The Terry County Commissioners Court met Monday morning Feb. 13, 2023, in a regularly scheduled meeting, and on the agenda were the monthly reports, contracts, and buying new equipment. After the invocation, pledges, approval of previous meeting minutes, and public comment, of which there was none, the court went into the rest of the meeting’s agenda items.
First, the Court reviewed and paid county bills. Next, the Court would review and consider taking appropriate action to accept the Interlocal Agreement between Lubbock County and Terry County for the housing of Lubbock County inmates. According to the agreement the per diem rate for detention services under the agreement is sixty-five dollars ($65.00) per man-day. This rate covers one inmate per day. Any portion of any day shall count as a man-day under this Agreement, except that Lubbock County will not be billed for two days when an inmate is admitted one evening and removed the following morning. In that situation, Terry County will bill for the day of arrival, but not for the day of departure. This interlocal agreement has been in place for several years and is renewed annually. The Court approved the agreement.
The Court moved on to review and consider the approval of monthly reports from the different offices in Terry County. According to the Justice of the Peace Judge Angie Garza, the office brought in a total of $34,097.06 in the month of January 2023. For monetary transactions, there was $4,164.70 in cash, $4,006.66 in checks, $3,587.90 in money orders, and $21,587.80 in direct deposits. There was $750.00 in jail credit.
For the Sheriff’s Dept. there were 138 calls, 15 were emergency, 121 were non-emergency, and 2 were misdialed. There were 11 offenses with eight cleared. Reported offenses were one of each theft of property over/$750 under/$2500, criminal mischief, assault causing bodily injury, burglary of a building, theft of property over /$2,500 under/ $30K, criminal trespass, striking a fixture on the highway, striking unattended vehicle, and public intoxication. There were two offenses of bail jumping. There were 22 warrants received and five served with one returned making 16 outstanding warrants.
The Court moved to the next item of business which was to approve the purchase of a 2019 Caterpillar 420F2 BHL with a purchase price of $81,000. The county decided to trade in a 1987 Caterpillar D6H with a trade value of $34,500.00. The final cost for the 2019 machine would be $46,500.00. There was not much debate on the item. The court voted 3-1 to purchase the 2019 Caterpillar with the trade agreement. Commissioners Richard Cavazos, Ernesto Elizardo, and County Judge Serbantez voted to approve the purchase. Commissioner Martin Lefevere voted no to the item. The Court then made a budget amendment to cover the cost and was approved 3-1 with the same vote from the purchase.
The Court went into executive session, however, no action was taken. The meeting consisted of Commissioners Cavazos, Lefevere, Elizardo, Judge Serbantez, County Clerk Kim Carter, and County Auditor Sabrina Bandy. Commissioner Mike Swain was not present.
