[0:02] All right, good morning again everybody.
Welcome to Hardin County Commissioner's
[0:05] Court. Today is Tuesday, September 8th,
2026. It is 10:00 a.m. and we're here
[0:09] for our regular meeting.
All members of the court are present and
[0:12] this meeting is called to order.
Everyone will please rise for the
[0:14] invocation and pledge delivered by
Commissioner Young.
[0:19] » Lord, I want to thank you for today and
all of your many blessings. Thank you
[0:22] for the much-needed rain.
Keep your hand of protection over our
[0:26] law enforcement and all first
responders. Keep us in your will and be
[0:29] with us as we conduct the business of
the county. In Jesus' name we pray.
[0:33] Amen.
>> Amen.
[0:35] » I pledge allegiance
>> to the flag of the United States of
[0:39] America and to the republic for which it
stands, one nation under God,
[0:45] indivisible, with liberty and justice
for all.
[0:49] » Thank you, Commissioner.
[0:54] Item number three, consider and possibly
approve the August 25th, 2026 regular
[0:59] meeting and the September 1st, 2026
special meeting minutes as presented by
[1:03] the honorable County Executive and
County Clerk.
[1:05] » So moved.
>> Second.
[1:07] » Motion by Commissioner Young, second by
Commissioner Stokes. Any discussion?
[1:11] All in favor?
>> Aye.
[1:13] » Any opposed?
Motion passes. Thank you, Ms. Beck.
[1:16] » You're welcome.
>> Number four, consider and approval of
[1:19] request to cancel all registered claims
from August 26th, 2026 and approval of
[1:23] today's cash statement, both presented
by the honorable Angie Smith, County
[1:27] Treasurer. Good morning, Ms. Smith.
>> Good morning.
[1:30] I'm asking the court to release me of
the liability of $1,866,185.38
[1:38] and to cancel the vouchers related to
this matter.
[1:41] These are the vouchers or the county
bills and payroll related expenses that
[1:44] were presented and approved at
Commissioner's Court meeting held on
[1:47] August the 26th.
For the cash report summary, general
[1:52] checking account as of September the 3rd
had $290,038.68.
[1:59] First Financial Bank General Checking
Special Money Market account had
[2:04] $25,570,259.58.
[2:09] The Tax Pool General account had
$379,127.29
[2:16] for a grand total of $26,239,425.55.
[2:24] » That's reported as paid.
Motion by Commissioner Kirkendall,
[2:27] seconded by Commissioner Cooper. Any
discussion?
[2:30] All in favor? Aye.
Any opposed?
[2:33] Motion passes. Thank you, Ms. Smith.
Number five, authorization pay county
[2:37] bills as presented by Mrs. Candace
McKinney, County Auditor. Good morning,
[2:41] Mrs. McKinney.
>> Good morning. Pre-approved expenditures
[2:43] for August 26th was $1,345,750.12.
[2:49] Pre-approved expenditures for September
the 2nd through the 3rd were
[2:52] $665,091.50.
[2:55] Expenditures for today, September the
8th, are $477,157.50.
[3:02] For a total expenditure and transfer of
$2,487,998.67.
[3:09] Gross payroll for September 3rd was
$623,935.32.
[3:15] The total transfer for that payroll was
$766,845.30.
[3:21] » Move to pay bill.
>> Second.
[3:24] » Motion by Commissioner Kirkendall,
seconded by Commissioner Cooper. Any
[3:27] discussion?
All in favor? Aye.
[3:31] Any opposed?
Motion passes. Thank you, Ms. McKinney.
[3:35] Number six is to discuss and possible
discussion and possible action to
[3:39] approve and accept for filing in the
minutes of the court the district court
[3:42] orders establishing the compensation of
the County Auditor, Assistant County
[3:46] Auditors, and the official court
reporters of the 88th and the 356th
[3:50] Judicial District Courts for fiscal year
2027.
[3:54] We have the order that's been signed by
Judge Thomas
[3:57] and Judge Stover. And Judge Stover and
Ms. McKinney have both informed me that
[4:01] these are the rates included in the
proposed budget filed
[4:05] by me on August the 4th.
>> Second.
[4:08] » Have motion by Commissioner Kirkendall,
seconded by Commissioner Cook. Any
[4:11] discussion?
