We
are ready. Good morning. Welcome to the Ramle County Commissioner's Court. It's now officially
in session. We're going to begin with the invocation with Commissioner Cooper. That will be followed
by the pledges of allegiance if you'll join us. Thank you. Thank you, George. Pray with me, please.
Heavenly Father, thank you for the blessing of this day. Thank you. Be with us in this meeting
today, Father, and guide us. We want to make decisions that are pleasing to you. Father,
thank you for the recent rain that we've had, and we know that you'll take care of us,
And Father, we're going to pray for more rain as this dry land needs it.
Father, we ask your special blessing too on the short family as they deal with this very, very difficult loss.
Father, thank you for our employees and thank you for our citizens and watch out for them, watch over them.
Father, we ask your special blessings on our first responders.
thank you for the job that you have allowed them to do. Be with them and keep them safe
as they keep us safe. Thank you for the many, many blessings that we enjoy. Because of you,
we ask these things in Christ's name. Amen.
Amen.
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for
which stands one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.
On the Texas flag, I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.
Thank you so much. And if you'll indulge me for a minute, I want to recognize a special guest
that we have here. It is Paulette Mahara and she is Commissioner Robinson's cousin.
But as we've all felt the need through the fires for philanthropy, that was Paulette's specialty.
She led the organization for the National Fundraisers.
And we kind of understand where Bob gets a little of his fundraising abilities through her leadership,
but we want to welcome her back.
I'm glad to have you here for Commissioner's Court.
Absolutely.
You bet.
Item number one.
Discuss and take action on approving the minutes of the May 26, 2026 meeting of the
Randall County Commissioner's Court.
Has everyone had time to review the minutes?
Yes, Judge.
Yes.
Is there any questions or changes?
Carrying none.
Is there a motion?
I will approve.
I'll second.
The motion is second.
All in favor, please raise your hand and say aye.
Aye.
The motion carries 5-0.
Item number two.
Discuss and take action on approving an order prohibiting outdoor fires in Randall
County, Texas.
Good morning, Chief.
Good morning.
As much as we got blessed, it wasn't everywhere they got blessed.
No, it wasn't everywhere.
So, you know, we watched the KVDI for a lot of the burn bank stuff.
And on May 26th, as the highest it was, the average was 615.
The maximum across the county or spots of the county was 675 and the minimum of 519.
So as of the 7th, our average is 498, our max is 612, and our minimum is 375, and in just
one day it climbed five points.
So we're grinding back out again, but with the green up, we've got the herbaceous green
up.
We still have some very susceptible fuels that can burn, but I'm going to ask the Commissioner's
court to table this until maybe next next commissioners court keep people keep an eye on it and see how
we're going to proceed um however if we can get rain or if it's going to keep drying out with these
hundred hundred degree days in the wind it's going to dry out pretty quick but I think right now we're
in a we're in a very good spot where people can get us when burning done to try to burn them so
I think we'd I guess for those of us with PTSD from the fires I wouldn't that's the first
someone I've ever thought about going, no, right? So I do know that there is things
out there that they need to attend to. And so we want them to do it at the best
possible time and not as we approach all these hundred degree days that are in
our future for the next month and then get into our fireworks time. So any
questions, any comments? Table of this, we're just continuing the fire ban.
No. The fire ban has expired and somebody is going to ask the table to order to put it back into place.
If I set that down.
It has to hit a certain measure for us to be able to place a fire ban on.
And we're just currently not at the Keach and Bynum drought index to ask for that.
Everybody should know that we will have 101 and multiple 100-degree days that
have already been forecast for the next two weeks. So choose wisely and make sure
that it's not a windy day. That's part of our, you know, the GCQ burning
regulations if you can't start a fire in the earlier than one hour before
sunrise and it has to be completed and completely out one hour before
sunset and it has to be attended at all times and at the wind speed is greater
than 23 miles an hour if you're not you're not burning I mean that's that's
state administrative code you know so and then on our website go to Randall
County website on the fire page there is a guideline for outdoor burnings it
tells you what you can burn what you can't burn different things like that
Anybody wants to look at that?
