County approves selling e-cigs to inmates

Ector County Sheriff Mike Griffis displayed to the Ector County Commissioners’ Court the e-cigarette he plans to sell to inmates at the Ector County Law Enforcement Center.

After a brief presentation from Griffis, the Court approved the sale of e-cigarettes to inmates at no cost to the county or taxpayers with all proceeds collected earmarked for use at the jail.

Griffis explained to members of the media on Tuesday morning in the commissioners courtroom at the Ector County Administration Annex, Room 120, 1010 East Eighth St., the e-cigarettes are “correction grade.”

“There’s a specific company that makes these (e-cigs) and tries to make them alter proof,” Griffis said. “… The e-cig has be returned in the state that it was given to them or they won’t get another one.”

Ector County Judge Dustin Fawcett said his hesitation with selling the e-cigarettes to inmates subsided after Griffis spoke about the matter and had a physical example of what the e-cigarette will look like.

The e-cigarette is clear with a bar code on the inside. The bar code will be scanned and matched to the inmate who purchases that e-cigarette and it will be re-scanned when it is brought back.

“My biggest hesitation was can (inmates) use these e-cigs for something nefarious,” Fawcett said. “After looking at the e-cig and speaking with Sheriff Griffis, they put their time in looking at the different vendors and I believe this particular product is going to be one that will be safe for the inmates, safe for the jailers and safe for all the staff.”

The cost of the e-cigarette will be $3.85 each that come in a 50-count package. Griffis said one e-cigarette is the equivalent to a standard pack of cigarettes (20).

The jail plans to have an initial order of 1,000. The cost to the inmates will be $14 that includes $1.07 in sales tax. Griffis said inmates can purchase e-cigarettes with their commissary funds.

Griffis said inmates can only purchase and have one e-cigarette at a time and before the inmate can purchase another e-cigarette they have to return their initial e-cigarette purchase and have it re-scanned into the system. Griffis said if the e-cigarette has been tampered with that inmate won’t be able to purchase anymore e-cigarettes.

“If you don’t abuse it, then you get to use it,” Griffis said. “If someone starts trying to do other things with it, that individual isn’t getting another one.”

The Court also approved the jail to sell pizza t0 inmates at no cost to the county or taxpayers with all proceeds to be used at the jail. Griffis said the sale of pizza is mainly for Sunday’s and Monday’s, but the purchase and sale prices haven’t been finalized.

In other business, the Court approved the proposed agent agreement from Rapid Financial Solutions, for services related to paying jurors for jury duty via Jury Card Payment Program of CourtFunds, powered by Rapid Financial Solutions.

Ector County District Clerk Clarissa Webster spoke to the Court about the matter. Jurors will be presented with a non-chargeable debit card and their jury payment will be loaded on the card after they complete jury duty. Webster said she hopes to implement this payment process at the end of May or beginning of June.

Webster said jurors will receive a text notification when the payment has been loaded on the card. She also explained jurors still have the option to donate the money from jury duty to Ector County’s approved charities.

After the meeting, Webster explained how much this will save the county. She said there are between 600 to 1,000 checks per month that are sent out. The average cost to sent a check to each juror is $1.30 to $1.45, while the debit card will cost $.99.

“Just for the hard cost alone, we are going to be saving .$30 to $.45 per payment,” Webster said.

Fawcett applauded multiple offices — including the district clerk, treasurer, purchasing and auditing — for joining together to make this happen.

“This is a push in the right direction,” he said. “I think jurors will be satisfied with their options and saving taxpayer dollars is a big deal.”

The Court also approved the retirement of Justice of Peace for Precinct 1 Terry Lange. Lange thanked the Court and received a round of applause from the gallery. The Court followed the resignation with the approval to post the job and accept resumes and begin the interview process for the Justice of the Peace for Precinct 1.

The job will be posted for 30 days and all resumes will be sent to the Human Resources Department. Fawcett told the Odessa American last week this position will be up for re-election in 2024 and again in 2026 to get back on the same election cycle as the three other Justice of the Peace offices.

“It’s going be tough to fill,” Fawcett said. “Justice of the Peace for Precinct 1 is our largest one and sees the highest volume in terms of cases both civil and criminal. … We are going to take a look of everybody who is interested in the position and we will be fair, we will be balanced and we will be objective. We will find somebody who can fill the very large shoes in a very large precinct with a very large case load.”

The Court also amended its schedule to change the meeting at 10 a.m. April 25 to 10 a.m. April 20.

Ector County Commissioner for Precinct 2 Greg Simmons said the change is due to a county conference for continuing education.

The court also:

>> Approved Downtown Odessa to use the Ector County Courthouse lawn and parking lot on July 1 for the Firecracker Fandango 2023 event.

>> Approved a Resolution in support of HJR 111 by Representative Landgraf for the creation of the Texas STRONG Defense Fund.

>> Approved action to authorize the Lunar and Planetary Institute, USRA, Houston, Texas, and the Institute of Geological Sciences Polish Academy of Sciences, researcher/ research team, Dr. Ann Losiak, to conduct fieldwork/ site evaluation at the Odessa Meteor Crater.

>> Approved postponing the bid for the West 42nd Street from FM 1936 to Knox Avenue Improvements (Bid #23-04-12-01). The bid specifications for West 42nd Street Improvements (Bid #23-04-12-01) were developed by the Highways & Streets Department, the Purchasing Department, and Landgraf, Crutcher, & Associates. Additional testing of the current base is necessary and adjustments must be done to the specifications. It was decided that it is in the best interest of the County and of prospective bidders to cancel this solicitation and provide updated specifications.

>> Approved the evaluation, ranking engineer’s responses, to the Request for Qualifications for Engineering Services for the building of the Gardendale Water Distribution Project, and authorized the start of negotiations for the design, construction, and oversight of the project.

>> Approved the agreement between Permitium, LLC and Ector County in order to issue vital records through online requests at no cost to Ector County.

>> Approved the proposal from Kofile Technologies, Inc., for the 2023 Project for the Archival Imaging and Preservation of District Clerk Records, with Kofile’s TXMAS Contract No. TXMAS-18-3602.

>> Approved a line item transfer to Law Library Fund, Other Insurance, 003-700-5275 from Subscriptions, 003-700-5207 for $71.

>> Approved a budget amendment to General Fund, Library, Library Supplies, 001-690-5185 for $4,053, to New Books, 001-690-5201 for $758, to Subscriptions, 001-690-5207 for $189 and to Donated Revenues, 001-4171 for $5,000.

>> Approved a budget amendment to appropriate funds for the 42nd Street project to Sales Tax Fund, Public Works, Improvements and Construction, 005-810-5509, from Unreserved Fund Balance, 005-3310, for $4 million.

>>Approved the Accounts Payable Fund Requirements Report for April 11, 2023, and reviewed County financial statements and reports.