All in favor?
[4:14] » Aye.
>> Any opposed?
[4:16] Motion passes.
Number seven, consider and possibly set
[4:20] the salaries, expenses, and all other
allowances of elected county and
[4:23] precinct officers for fiscal year 2027.
And once again, these are the
[4:27] uh rates that are included in the
proposed budget filed August the 4th.
[4:31] » Second.
>> Second.
[4:32] » Motion by Commissioner Kirkendall,
seconded by Commissioner Cooper. Any
[4:35] discussion?
All in favor?
[4:38] » Aye.
>> Any opposed?
[4:40] Motion passes.
[4:44] Number eight, consider and possibly
ratify the property tax revenue increase
[4:49] reflected in the 2027 fiscal year 2027
Hardin County budget.
[4:53] And
[4:58] it shows that the 2026-2027
Hardin County budget will raise more
[5:02] revenue from property taxes than the
previous year's budget by an amount of
[5:05] $1,088,328,
which is a 4.254%
[5:10] increase from the previous year's
budget.
[5:13] The property tax revenue to be raised
from new property added to the tax roll
[5:16] this year is $1,533,744.
[5:21] » I move that we ratify the statement that
I just read.
[5:24] » Seconded by Commissioner Cooper.
>> Any discussion?
[5:28] All in favor?
>> Aye.
[5:30] » Any opposed?
Motion passes.
[5:33] Once again, I just want to say most of
that comes from the Black King Pipeline.
[5:37] New revenue into the next uh budget
year.
[5:41] Number nine, consider, discuss, and
possibly adopt the fiscal year 2027
[5:45] Hardin County budget. We had a public
hearing at 9:00 a.m. and uh
[5:49] I read over all of this thoroughly. I'm
going to brief briefly uh repeat it.
[5:53] And so, the amount of the uh total
budget for 2027 or fiscal year 2027 is
[5:59] $32,254,118.
[6:03] Of that, $26,403,382
would be from tax revenue.
[6:08] And is there any discussion regarding
that? We had no comments at all from
[6:12] the public during the public hearing,
but at this time, if anybody would like
[6:16] to make a comment, I'll open the floor
again.
[6:20] Hearing no comments, I'll entertain a uh
motion.
[6:22] » Uh move to approve.
>> Second.
[6:24] » A motion by Commissioner Kirkendall,
seconded by Commissioner Young. Any
[6:27] discussion?
This requires a record vote, so
[6:31] Commissioner Cooper.
>> Yes.
[6:32] » Commissioner Kirkendall.
>> Yes.
[6:34] » Commissioner Young.
>> Yes.
[6:36] » Commissioner Cook.
>> Yes.
[6:37] » And I vote yes. That's a
Uh the motion passes unanimously to
[6:43] adopt the fiscal year 2027 Hardin County
budget.
[6:47] Moving on to number 10, consider and
possibly approve an order to adopt the
[6:51] tax rate of 0.481223
per $100 valuation for the 2026 tax
[6:57] year.
The debt service rate tax rate is zero
[7:01] per $100 valuation, and that is because
the
[7:05] uh certificate of obligation was paid
off during this fiscal year for the
[7:08] annex.
And the maintenance and operation tax
[7:11] rate is 0.481223
per $100 valuation. And that breaks down
[7:16] as follows. The general fund
is 0.392078,
[7:21] the jury fund 0.015787,
and the road and bridge fund 0.073358.
[7:30] » Move to approve.
>> Second.
[7:31] » A motion by Commissioner Kirkendall,
seconded by Commissioner Cooper. Any
[7:34] discussion?
Commissioner Cook, your vote.
[7:38] » Yes.
>> Commissioner Young.
[7:40] » Yes.
>> Commissioner Kirkendall.
[7:41] » Yes.
>> Commissioner Cooper.
[7:43] » Yes.
>> And I vote yes. That's a unanimous vote
[7:45] in favor of the of adopting that tax
rate to fund the budget.
[7:51] And that is all regarding the budget and
the tax rate. Thanks very much to
[7:54] Candace, Steve Smith, Lisa, everybody
who worked hard to make sure that we put
[7:58] a budget together and of course all the
elected officials and department heads
[8:01] that worked together so well each year
to make sure that this is an easier
[8:05] process than it has been in the past.