I have questions that can always reach out to Dieter there at the park station.
Any other questions or comments?
I have a question. So even after the rain you mentioned, and as little as a 24-hour period, it changed five points.
Can you put that in context? I mean how, I mean obviously five points is a lot in a day, but...
So they can take grass samples and they put them in the curing oven to see how much moisture is left in them and everything and so that's
Wherever they took that grass sample from
That it changed
It had five whatever their point scale is on their moisture percentage
It changed five points in that in a day. So so would it be safe to assume?
You know in a week of 90 degree 100 degree temperatures. It could change
25 points in a week?
I mean, is that 30 points on my card?
So historically, we've seen changes of 5, 10, 15.
And the greatest we've seen has been 25 to 30 points.
And then, so when we got to rain, it dropped 45 points
two days after the large rain.
So it can dry out very fast and it'll,
yes, it can cloud.
And that's the one reason I'd like to table it,
and look at it before the 4th of July to see what we're going to look like.
Okay.
And the Texas A&M Forest Service is the one that provides that service and they go out
and they go to different quadrants, they take random samples and then we get a county overall
average.
But just because in one area it doesn't meet the metric doesn't mean that another
portion of the county is not extraordinarily dry, that may not have received the rain
and they need to be mindful of that.
So what number does it have to be at? Help me understand that.
575 is the recommended number from the Texas A&M Forest Service.
And that's when they start putting the alert out and increasing staffing and stuff like that.
And our number now, do you go by the average number, which is 498?
Go by the average number.
So, our average is 498. We do have pockets in the county that's at 612, but so we're,
we try to be mindful of that, but we try to be.
So, our next meeting is the 23rd, and we could, I mean, if we were to work our way by the 23rd,
we could put the burn button back on.
And then, of course, you'd have that next number.
Yes.
So, we figure out every day at about 10 a.m.
How can you find that?
Go to Texas Interagency.
It's open to the public, I guess.
Yes. Under predictive services, you can go underneath Grout and then the KVDI.
The counting average is a little algorithm that you can click on.
Does it show all the count?
It shows every county and state of Texas.
All right. Thank you.
Good questions. Is there a motion to table?
A motion that we table this until June 23rd?
A second.
The motion is second. All in favor please raise your hand and say aye.
Thank you. I still want to tell you no.
Number three, discuss and take action
approving utility joint use agreement between Randall County and
Windstream Unity for underground communication lines starting at East
Sundown Lane and ending at FM 1151. Good morning, Tim. Good morning. Everybody's
still trying to get an high-speed internet, and this is another one coming
through. I originally talked to Daniel and I thought this was going to the AI
But that one is still ongoing.
That was still going out there.
They're doing a bunch of work.
So this one's supplying some lower in the area zone.
Any questions?
Nope.
All right.
I'll take a motion.
I move we approve.
We have a motion on second.
All in favor, please raise your hand and say aye.
Motion carries 5-0.
Thank you.
Thank you, Tim.
Number four, discuss and take action
for improving specifications for bid 2026, 451, 23, janitorial services.
Hey, Ricky, your favorite contract.
Good morning, yes.
Good morning.
Just like it says, this is for janitorial services.
The specifications call for various cleaning services provided to the accounting facilities.
And those are across several buildings.
The Justice Center, this building here, the finance building extension, the annex,
San Marillo Road and Bridge. And so our current contract expires at the end of July. So we're
looking to resolicit. We're at the end of the allotted renewal terms as well. So we're just looking
to seek proposals from interested vendors that supply these services. And with that,
once approved, the specification will be released on BeaconBid.com.
and some metals will be due back to the county on July 2nd and from there we can
start with vendors. Our current vendor is willing to work with us and even if we
need to a spin an additional monitor so depending on how long it takes to get
through the voting process and so we do have that leniency there from there
as well. We just have to have a force approval to approve the
specifications to be released. This will be for an initial one-year contract
contract, and then four optional renewals. Each of those renewals will require the board's
approval prior to executing that new contract term.
