Commissioners appoint ESD #4 board

Submitted by Willspoint1 on

By David Kapitan

Staff Writer

 

The Van Zandt County Commissioners Court met in regular session on Tuesday morning, greenlighting the appointment of board members for the soon to be established Emergency Services District #4 and spending extended discussion on a request made by M. Lee Thornton to donate labor and funds to repair a stretch of County Roads 3105 and 3109 located in Precinct 3.

Business opened with two housekeeping items, the approval of minutes from the previous meeting and the payment of bills, before Ronnie Jones addressed the commissioners court during the agenda item designated for public comment.

Jones opened by requesting that commissioners move the public comments portion of the agenda to the end of meetings to allow citizens to weigh in or ask questions without waiting for the next meeting to have their voices heard.

He then shifted focus to voice a concern most recently brought up at the court’s June 9 meeting regarding the budgeting and spending of funds designated for capital murder trials. Jones stated, “The question is, where is that money being spent, because every time ya’ll talk up there it’s ‘We have no money, we have no money, we have no money.’”

ESD #4, which was approved by voters in and around the Wills Point area during the May election cycle by a 321-249 margin, continued to take shape with commissioners giving their seal of approval to a five person board to oversee the ESDs operations and finances. 

County Judge Don Kirkpatrick announced that commissioners had received seven applications from community members, including Roger Bridges, Chuck Allen, Becky Monning, Larry Byford, Chuck Jennings, Jr., Joe Arnold and Kenneth Byrd, interested in serving on the inaugural ESD #4 board.

Kirkpatrick noted that whomever was appointed would serve until January 1, 2016. At that point, the commissioners court would designate three ESD board members to two-year terms, and two ESD board members to one-year terms to help stagger the terms.

 

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