Thank you all.
[8:08] Number 11, discussion and possible
action concerning adoption of fiscal
[8:12] year 2027 county payroll schedule as
requested by Ms. Smith.
[8:16] We have a payroll schedule here and Ms.
Smith, I know there's two items
[8:19] highlighted in yellow. Do you want to
talk about those?
[8:22] » Um yes, those two this is basically just
showing that the very first payroll of
[8:28] fiscal year 27 that would include the
wage increases would be on the October
[8:34] 15th payroll. Okay.
Uh because of the gap accrual
[8:38] accounting, we have the payroll period
from 9/13 through 9/26 would be accrued
[8:44] back into fiscal year 26.
And so therefore in order to have the 26
[8:50] pay periods that we should have,
we would have to the the pay would go
[8:54] into effect on October 15th. And this is
in line with what we did last year as
[8:58] well.
>> So October the 15th, that's when the
[9:01] raise is going into effect?
>> That is correct.
[9:04] » Candace, do you agree that's the right
statement?
[9:05] » Uh yes, sir. So um what was done last
year is we had the conversation of when
[9:10] those would go into effect and the
statement was made that uh
[9:15] whatever day is the pay period was that
had mostly October dates would be the
[9:20] date cuz we have some limitations on our
um
[9:23] in our software as far as uh splitting
rates. Um
[9:28] so that goes in line with what we did
last year.
[9:31] » And this is good paid every other
Thursday except two dates and that has
[9:34] to do with Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Those will be a Wednesday payday.
[9:37] » That's correct.
>> Did I cut you off, Candace, or are you
[9:39] done?
>> No, I'm done.
[9:41] » Okay, making sure. We're good then.
Have motion by Commissioner Kirkendall,
[9:44] seconded by Commissioner Young, any
discussion?
[9:47] All in favor.
>> Aye.
[9:49] » Any opposed?
Motion passes.
[9:52] Number 12, consider approval of request
by the Honorable Ernie Cook, County
[9:55] Commissioner, to enter into an agreement
with the Hardin County Youth Soccer
[9:58] Club, whereby the Soccer Club will
contribute or reimburse $1,800 to Hardin
[10:02] County for the use of the Hardin County
Veterans Park concession stand, soccer
[10:06] fields, normal utilities and supplies.
If approved, this agreement will be in
[10:10] effect from October 1st, 2026 through
September 30th, 2027.
[10:15] Mr. Cook,
>> Yes, sir.
[10:17] Uh no, there's no no new information to
add on this. This is something that
[10:21] we've done for the past uh numerous
years and and before I came into office.
[10:27] So, I'm ready to approve this.
>> Motion by Commissioner Cook, seconded by
[10:31] Commissioner Kirkendall, any discussion?
All in favor.
[10:34] » Aye.
>> Any opposed?
[10:36] Motion passes.
14, consider request by Chief Juvenile
[10:40] Probation Officer Monica Kelly to
authorize the County Judge to sign the
[10:43] Juvenile Justice Alternative Education
Program and Memorandum of Understanding
[10:47] for the school year 2026 through 2027.
Any changes or is just a renewal?
[10:53] » No changes.
[10:58] » So moved.
Have motion by Commissioner Cooper,
[11:01] seconded by Commissioner Young, any
discussion?
[11:04] All in favor.
>> Aye.
[11:06] » Any opposed?
Motion passes. Thank you.
[11:09] Let's go back to 13 since I skipped it.
Consider approval of request from Mrs.
[11:13] Latasha Jones, Health Department
Director, to authorize the County Judge
[11:16] to execute a renewal agreement with LIT
Beaumont Nursing Program. Um
[11:21] Mrs. Holmes couldn't be here this
morning, but she told me this is just a
[11:24] renewal and this allows the LIT
uh students going through the nursing
[11:28] program to come here and shadow uh the
nurses here at the Health Services
[11:32] Department.
>> So, moved
[11:34] » Motion by Commissioner Cook, seconded by
Commissioner Young. Any discussion?
[11:39] All in favor?
>> Aye.
[11:40] » Any opposed?
Motion passes.