Right, and I have a question for you again. As you know, we're going to be doing some
additions to Justice Center, and this would happen mid-contract. Probably when it comes
online, have you – is that built in?
Those specifications aren't built into the contract. That's what the vendors
know that year in year two, possibly year three, that this additional square footage
They're just going to be containing X amount of offices, conference room, courtroom and
the suites that accompany that at the justice center and then with the recent DPS addition
there at the annex that would be included as well with the specification.
So they will be aware of those additions later on during the later years of the contract.
Okay, perfect.
Thank you.
Any questions?
No.
I think it's been a while since we sent out an RFP for this.
Are there any major changes?
It all looked pretty standard from.
It's pretty much what we currently have right now.
There's no major changes with the exceptions out of the building additions.
Right.
In a couple of years.
Okay.
All right.
Sir, a motion.
We approve.
I second.
I have a motion.
I second.
All in favor.
Please raise your hand and say aye.
Aye.
The motion carries 5-0.
Item number five.
Discuss and take action on improving the change order for the hot mix payment
overlay project. Just just like it says this is a change order. This is with
J. Lee Milligan on the hot mix project that's going on. This is this covers
several roads across the county. It's not just one centralized location. What
they did was they have changed various quantities for certain areas of the
road for the materials and then they you know lowered other quantities. So
So overall this change of order reflects a $102,827.02 reduction to the initial contract.
If approved that would bring the contract total down to from the $4.2 million down to $4,195,916.93.
You have to have the force approval before we can submit a final payment for this to
vendor and then we'll make sure that we get the signed change order to the vendor as well as high
flames engineers. And Tim that has to do with just so they get on site and the the width a little bit
here and there all adds up? Yes all that adds up. The main thing that happened was in the
contract we were supposed to do a concrete road in front of a truck stop at Casey's at 2219 and
layer of road, 2219 layer to 927 and with the ongoing traffic over there on 927
the way it's all you know cordoned off, we didn't want that to just be shut off
and that's what that would have had to have done. It would have shut that whole
road off to be able to do some of that when we cycled. We're not going to do that
and I think that was 178,000 for that part of it so we what we did was we
just went in there hot mixed all of it instead of concreting it and which we
were in there now in a day instead of a month or that would have been shut down
for a month and it was right at the end of school and so we decided to do it a
little bit different that was the main change that we're on that was 178,000.
Thank you. Any questions? No. No questions just appreciate everybody
keeping this tight as it's a moving target right? Move question. All right is
I move with approved.
I second.
We have a motion and a second.
All in favor, please raise your hand and say aye.
Aye.
Motion carries 5-0.
Thank you, Tim.
You're welcome.
Number six, Discuss and Take Action Improvement Items,
a surplus inventory, see your list.
So this item here, we just have to have the court's
approval to approve these items as surplus inventory
before we can formally get rid of them.
This is, these are just items that come across from the Sheriff's Office through their annual
payment glory.
We all know that that's undertaking every unit our office handles with all the departments.
This was provided from the Sheriff's Office and we just feel like we just need to do
some housekeeping in order to make sure we get all the approved items out of the
county in glory.
And if there's anything on, any insurance that if you need it, that would be great.
so we're not paying unnecessary improvements or anything to that nature.
If we just have to have the course approval to identify these as surplus before we can actually remove them from an employee.
All right. Any questions?
No, Judge.
No.
All right. Is there a motion?
I move we approve.
Second.
We have a motion and a second. All in favor, please.
Commissioner Botler was the one that made the motion.
Commissioner Robinson second.
Thank you.
Welcome.
All those in favor please raise your hand and say aye.
Motion carries 5-0.
Thank you.
Thank you, Ricky.
Number seven, discuss and take action approving cell phone services and allowances.
Good morning.
