Commissioners approve new hours for County Clerk

Submitted by Cameron1 on

Precinct 4 Constable Giles Summerlin was honored during the Dec. 26 Milam County Commissioners Court meeting by County Judge David Barkemeyer. Summerlin is retiring after 20-plus years in service to the county.

By Lindsey Vaculin

General Manager 

 

The Milam County Clerk’s Office will remain open during the lunch hour beginning in January.

The Milam County Commissioners approved the new hours, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., during its meeting on Dec. 26.

According to County Clerk Barbara Vansa the office will be open for the convenience of the public. The new hours will begin Jan. 3.

Commissioners also approved the purchase of two tractors, one front-end loader and two shredders for Precinct 2.

Precinct 2 Commissioner Donald Shuffield said the purchase is due to safety for his employees and to work on shredding and brush cutting.

“We had two close calls with the shredder almost turning over because of washouts and you couldn’t see it because of the grass,” he said. “I look at it as safety for these guys. The shredder has a wing that lays down.”

Shuffield said that the main call he got from his constituents this year was about shredding and this will help with that. The cost will be around $36,000 annually for four years.

The court also approved meeting dates for 2017. They will remain the second and fourth Monday at 10 a.m. They also appointed Precinct 4 Commissioner Jeff Muegge as Judge Pro-Tem for the year.

Commissioners also approved the external auditor account recommendations from the audit by Pattillo, Brown and Hill, L.L.P.

County Judge David Barkemeyer said commissioners held a workshop session with all department heads earlier this month and went through all of the accounts that were questioned and made decisions on how those would be handled. You can find the complete audit on the Milam County website at milamcounty.net.

Barkemeyer also commented that the county only had a $73,000 shortfall in 2016. He said that was a whole lot better than the $800,000 that county officials thought would be short earlier in the year. The county will take that money from the taxes collected for 2017.

In other action the commissioner also:

• Approved R&B bids for asphalt and other materials for 2017

• Acknowledged the certificate of attendance for County Clerk to the Annual Vital Statistics Conference

• Acknowledged the 2016 Five Star Award awarded to the Milam County Clerk

• Approved a resolution opposing re:SearchTX to keep county records available to the public through the County Clerk’s Office instead of statewide through the internet

• Recognized retiring Precinct 4 Constable Giles Summerlin for his 20-plus years of service to the county