[11:44] Now, 15. Consider approval of request by
Mrs. Misty Sams, Purchasing Agent, to
[11:48] present results of bids received for
overlaying approximately 1,120 ft by 18
[11:52] ft of Beasley Drive, located in Precinct
4, and possibly award to successful
[11:57] vendor. Good morning, Mrs. Sams.
>> Good morning.
[12:00] Bids were opened on August 20th, 2026 at
2:00 p.m. in the Purchasing Department.
[12:04] Stacy Ecker and Pat Boyer were present.
We received two bids. CMM Construction
[12:10] at $5 a square yard,
and Construction Managers of Southeast
[12:13] Texas for $7 a square yard.
>> Commissioner, uh, Cook.
[12:19] » Yes, sir.
Uh, while I hate to
[12:23] pay that that much, I know it's gotten
become very expensive the last year or
[12:27] so to have a piece of
road overlaid, but I move to approve.
[12:33] » Second.
>> Motion by Commissioner Cook, seconded by
[12:35] Commissioner Cooper. Any discussion?
All in favor?
[12:39] » Aye.
>> Any opposed?
[12:41] Motion passes. Thank you.
16. Consider approval of request by
[12:45] Melinda Harrington, Human Resources
Director, to authorize the County Judge
[12:48] to sign the 2026-2027
renewal notice and benefit confirmation
[12:54] for health, dental, vision, and life
insurance rates offered by the Texas
[12:56] Association of Counties Health and
Employees Benefits Pool, and the
[13:00] 2026-2027
Healthy County County Specific
[13:03] Initiative Program Participation
Agreement.
[13:07] Uh, Mrs. Harrington informed me this
morning the information that was sent
[13:09] originally that was attached to the, uh,
link on the agenda. There's been a
[13:14] slight change in that, and I don't think
it changes any rates, but it has a few
[13:18] changes that I think you're going to
talk about here before we, uh, go any
[13:20] further.
>> Yes, the only thing that was, um, TAC
[13:23] had made a mistake on was our renewal
options. They give us, uh, three
[13:26] different options per plan each year.
And whenever I was um reviewing
[13:31] everything, I noticed that they they
weren't correct. And so, I had sent an
[13:35] email out to the um
um this doesn't affect the renewal rates
[13:38] or anything.
So, um
[13:41] I mean
>> Belinda discovered a mistake about a
[13:44] week and a half ago, brought it to their
attention. It took them some time, but
[13:46] they got it fixed. So, uh we received
all the new documentation earlier this
[13:50] morning. That'll that'll be uploaded to
the agenda and emailed out to y'all so
[13:53] you have it.
[13:56] » And these are the rates that were
approved in court, correct?
[13:59] » Yes, sir.
>> So,
[14:01] » Is it included in the budget?
>> Motion by Commissioner Young, seconded
[14:04] by Commissioner Purkendal. Any
discussion?
[14:07] All in favor?
>> Aye.
[14:09] » Any opposed?
Motion passes.
[14:11] » Thank you.
>> Number 17, consider and possibly
[14:14] authorize the county judge to apply to
the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts
[14:18] for the fiscal year 2017 Rural Ambulance
Services Grant Program in support of
[14:21] Hardin County Emergency Services
District 5.
[14:24] An amount of $350,000 for the purchase
of an ambulance, including necessary
[14:28] accessories and modifications.
Uh we had a meeting back in January, if
[14:32] I recall. And uh we had decided at that
time to support ESD 2 with the
[14:37] application for this year fiscal year.
And then we would uh support ESD 5 for
[14:43] the next fiscal year, which uh is the
reason we have ESD 5 as the uh
[14:47] grantee, I guess it is what we'll call
them. And I think it's taking what, 18
[14:51] months or more to get an ambulance now.
So, we're supporting them this year, but
[14:54] they won't get the the ambulance
probably till the next fiscal year.
[14:57] » Move to approve.
>> Second.
[14:59] » Motion by Commissioner Cook, seconded by
Commissioner Cooper. Any discussion?
[15:04] All in favor?
>> Aye.
[15:05] » Any opposed?