We have two employees from the fire department that are requesting a cell phone allowance,
and then one employee from Rodin Bridge that wants to discontinue their cell phone allowance
and receive a county cell phone instead.
Any questions on the cell phones?
No.
All right.
Is there a motion?
I believe we approve.
Second.
I have a motion.
Second.
All in favor, please raise your hand and say aye.
The motion carries 5-0.
Number 8, Discuss and Take Action,
Approving the Round of County Employees Request
to Attend the Meetings in this particular one.
Very small.
We have one out of the District Attorney's Office
in Canyon and another out of the District Attorney's
two from domestic relations to Houston, two from the fire to Waco, one from the
MAC to San Antonio, and two from the sheriff's office to Irving, Texas. Is there
any question on travel? No. Not hearing any, is there a motion to approve the
travel as presented? I move we approve. Second all in favor please raise your
hand and say aye. Motion carries 5-0.
Item number 9, the approval of the
vouchers. Rivenette, once again if you'd be kind enough. Yes. We have the 5,826 payroll
at $1,183,381.07, General Fund $1,792,436.17, Jury Fund $3,788, County Assistance District
District 1 fund, $52,915.94, COVID ARPA grant funds, $6,705.80, District Clerk Preservation
fund, $66.70, Law Library fund, $3,208.61, Tax Assessor, Collector Motor Vehicle, Inventory
Tax Fund, $88.36, Courthouse Security Fund, $16,918.46, Records Management Fund, $852.76,
County Clerks Records Management Fund, $6,043.43, JP-1 Technology Fund, $154.43, JP-4 Technology
Fund, $134.93, Elections Fund, $107.04, County Clerks Archive Fund, $4,030.11, and Pre-Trial
Diversion Fund, $54.34. Total All Funds, $3,070,886.15.
Thank you. Has everyone had time to review? Is there any questions? Is there a motion
on the vouchers?
I move we approve. Second. We have a motion and a second all in favor please raise your hand and say aye.
Aye. Motion carries.
The acceptance of the official report and as a short one this time it'll be a
long one next time. Randall County Autros Monthly Report, May of 2026. The Randall
County Clerks Monthly Report, May of 2026. And finally the Randall County Grant Writers Monthly
Report April of 2026. Any questions on the reports? Is there a motion?
I'm
I second.
You have to read.
All right.
That there is a motion and a second.
All in favor, please raise your hand and say aye.
Aye.
Motion carries 5-0.
This one, it brings us to the public comment period.
Anybody that's here within the room,
we'd love for you to come forward if you'd like to.
Make a public comment.
Good morning.
Will I stand?
Whatever you're comfortable with.
And if you don't mind, would you just tell
for the record your name?
All right.
I'll be happy to do that.
That's what I start with.
Good morning. Honorable Judge Dyer, County Commission members. My name is Katina McCloy
Lusby. I have a copy of these remarks to give to you if that helps. I live in
Canyon. I am a Texas native from Hansford County who finally saw the light a few
years ago and moved back to my home state after having lived my adult
working years in Texas, Hawaii, Colorado, Arkansas, and New Mexico. My
My husband and I chose Canyon because it offers most of the services and amenities we need.
Has university library and a museum, high school sports, and it's all wrapped up in
a charming small-time atmosphere.
My comments are in regard to the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum on the campus of
West Texas A&M University.
I represent no one but myself in my segments and I have no authority to speak for any
other entity. I understand that you as a commission usually deal with county roads and infrastructure
and drainage and taxation and contracts and bids, but I would ask that you as a body consider
passing a resolution, issuing a proclamation, or releasing some other instrument of support
for keeping the Panhandle Plains Historical Museum in the city of Canyon right where it's
out on the WT campus.
PPHM was the brainchild of early-day WT faculty
when it was still a teacher's college.
Both my grandmothers attended that school,
one in the very first decade of its existence.
Physical donations and financial support from this city,
the college itself, and the citizens of the entire region
got the museum off the ground.
