Jasper County Commissioners Court 6/16/25

The Jasper County Commissioners Court met on Monday, June 16th, 2025 in a Regular Session and covered several agenda items:

First the Court heard from the District Clerk Rosa Norsworthy, who presented her monthly civil and criminal fee reports, which the Court approved.

Next, the Court voted to loan the clock mechanism from the original 1889 County Courthouse clock tower to the Jasper County Historical Museum for safekeeping and public display.  The parts of the original clock mechanism, believed to have been removed from the tower in the 1950’s, were pieced back together in a joint venture between the Jasper County Historical Commission, Tod Lawlis of the Historical Museum, Officer Stormy Dorthy of the County Judge’s Office and inmates on loan from the Sheriff’s Office.

The Historical Commission and Museum researched the history of the Courthouse and the clock mechanism, and this significant research is now on display along with the clock mechanism for the public to view.

Next, the Court heard from Sheriff Chuck Havard who provided the monthly Jail report advising that Jasper County had invoiced a total of $56,710.00 for housing inmates from Liberty, Newton and Tyler Counties, as well as the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas in the month of May, 2025.

In other law enforcement business, the Court accepted a donation of several portable Automated External Defibrillator (A.E.D.) devices from the Jasper Hospital District to be transported in individual Deputy Sheriff patrol vehicles for use in critical medical situations when EMS is not immediately available.

Next, Sheriff Havard requested that the Court pay off the accrued compensatory overtime for all employees within the Sheriff’s Office for the previous six-month period.  The Court approved the request to pay off the full amount of overtime from the Prisoner Reimbursement Fund totaling $89,852.05.  The Prisoner Reimbursement Fund is derived from housing inmates from other jurisdictions.

Following this, the Court addressed a request made by the Sheriff’s Office to transfer the county-funded administrative clerk position located at the Jasper Department of Public Safety Office over to their budget in the FY2026 budget cycle.

The Court heard from Sheriff Chuck Havard and Chief Deputy Larry Pulliam, along with Sergeant Scott Folmar from DPS, before voting to authorize the move which would be effective January 1, 2026.

The Court noted that Newton County paid in approximately $6,000.00 a year toward the salary of the secretary and that Jasper County paid the vast majority of the remainder of the position’s salary and benefits and advised Sheriff Havard that Newton County would retain their funding in 2026.  Sheriff Havard advised that he would offset the difference in FY2026 by utilizing Prisoner Reimbursement funding.

Sheriff Havard advised that the secretary position would be primarily posted out of the Buna SubCourthouse in the south end of Jasper County and would provide administrative support to law enforcement officers in that area, as well as on the north end.  Sheriff Havard assured the Court and Sergeant Folmar that the employee working in this current position would continue to be employed and that he would allow her to assist DPS as needed until a state-funded secretary could be hired at a later date.

Sheriff Havard then addressed the Court regarding recent law enforcement staff losses and his need to maintain a level of working Deputies until the Angelina College Police Academy class currently underway in Jasper is allowed to graduate in October of this year.  Sheriff Havard advised he planned to ask the remaining 16 Law Enforcement Division Officers to guarantee him a year at the minimum to continue working if the Court would authorize a one-time $6,000.00 merit-based bonus payment per officer for employee retention.

Sheriff Havard further advised that he believed he had enough in his salary budget due to existing employee shortages, but that he would use Prisoner Reimbursement funding to offset any additional shortfalls.  The Court then voted to authorize the one-time $6,000.00 payment per Deputy for FY2025 to assist with employee retention, which totaled $122,572.80.

Concluding law enforcement matters, the Court heard from three members of the community who had concerns regarding the growing number of cases of dogs being dumped in the rural areas of Jasper County.  The Court noted that several years ago, with the assistance of Mr. Joe Lanier of the Jasper Lakes Area Humane Society, an agreement had been made with the City of Jasper, whereby Jasper County paid approximately $17,000.00 per year to allow rural Jasper County citizens to drop off stray dogs and cats at the newly constructed animal shelter.  The Court noted that in recent years, the City of Jasper had been unable to keep up with the large number of animals inside and outside the city and had ceased taking stray animals from rural citizens.

The Court noted that most of the surrounding counties, including those larger than Jasper County, did not have a county-operated shelter, but that it would be willing to work with the city once again to assist with housing strays depending on kennel availability and cost.

After a lengthy discussion of options available, Sheriff Havard advised that he research the issue and the possibility of utilizing a portion of the approximately 1.5 acres beside the Sheriff’s Office that the Commissioners Court had acquired a few years ago for a small-scale emergency animal shelter, noting that a large portion of that land was already dedicated to the construction of the new 440 feet tall radio tower project currently underway.

In grant related matters, the Court voted to accept bids received for road improvement projects on county roads in Commissioner Precincts 2 and 3 under the Texas General Land Office Community Development Block Grant program.  After a brief discussion, the grant contract award was given to Elite Contractors & Equipment, located south of the City of Kirbyville for all of the road projects, including a large project on County Road 317 in the amount of $2,137,252.00.

Next, under the same grant program, the Court accepted bids received for the construction of a Resource Center project located in the Homer Community in Precinct 1.  The winning bidder on this grant project was Construction Managers of Southeast Texas (CMOST) out of Lufkin, Texas in the amount of $1,346,691.00.

Concluding grant matters, the Court considered a change order request on the current Kirbyville Water Tower project under the same grant program, which actually resulted in a cost reduction of $211,786.11.  This grant project is already underway and is being facilitated by Pittsburg Tank & Tower out of Henderson, Kentucky and is the result of a partnership between Jasper County and the City of Kirbyville utilizing grant funds obtained by Jasper County.

In other business, the Court approved the revision of a plat of the Rayburn Reserve Subdivision off the Sam Rayburn Parkway to allow for a modification of Lot 19 to allow for the Brookeland Freshwater Supply District to properly establish a water well site on the plat.

Next, the Court voted to renew Jasper County’s employee healthcare plan with the Texas Association of Counties for the upcoming year.

In other Texas Association of Counties matters, County Treasurer Rene’ Ellis advised that Jasper County had been awarded the TAC Safety Award for 2023 and 2024 for promoting employee safety in the work environment.

Mrs. Ellis then provided her monthly Treasurer’s Report which the Court approved, and the Court then conducted workshops on the current FY2025 and the upcoming FY2026 budgets.

Concluding business, the Court voted to approve resolutions designating the month of June, 2025 as Family Reunification Month and also as Elderly Abuse Awareness Month in Jasper County.  Tristan Addington and Alisha Bean of the Loula Foundation, as well as Investigators from Adult Protective Services were one hand to receive the resolutions.

That covers it for this Court meeting.  As always, feel free to give me a call if you need anything my way.  Have great week and may God continue to bless you, your family and Jasper County.

Mark Allen, County Judge

Jasper County, Texas