Internal Policy Changes Made by Commissioners Court

New Assistant County Attorney Introduced

By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter

HOUSTON COUNTY – During a meeting of the Houston County Commissioners Court held on Tuesday, Nov. 27, the commissioners approved two internal policy changes. In addition, the court also introduced and set the salary for the county’s new Assistant County Attorney.

The first policy change concerned requisitions for purchasing. County Auditor Melissa Jeter explained the current policy required anyone making a purchase of under $50,000 to get three telephone quotes.

She added this meant for every pen, chair or whatever needed to be purchased, three quotes were needed. Jeter said the outside auditors believed the policy was being misinterpreted and felt the policy should be changed.

After scanning through several purchasing policies, Jeter recommended several changes. They were: purchases from $1 to $1,000 required only a requisition; purchases from $1,000 to $5,000 did not require competitive quotes but they were encouraged; purchases between $5,000 and $15,000 required a minimum of three telephone quotes; and purchases between $15,000 and $50,000 required a minimum of three written quotes.

The next proposed policy change pertained to the county’s inventory policy. The county auditor said under the current policy, anything under $500 was considered a supply while anything over $500 was considered equipment.

Jeter recommended …  “all property, plant, equipment and infrastructure assets with an original cost of more than $1,000 would be capitalized for reporting purposes and depreciated.”

Both matters were unanimously approved by the court.

Prior to the policy changes, LaKisha Anderson-Sinville was introduced as the new Assistant County Attorney. Her salary was set at $60,000 per year.

Following the introduction, the attorney said she resided in Tyler where she practiced law until she accepted the county position.

In other matters brought before the court:

• The commissioners approved the minutes from previous meetings.
• The payment of bills and expenses incurred by the county were approved.
• The Houston County Treasurer’s report and Compensatory report were received as information by the commissioners.
• The scheduled Dec. 25 Commissioners Court meeting was changed to Dec. 21 at 10 am.
• Jo Smith was appointed as Director of the Houston County Senior Citizens Center.
• Donations of desktop computers, law enforcement supplies and vests, as well as a donation for improvement on CR 2210 were accepted by the court.

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].