Pioneer Hall was the first building
and was built like a fortress, apparently.
and as a state antiquities landmark is protected from demolition.
Museum additions in several phases added much needed exhibit, conservation, and storage space,
but some additions perhaps were not done in the best fashion.
Still, all must have passed approval phases for building plans and code inspections as they were built, right?
The museum has now been closed for 15 months by order of the West Texas A&M University President.
He said he would announce a plan by May or June.
No solution to reopening has been announced.
I called his office yesterday and still did not receive a time frame.
Meanwhile, Canyon's businesses I hear are faltering already because of reduced traffic.
Many visitors earmark a day for the museum and then take in the town square and then
spend a day or two in our canyons.
They stay in our hotels, eat in our restaurants, shop in our shops, get their vehicles repaired
by gasoline, visit our downtown events.
Now students bust in from all over the panhandle, tourists, local families, academic
researchers, college students with majors and specialties that feed into the accessibility
Being robbed of intellectual opportunities with the museum's continued closure.
As I said, my grandmother's attendant, W. T., my husband's great-uncle, M. S. Lusby was a first-generation
immigrant to Texas from England. By 1891, he was here in Canyon as the city began. He built
the first photography studio here. It was on the northwest corner of the block where
Joe Taco stands. He recorded historic milestones in everyday life in beautifully composed, instantly
recognizable photographs. You've seen them in history books, all around town in businesses,
in the city commission chambers, and downstairs on the first floor of this very building.
His photos are in PPHM's archival collections, and his photos should stay in canyon. They
be long nowhere else. The Panhandle Plains Historical Museum houses regional artifacts
of the very first peoples of these vast lands, then of the Native Americans, then those phases
of the Western migration that followed as ranches were established, the sod was broken
out to farm. Little communities, schools and churches spring up, then the railroads
and hotels in the military installations, and finally the oil and gas industries, archaeological
and historical artifacts of all kinds, early day business records, the WPA indexes, personal
collections, textiles, outdoor exhibits, American, European and Southwestern fine art, pioneer
town, and that oil derrick, all of these treasures and more are preserved, housed
and exhibited in our wonderful museum.
By special agreement, sacred Native American objects
and some items from the National Park Service
are placed there for proper care and storage.
We have the largest collection of museum objects
in the entire state of Texas.
Here's the crux, and you probably know it.
The state of Texas owns the museum buildings
on WT's campus.
The Panhandle Plates Historical Society, with its own board of directors, owns the objects in the collection and archives.
The original 1932 agreement between the college and the Historical Society was for the museum facility to be maintained in perpetuity by the college.
Another entity, the Cultural Foundation of the Texas Panhandle, is recently involved.
People with no museum experience run that entity and have been telling PPHM to purge its collections.
Today, with changes in legislative and funding parameters, this has all evolved into a very strange marriage with multiple partners.
Have all parties upheld their specific legal and fiduciary obligations?
What was the report of a recent visit by members of the Texas Historical Commission? Who knows?
No updates are issued and all parties are disturbingly quiet.
Yet the museum remains closed and the future is still in limbo.
Many of the fire code violations cited in the initial closure were quickly addressed.
Some issues such as egress will need reconstruction or renovation to resolve in those buildings,
but they were noted for years in previous reports and were never addressed by Texas A&M.
The building is not in a state of deterioration as many are assuming.
The staff is still at work. I myself was recently allowed into the archives. I made a research appointment.
So how can it be safe for the staff and researchers to continue to work but not safe for the public?
If the museum is not operating, it stands at risk of losing its accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums.
not easy to obtain, not easy to get back.
No solid plans have been put forth, no announcement by the A&M powers that be.
No fundraising to target this wonderful institution as an object for our charitable gifts.
That might help, right?
But who do we give money to?
The State of Texas has a huge budget surplus.
A&M has money.
It holds the eighth largest endowment in the entire nation. A&M is a university dedicated to education and research.
But frankly, PPHM, PPHS, and the City of Canyon are being held hostage by this highly esteemed center of learning.
