received the leftover amount to allocate for the unincorporated areas, of which each entity received 20%. Moving forward, for the leftover 80%, the plan discussed in Commissioner’s Court today must be considered and reviewed.
Although Judge Long did present concerns initially for the Treasury Department denying any applications for CARES act funding reimbursement, Chief Dunn of Mineral Wells was able to explain the full six-step process during court. By following all steps within the process for reimbursement, it is shown that the county will not receive reimbursement until after approval by the Treasury Department has been granted. Chief Dunn reports that the city of Mineral Wells is well on its way to receiving reimbursement soon.
Following the presentation of the proposed CARES Act funding allocations, requests made by MWISD and Gordon ISD were presented. MWISD is currently requesting ten tables for the lunch period for the junior high and twenty-six tables for the high school to allow for social distancing. Gordon ISD is currently requesting chairs and tables as well including twenty-four cafeteria tables, six pre-k and kindergarten cafeteria tables, and 100 chairs and desks to allow for social distancing. Palo Pinto County has allocated funding in the past for all ISD’s in the county to utilize for necessary items to mitigate COVID. So far, the county has donated thousands of youth and adult masks and face shields, thousands of gallons of hand sanitizer, desk dividers, gloves, wipes, and thermometers to Gordon ISD, Graford ISD, Santo ISD, Palo PInto ISD, Santo ISD, MWISD, and Strawn ISD. The funding needed for the additional chairs and tables at both MWISD and Gordon ISD is over $72,000. With these requests presented, the County Commissioners have asked the budgetary plan for the remaining CARES Act funding to be redrawn to include these needs. The plan is due 11/13/2020 and will be reviewed prior to approval. Mrs. Crenshaw, Assistant Principal for Gordon ISD reported to the County Commissioners “we are busting at the seams in our Elementary classrooms,” after reiterating the need for additional seating for social distancing to the court.
Quotes for the repair of the Courthouse roof were considered by the County Commissioners. Neither quotes were under $50,000 and ultimately were approximately $50,700 including the following services: gutter clean-out and tree branch removal. After much discussion, the County Commissioners will advertise for further bids until their special session on 12/7/2020, at which point, the bids will be reviewed and awarded accordingly.
The following replats were approved by the Commissioner’s Court: 7-R Ranch Subdivision, The Hills Above Possum Kingdom Lake Subdivision, final replat of Lakeview Acres, and the final replat of Brazos Mountain Ranch Subdivision. The proposed budget for the continued Plat Review Services conducted by the County Engineer was approved. The road permit from Lake Palo Pinto Area for N. Lakeview Dr. was also approved.
United Cooperative will be expanding fiber optics along state highways as well after approval was granted from the County Commissioners today. United Cooperative has already contact TxDOT for permission to run the fiber optics along power poles as well.
The Dempsey overhead fund was approved and is to include a new door and chairs. No action was taken on the Lame Duck Limit. Accounts payable budget and court minutes were approved.
The burn ban shall remain off.
The full Commissioner’s Court session can be watched below:
The full agenda can be downloaded below. This article shall be updated as necessary to reflect the happenings during court.
Former Co-Founder | June 2020-Nov 2020 | Graduate of Texas Christian University with a background in medical anthropology, psychology, and creative writing. Passionate about writing novels. Loved the Mineral Wells community and all that it had offered her and her family.
