Countywide burn ban implemented
After hearing from Shiner VFD chief Billy Petru, the Lavaca County Commissioners’ Court voted unanimously to implement a burn ban for Lavaca County
Prior to hearing from Petru, the court approved a resolution acknowledging the formation of the Lavaca County Fire Association (LCFA), which is made up a five-member coalition consisting of the fire chiefs from the Hallettsville, Moulton, Shiner, Sweet Home Volunteer Fire Departments and the Yoakum Fire Department.
The LCFA was formed earlier this year to better serve all of Lavaca County as well as the incorporate cities, unincorporated communities and rural areas in the county.
Regarding the burn ban, Petru said everytime the matter of setting a burn ban is brought before the court, there’s debate of whether or not to implement one.
Petru said the association suggests the court use the KeetchByram Drought Index (KBDI), which is the average reading for the entire county.
“In the past, one area of the county was burning up and other areas were wet,” Petru said. “We (LCFA) like to follow the KBDI data in recommending a burn ban be set.”
In explaining the meaning of the drought index, Petru said as of Monday morning the index average for Lavaca County is 513, which means you have to go 5.13 inches into the ground to find available moisture.
“That means there is no moisture supporting any type of grass growth,” Petru said. “For most grasses, the root systems reach about 4 and a half inches and that is why the grasses turn brown.”
According to Petru, when the KBDI index reaches 500, it usually triggers a burn ban and is the data the Texas Forest Service bases its reasons for recommending a ban.
“With a KBDI reading of 5 or higher, it automatically triggers a burn ban and it stays in for two weeks unless the index comes down, then it automatically comes off,” Petru said. “It takes making the decision for implementing a burn ban out of your (court) hands and our (association) hands.”
Assistant SVFD chief/ assistant Lavaca County EMS chief, Tim Decker said the KBDI reading is received each morning at 10 a.m. from the Texas Weather Connection with Texas A&M and if the public wishes to get updated on KBDI readings to visit the tws.tamu.edu website
Decker said the TWC provides the minimum and maximum readings as well as showing the average index for the county. He said as of Monday morning the minimum for the county was 224 and the maximum was 635 bringing an average index of 513.
In addition to setting the burn ban and acknowledging the LCFA resolution, the court approved the Lavaca County Fire Association Mutual Aid agreement.
ACCUMULATED COMP TIME
After discussion, the court approved a request from Sheriff Micah Harmon to pay out accumulated compensatory time to his department’s employees for overtime accrued while working for the department
“Basically comp time occurs when there are turnovers, loss of personnel, or open positions and other employees have to pick up the slack,” Judge Keith Mudd said. “The Sheriff’s office personnel are being forced to work covering shifts of open positions and yet they’ve accrued comp time where they are supposed to take off later, but cannot.”
Mudd said he would like to have all payments for accrued comp time to be paid out this fiscal year for all departments.
“I would like to see this done this fiscal year in this budget cycle,” Mudd said. “Because we have open positions that were not paid out, we have the funds to pay it out and start from scratch in the next fiscal year.”
Mudd said in the next fiscal year, the court could set a policy where employees would be paid overtime as it occurs and the supervisors of each department would be accountable for approving comp time payments in advance if the budget allowed the payments.
He said as of this morning the accrued comp time for the sheriff office personnel is $39,393.65 and the department has the funds to pay it.
The court approved the amount requested and decided to address other county department comp time payments in a future meeting.
BELLY DUMP TRAILER ADVERTISEMENTS
A request from Commissioner Dennis W. Kocian to approve advertising for bids for two belly dump trailers for Precinct 4 was approved by the court.
The court also approved the bids to be due in the County Auditor’s office by 10:15 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 2. The bids would be open and read aloud by Judge Mudd, or his designee in Commissioners’ Courtroom at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 2 and would be discussed and/or awarded on Monday, Aug. 14 at the 10 a.m. Commissioners’ Court meeting.
In other action:
• Approved a certificate of exemption from subdivision requirements for Patti Larson.
• Approved a certificate of exemption from subdivision requirements for Randy Dornak.
• Approved amending the existing contract for data processing services between Local Government Solutions and Lavaca County and add two additional license users.
• Heard county buildings update report.
County Judge Keith Mudd presided over the meeting with Commissioners Edward Pustka, Wayne Faircloth, Kenny Siegel and Dennis W. Kocian present for the meeting.