Motion passes. Just to uh
[15:09] just to kind of uh tell y'all the one we
uh supported ESD 2, got that grant money
[15:15] in, I think sometime in February, and
they won't get the ambulance until
[15:18] probably January 2028. So, that money
will just have to sit in the account
[15:22] till comes in and then then we'll
pay for it, go through the process of
[15:27] getting an MOU entered to uh make sure
that it becomes that's their ambulance.
[15:31] They'll insure it and all that kind of
stuff. There is a difference there. If I
[15:34] remember right, it's around $40,000. ESD
2 will pay that difference.
[15:40] Item number 18, discussion on any other
non-agenda item without taking action
[15:43] including announcements which may be of
interest to the public. Uh one big
[15:47] announcement is today is Aaron Tupper's
birthday, so happy
[15:50] » Birthday, Aaron.
[15:52] » 39, is that right?
>> Yes, or somewhere in there.
[15:55] » Somewhere in there.
>> 44.
[15:58] » That's not bad, either.
Uh
[16:01] next we had a little storm last week and
uh that was that board. It was not
[16:04] supposed to have much effects, but it
had lots of effects on Hardin County.
[16:08] So, just want to remind everybody that
had any damages to their house or their
[16:12] car, uh even fences or anything like
that, please enter that information into
[16:16] the TDEM iSTAT. That's uh can be found
on the uh Hardin County Emergency
[16:20] Management Facebook page and on mine.
Please go in there and enter your
[16:24] information. Uh we do have some
volunteer organizations volunteer
[16:27] organizations active in disaster. They
are in Hardin County now.
[16:31] And Aaron and I have a meeting with one
of them at 11:00. And that information
[16:35] that comes through the state is filtered
down to each county and we take that
[16:39] data and provide it to them and they do
reach out to each of those locations.
[16:42] They go by there and look at the
damages. If there's anything they can do
[16:45] to help, they're doing that.
Unfortunately, a power outage which
[16:48] caused lots of people to lose their
food, that is not covered by any type of
[16:53] uh
volunteer programs, but it may be
[16:55] covered by your insurance. So, check
with your insurance agent to see if
[16:58] they'll cover that. It may or may not.
Uh I know back during Rita, everybody's
[17:02] insurance covered it, but nowadays
everybody's don't. So, check with your
[17:05] insurance agent and uh talk to them
about it. They may cover that.
[17:09] Uh I did issue a disaster declaration uh
probably during the middle of the storm.
[17:13] There's no governor's day uh declaration
as of this moment and is is there one
[17:17] coming, or do we know, or are they still
working on assessments?
[17:22] So, uh Chief Rail, of course, uh
provided quite a bit of assistance
[17:25] through TDEM. We also had offers of
assistance from Jefferson County, uh
[17:28] Commissioner Erickson.
And
[17:31] Representative Holt reached out to me
numerous times during and after the uh
[17:35] event. So did uh Representative Ashby
and Senator Nichols, and uh
[17:41] Congressman Babin.
Senator Cruz's uh assistant was here in
[17:45] the EOC with us. We didn't really have
our EOC stood up, but makeshift EOC, we
[17:49] had that going Friday. He stopped by for
about an hour and visited with us, made
[17:52] sure we were okay. We sure appreciate
all of the uh assistance that we had and
[17:56] the offers of assistance that we had.
>> And Judge uh Commissioner Marks from
[18:00] Jefferson County reached out to me and
offered assistance as well, too. Yes,
[18:03] sir. Appreciate our neighbors.
>> Judge uh
[18:06] Sylvia in Chambers County, all the
county judges locally had reached out to
[18:09] me and offered to come do anything that
we wanted. Of course, all I told them
[18:12] was we wanted the power back on.
Energy stepped up and did a great job.
[18:17] Uh
communication is not like it used to be,
[18:19] and that is nobody's fault here locally.
That stems from uh corporate-level
[18:23] communication. But as far as getting the
power back on, I think they did great.
[18:27] So, uh
anybody want to add anything to to
[18:30] anything regarding the storm?
>> So, we're still picking up trees from
[18:34] the roadways uh that fell
across the roads. Uh that's today, and
[18:39] we're uh grading all the dirt roads and
roadways starting today.
