Lavaca County Commissioners Court

Burn ban to continue

  • The winners of the “I Voted” and “Future Voter” coloring sticker contest, sponsored by the Lavaca County Elections Department, were Daniel Hernandez, 5th grade student at Moulton ISD, and John Moore, 10th grader at Shiner HS. Pictured are Commissioner Kenny Siegel, elections administrator Amy Kloesel, County Judge Keith Mudd, elections voter registrar, Brandy Stuckey, and Commissioner Dennis W. Kocian. Photo by Jimmy Appelt
    The winners of the “I Voted” and “Future Voter” coloring sticker contest, sponsored by the Lavaca County Elections Department, were Daniel Hernandez, 5th grade student at Moulton ISD, and John Moore, 10th grader at Shiner HS. Pictured are Commissioner Kenny Siegel, elections administrator Amy Kloesel, County Judge Keith Mudd, elections voter registrar, Brandy Stuckey, and Commissioner Dennis W. Kocian. Photo by Jimmy Appelt

    The Lavaca County Commissioners’ Court met in a regular meeting Monday morning and approved a continuation of a burn ban for the county.

    Shiner VFD chief and chairman of the Lavaca County Fire Association, Billy Petru, spoke to the court concerning the Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) and that the average has stayed well over the 500 index, which is the average required for calling for a burn ban for the county.

    “Overall, most of the county is still very, very dry,” Petru said. “Over the last 90 days, we got up to a 777 index.”

    Petru said as Sunday, Sept. 24, the minimum index was 245 in the southeast corner of the county and maximum is 787. He said that gives the county an average of 654.82, which was six points up from the Saturday reading.

    “Since the burn ban was implemented in July, the average call volume for the departments of wildfires in the county are down a bit,” Petru said. “So it’s helped out. I think we should continue with the 500 KBDI index and want the public to know we are still under a burn ban.”

    Regarding a second matter involving the county fire departments, the court allocated funds for the 2024 fiscal year to Lavaca County fire departments.

    The approval called for an allocation of $10 thousand across the board to each of the five fire departments for a total of $50 thousand and continue to pay $100 for out of city limit runs of each department.

    In addition, the remaining balance at the end of the fiscal year would be distributed by averaging how many runs were submitted by each department.

    The remaining money would be allocated with the highest number of runs submitted by each department getting more of the remaining money on down to the lowest number of runs submitted.

    Contest Winners

    County Judge Keith Mudd announced the “I Voted” and “Future Voter” sticker contest winners with Moulton 5th grader, Daniel Hernandez named the “I Voted” sticker winner, while Shiner 10th grader, John Moore III, was named the “Future Voter” winner.

    “The winner of each category will be featured on the stickers that Lavaca County voters will receive when they leave the voting polling stations for the 2023 and 2024 elections,” Mudd said.

    Mudd said entries to the two contests came from Moulton 5th and 6th grade art classes as well as students at Vysehrad, Shiner and the Yoakum Co-Op.

    Regarding the Future Voter sticker contest there were 33 entries involving grades Pre K through the fifth grade, while in the I Voted contest, who included sixth graders through 12th grade, there were 25 who entered.

    Mudd listed the three finalists for both categories, who included Future Voter finalists Victoria Simper, Daniel Hernandez and Shelby Rothbauer, all from Moulton, and in the I Voted contest the three finalists were Lorenzo Tousek of Moulton and John Moore III and Sarah Kuehn, both of Shiner

    National 4-H Week

    The court voted to designate Oct. 1 through 7 as National 4-H Week.

    Lavaca County extension agents Natalie Knesek and Shannon DeForest reported to the court on the various areas their department involves.

    Knesek during the past year they had 406 4-H members and 396 adults participate in the various educational programs offered by their department.

    In addition, there were 208 students involved in school enrichment programs.

    She said they have had students serving in state and district level leadership positions and two who were representatives at national level events as well as one who went on an international trip.

    DeForest said they had over 300 students participate in local livestock shows across the county.

    DeForest said another area that students participate is shooting sports that teaches them responsibility and safety in educating them how to handle a firearm.

    Children’s Health Day

    The court also approved a proclamation designating Wednesday, Oct. 4 as Children’s Health Day in Lavaca County.

    According to the proclamation, the Children Health Day is based on the overall concern for the health and wellbeing of children and Lavaca County, local businesses and agencies are hosting a “Kids Health Party” for fifth grade students from all the schools in the county with the primary focus on physical and mental wellbeing.

    The proclamation said one-third of young teens are overweight, one in ten young people admit to having used electronic vaping devices in the past 30 days and one out of five children struggled with a mental health challenge.

    All these risk factors lead to health risks that impact their overall health into adulthood.

    “Helping our kids understand how to make healthy choices is what is really important of the health party,” Knesek said.

    Knesek said this year’s health party is an all day event with 10 to 20 minute sessions focussed on mindfulness kickboxing, the dangers of vaping, the importance of dairy, how to make healthy snacks, TV safety, the importance of balance and exercise and hand washing.

    Miscellaneous

    The court voted to proceed on a quitclaim deed between Todd A. Rehm and Lavaca County and issue public notices on proceeding with the project.

    The court discussed the plan to revise the Lavaca County subdivision regulations and decided to set a later date to hold a workshop to discuss any plan revisions

    The court approved a lease to purchase agreement between Anderson Machinery, and part of Buy Board, and Precinct 3 for a 2016 Freightliner Model M2-106, four thousand gallon water truck for Precinct 3.

    In other action taken by the court:

    • Certified salaries for Lavaca County officials, employees and Lavaca County EMS for the 2023-24 fiscal year.

    • Approved bonds for Lisa Lowe (Records Management) and LCSO deputy Raul Diaz.

    • Approved certificates of exemption from subdivision requirements for Thomas and Cathy Collins in Pct. 1 and Daniel and Bernice Motal in Pct. 2.

    County Judge Keith Mudd presided over the meeting with commissioners Edward Pustka, Wayne Faircloth, Kenny Siegel and Dennis W. Kocian present for the meeting.