In spite of an insanely successful fundraising campaign that just wrapped up at WT,
not one cent was targeted toward the museum.
What a missed opportunity.
That easily might have resolved part of the renovation and repair costs.
Maybe the state of Texas should gift the museum complex to PPHS
and let that group raise the necessary funds, handle the renovations.
Remember the old Buffalo Bowl?
This whole situation might easily have been avoided with proper communication
in planning with all the parties involved.
Remember in December, Dr. Wendler said the PPHS needed to vacate the building and pare
down its collections.
If he indeed decides to evict the PPHM and its treasures when he makes his announcements
from these state-owned buildings, then what?
It's hard to fight the state of Texas.
Will we be wringing our hands because we did not step in to do something more?
Is Randall County, is the City of Canyon, or other key stakeholders prepared to spring into action?
To pinpoint and negotiate for a new suitable land parcel to help with infrastructure needs and tax breaks?
To put together a top-notch plan to keep this great institution as part of Canyon where it needs to be?
Maybe that involves state-of-the-art purposes-built new structures or renovations on campus.
Panhandle citizens are generous people and will rally alongside any effort that leads
to a viable outcome that doesn't smell fishy or doesn't hold onto the PPHM's historic
pioneer hall for other university purposes, with another name branding that building's
identity.
This excellent museum in our city is the gateway to the Palladura Canyon.
It should be an easy draw for recreational and historical and geological tourism.
Being on the I-27 corridor and on the main east-west avenue into our city,
in a prominent and highly visible position on campus,
it should be easy to market, to target fundraising toward,
to perhaps offer free admission through business or foundation grants.
Where are the visionaries trying to solve these problems, trying to garner public support for whatever lies ahead?
This museum collection represents the Panhandle's legacy that is incredibly valuable.
PPHM is a cornerstone of WT's identity and personality, and it needs to remain so.
WT needs the PPHM in Canyon.
No other city needs this museum.
But Canyon needs this museum.
PPHM is part of Canyon's educational and economic structure, its visibility, its viability.
The panhandle region needs the PPHM in Canyon.
Yes, these museum issues are difficult to resolve, but they are not insurmountable.
Surely there is a path forward to allow this museum so important in the entire world of museums
and our own Panhandle Plains Heritage to remain here as a vital part of our city.
I ask that you, as the Randall County Commission, please step forward with a public announcement of support
or work on a plan for the future to keep the PPA Gym in Canyon.
Thank you.
Thank you, and we appreciate your comments.
We're not allowed to respond in public comment period, but it was very well-spoken.
Thank you.
And in your words, we're heard.
And we'd like to extend that same invitation to anyone who's joining us online.
If you have a public comment, if you use the raise hand icon, our IT director will recognize
you and we welcome your thoughts.
All
right, that ends the public comment period, both in person and online.
Item number 12, we have a closed session pursuant to government code section 551.071
to consult with counsel regarding pending or contemplative litigation on a matter made
confidential under the Texas disciplinary rules of professional conduct.
If you will, there is no action item.
We have two closed sessions.
We understand if you need to get it back about your day and you don't stay for us
to come out, the next commissioner's court will be June the 23rd, and we welcome to
see you then.
No, I've read it, Daniel. I can't do it again. Okay, so as you heard from Advice
Council, we're going to swap. We will go into item number 13 first, which is
closed session pursuant to government code section 551.072 to
deliberate the purchase exchange lease or value of real property. We'll
in that closed session and then we'll be back.
All right, we're back in session.
We will go back and readdress item number 12 now.
Closed session pursuant to government code section 551.071
to consult with counsel regarding pending or contemplated litigation
or on a matter made confidential under the Texas Disciplinary Rules
of Professional Conduct. Thanks.
All
right, the Randall-Kenneth Commissioner's Court is back in session.
That ends the Randall-Kenneth Commissioner's Court
4, June the 9th, our next one will be June the 23rd. Hope you have a blessed two weeks.