[18:42] » Glad you brought that up, cuz I meant to
say the county is not big enough to pick
[18:45] up any debris from uh like we have in
the past. If there's a uh presidential
[18:49] declaration and we get FEMA assistance
to pick up debris, we initiate a debris
[18:53] contract, which is several million
dollars to go pick up debris. You also
[18:57] have to monitor the debris,
dump it at a site, and it's got to be
[19:00] carried from there and disposed of
properly. There's a whole process for
[19:03] debris pick up.
And it's millions of dollars to do it,
[19:06] and the county does not have the money
to go pick up debris. If we don't get a
[19:10] uh the assistance or federal assistance,
we can't pick up debris. So, I know that
[19:14] I got beat up pretty bad for saying we
can't pick up debris, but we're not. And
[19:18] then other cities are in Hardin County
either to my knowledge. I've talked to a
[19:20] few of them. And they're not picking up
debris inside the cities either. If any
[19:24] of them change that and tell me they
are, I'll let you know, but
[19:28] uh we're not picking up debris.
So,
[19:31] if you set in the middle of the road or
in the county right-of-way, it's not
[19:34] being picked up. All right. Some of them
did say they were going to set set it in
[19:36] the middle of the road, and if they do,
we're going to call the sheriff and
[19:39] handle it that way cuz that is a crime
to do that. I don't think anybody will
[19:42] do it, but
you never know.
[19:45] Anything else regarding the storm?
Aaron, did I miss anything?
[19:49] » No, sir.
>> Sheriff, your guys came out and did a
[19:51] lot of work during the uh
before, during, and after of the storm,
[19:55] and we really appreciate all the
assistance there. And I'll tell you
[19:58] something you always do when we have a
storm is you send uh Captain uh Sanford
[20:02] to work with us, and that is always a
big help as well. He's very
[20:04] knowledgeable and has a lot of
experience with uh
[20:08] rising waters and things like that, and
we appreciate that very much.
[20:12] » Representative Hope said that she
expected that if that uh Governor Abbott
[20:16] was going to claim a disaster, he would
have done it by now.
[20:18] » Yeah, that's kind of what we see as
well.
[20:22] I did ask you to pick up the debris, and
I got a no.
[20:25] I expected that. Didn't hurt to ask.
>> It never hurts to ask.
[20:29] » All right, any other announcements which
may be of interest to the public or any
[20:31] discussion items?
Sheriff?
[20:34] » Can you Can you go back to number 11?
Cuz I'm going to be asked as soon as I
[20:38] get back to my office, when will the
employees see the new rate, which
[20:42] paycheck?
>> Angel?
[20:43] » Top 10 of 15.
>> The 15th paycheck? Okay.
[20:48] » Good deal.
And that is the same way we did it last
[20:51] year, I think? The year before, right?
>> It's We did it this way last year.
[20:55] » Okay.
>> The year before, we it was going into
[20:58] effect the first payroll cycle, but
really and truly those days were
[21:03] like you were accruing a new adopted
budget rate back into a previous fiscal
[21:08] year.
>> All right. And so it was the numbers
[21:11] were off.
>> It always causes problems with the
[21:14] audit. That we had to
enable.
[21:18] Uh one other question that's probably
going to be asked is longevity pay. And
[21:21] so the plan on that is to take action on
longevity pay at our first meeting in
[21:25] October,
which is October the 13th.
[21:30] So October the 13th we'll take action on
longevity pay. It's budgeted.
[21:33] Everybody's going to get longevity pay,
but they will not get it
[21:36] their first paycheck in October the way
we had done in previous years. We're
[21:40] going to pay it in a lump sum, at least
that is the plan.
[21:43] And uh on October the 13th we'll take
action as to what date that's going to
[21:47] be paid. Engine and I've had some brief
discussion about that and talked about
[21:50] paying it sometime in November, but that
law come to court and action will be
[21:54] taken then. We can't take action on a
budget that we're not we're not in that
[21:57] budget year yet, but we will take action
at our first meeting in October.
[22:02] Any other questions about the budget or
any other discussion regarding anything
[22:06] that's not on the agenda?
[22:10] All right, we'll go to that last line
item.
[22:12] Move to adjourn.
Have motion by Commissioner Cook,
[22:16] seconded by Commissioner Kirkendall to
adjourn. All in favor,
[22:20] we are adjourned.