Ector County Commissioners heard a summer seal coat project proposal from Highways and Streets Director Evans Kessey during a regularly scheduled meeting today.

The project, which has been scheduled to take place between April and September, proposes applying protective sealcoating to 24.33 miles of Ector County roadways, and will have a total cost of around $986,748. It also would have required four new employees be added to the department, an additional chip spreader and a replaced stripping unit.

“There’s no doubt Ector County roadways are deteriorating,” Kessey told commissioners.

The project will be done with funds budgeted for the Highways and Streets department, but the commissioners’ court seemed unsure as to whether or not the money would be enough to fund the project all the way through.

“It sounds like your goals are bigger than your means,” Precinct 1 Commissioner Eddy Shelton told Kessey.

The Road maintenance Department’s farm to market and lateral road fund for Fiscal Year 2018 is $3,833,741.

The court later approved a request for a pavement widening of 56th Street at Billy Hext Road to the intersection of Yukon Road, with Landgraf, Crutcher & Associates providing all necessary surveying and engineering services for the project for a fee not exceeding $98,600 and a total estimated project cost of $1,084,200. The project is expected to begin in May after school lets out.

Precinct 2 Commissioner Greg Simmons said he felt it was important to get this expansion underway due to the high amount of traffic in that area, as that is where Compass Academy is located.

The expansion will be paid for with leftover funds from a bond issued a few years back for road maintenance, Simmons added.

Precinct 4 Commissioner Armando Rodriguez was the sole dissenter among the court in the vote, and also voted against a proposed request to enter into an agreement with the Texas Department of Transportation to provide matching funds and other considerations for improvements at the intersection of Loop 338 and 56th Street, which also passed 4-1. Rodriguez said the money going to these projects could be used by the other precincts as well, as opposed to these two projects, which are both in Precinct 2.

“In Precinct 2, a lot of the roads have already been paved,” Rodriguez said. “This money could be shared with everyone else by the precinct.”

Rodriguez said he felt the money could be used for other precincts in general, as Precinct 1 has even more unpaved roads than his own precinct does, and felt that they could have come up with a way to use the money for each precinct’s own projects had there been discussion beforehand.

Ector County currently has 56 unpaved roads, 37 of which are in Precinct 1 and 19 in Precinct 4, while Precinct 2 currently has no unpaved roads listed, nor does Precinct 3.

Commissioners unanimously accepted an invitation by the Odessa Chamber of Commerce and zCivic, a division of Bar-Z Mobile Development of Austin, for Ector County to become a community partner on the first official Mobile App of Odessa.

The app, which currently has around 30 local partners, would provide Odessa residents with information from the city and county about local events and information. Ector County Coliseum Director Aaron Martin told commissioners the app would be a way to send information out about upcoming events for people who may not know about the events otherwise.

Ector County would also have its own block in the app for each department, providing information and links to their website.

Midland released its own app, called “Passport 2 Midland,” last December, offering residents a method of paying bills through the app, as well as reported pot holes and requesting a code enforcement officer.

IN OTHER BUSINESS, COMMISSIONERS:

  • Received an annual update from Texas A&M AgriLife Extension.
  • Approved a request to sell a property on South Odessa Street, Goldsmith, for $8,000.
  • Approved a proposed revised Game Room Ordinance.
  • Approved an asphalt emulsion storage tank system replacement project.
  • Approved a proposed confirmation of services agreement with TimeClock Plus.
  • Approved an OAG Grant No. 3489601 for the purchase of rifle-resistant body armor for the Ector County Sheriff’s Office.
  • Approved a requested payment of overtime for ECSO deputies to assist with the Detention Center in extreme circumstances, which Griffis told the court currently has 15 vacant positions.
  • Approved supplementing the salary of the interim Cemetery Director with a monthly auto allowance of $200 and a monthly cell phone allowance of $50.
  • Approved a request to hire a maintenance technician I at a 709-05, which is the current budgeted amount based on previous experience with a state agency.
  • Approved requests to hire a plumber and a master electrician at or up to a step 5, depending on experience.
  • Approved a request to set the starting pay for TVFC/Immunization Program Specialist and Outreach Coordinator at a step 4.
  • Approved a request for a survey on Western Hills Subdivision, fifth filing being a subdivision of 1.85 acres out of Section 18, Block 43, T-2-S, T & P Roadway.
  • Approved a request for a replat of 5.56 acres of Lot 1 and all of Lot 2, Block 18, Replat of Scharbauer City.
  • Approved a request to allow a property owner to build a road in the county right of way located within Section 29, Block 43, T-2-S, T&P Roadway.
  • Appointed Denis Dennis as defense counsel in Jose C. Torres v. Mike Griffis et al; Matthew Muehlbrad, Civil Action No. 7:17-CV-213-RAJ, in the United States District Court Western District of Texas Midland-Odessa Division.
  • Approved a proposed line item transfer to general fund, district clerk, departmental furniture and equipment for $2,525, and to district clerk, office supplies for $256 from district clerk, special departmental equipment for $2,781.
  • Approved a proposed line item transfer to airport fund, electrical materials and supplies, from airport fund, operating transfers out for $8,220.
  • Accepted the fiscal year 2017 annual audit report of the Ector County Jail Commissary Account.
  • Approved a proposed budget amendment up to $2,500 to reattach the radio tower at the Gardendale Volunteer Fire Department Building.
  • Accepted the Accounts Payable Fund Requirements Report for Jan. 22, 2018.