September 6, 2024 - The Shelby County Commissioners discussed the renovation of the second floor community room into a Commissioners' Courtroom and expenses that have far exceeded the original bid on the project during their meeting held Wednesday, August 28, 2024.
“I want to start this all by taking full blame or any overages or anything. I suppose every day I should have called and said, ‘hey, is this going to be over? Are we going to be over budget,’ and I did not, and I apologize for that,” said Judge Allison Harbison. “I did not realize that we were that far over budget.”
Judge Harbison reiterated that a useless space has now been transformed into a permanent Commissioners’ Courtroom that can be used every Wednesday, as well as for our voir dire for district courts and offices for commissioners, and for a conference room, if county representatives ever need to have a meeting with their vendors or their employees.
“I just wanted to put that out there. So if we need to point fingers and put blame, lesson learned, I will call and make sure every week that we're within budget, but he did a great job. Like I said, he turned a useless space into one that's very useful now and I think that we will be proud of it in a month or two when we're in it and we're having court and we're not having to be switched around with the districts, we'll have our own court.”
Ann Blackwell, County Treasurer, confirmed for Commissioner Tom Bellmyer the original bid amount of $87,320 and the total expense was $104,928.34 making the overage $17,608.34.
As of the meeting, the final amount owed to Hagler Painting and Remodeling was $24,153.50.
Judge Harbison commented there have been other projects, such as at the Historic Courthouse, where Hagler has come in under budget and offered to do additional work within that budget.
Commissioner Tom Bellmyer stated it's a lesson learned and he recalled projects he had been involved in over the years where those involved in the project, such as engineers and inspectors, and they would review and debrief over the project.
“I think for me out of this, is that if we go into another contracting issue on some future work, is that we make sure that we have a change order process or at least talk about a change order process,” said Bellmyer.
Commissioner Roscoe McSwain agreed lessons have been learned and in the future additional expenses that would extend a project beyond its scope of work would need to come back before the court for approval for the protection of the county and for the vendor doing the work.
Commissioner Stevie Smith moved to approve the change order for the work being done on the second floor. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Bellmyer and it carried.
The commissioners considered the payment to Paul Hagler in the amount of $12,343.80 and Blackwell stated the final bill amount that had not yet been invoiced in the amount of $12,041.39.
Commissioner McSwain moved to add the two amounts and finalize payment. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Bellmyer and it carried.
The court planned to open sealed bids on Sheriff's Department vehicles; however, it was necessary to extend the bid process to 4pm September 3. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Bellmyer and it carried.
The Commissioners considered a request to possibly close County Road 4188.
“We've been working the last couple of weeks with county attorney to go through the process correctly, and because that piece of properties in an LLC, needed to get all the partners in the LLC and now we went through the process. Everyone signed off on it we had an agreement that I would come in and grade the road one last time for them before we took it out of service. We did that on Monday, we did add any material we just came and graded it in and out and cleaned it up,” said Commissioner Bellmyer.
Bellmyer said to his knowledge the county was set to officially take the road out of the system and that it’s utilized as a private road at this point.
“The owner of that property is an outfit called Pearl Peaks LLC. I've checked with the Secretary of State determined the only members are Mr. and Mrs. Trux. Those are the folks we've spoken to. I provided each of the commissioners and judge you with a copy of the agreement which consists of requests to close the county road,” said John Price, County Attorney.
Commissioner Bellmyer moved to close County Road 4188 and his motion was seconded by Commissioner Stevie Smith. The motion carried.
During the Commissioners’ Court information portion of the meeting, Judge Harbison informed the court the county has been awarded the CDBG grant on Rose Hill Road in Timpson. She said a kickoff meeting will be held in October.
“This is a joint project with a road that starts in the city of Timpson and ends up in [Commissioner Bellmyer’s] precinct,” said Judge Harbison.
Judge Harbison informed that Brazos Transit is beginning service in Shelby County one day a week and a one way trip is $3.50. Two-way is $7.
“It'll be up to the individual to call and set up these appointments and tell them where you live,” said Judge Harbison.
Commissioner Bellmyer expressed a desire to be present for the September 11 Patriot Day VFW program in front of the Historic Courthouse at 9am. Since it would conflict with the Commissioners’ Court meeting of that day, he asked if the court would consider adjusting the time.
“September the 11th is a Wednesday yes and September 11th is Patriots Day the VFW is going to have a memorial service at the courthouse at 9 o'clock I'm going to ask the court if we could at least consider it and discuss it next week that on September the 11th to delay Commissioner's Court until, say, 10:30, because I really want to go to that service,” said Commissioner Bellmyer.
The meeting was adjourned at 10:02am.
Agenda items approved during the meeting include: 1. Weekly expenses. 2. Payroll. 3. Change order to scope of work on the 2nd floor courtroom renovation. 4. Payment to Paul Hagler for 2nd floor courtroom renovation for additional work done relating to change order to scope of work on the second-floor renovation. 5. Extend bid opportunity for bids for Sheriff Office vehicles. 6. Close County Road 4188. 7. Designate Judge Allison Harbison and Commissioner Tom Bellmyer as members to represent Shelby County on the DETCOG Board of Directors. 8. Adjourn 10:02am.
