Signs of Normalcy at Commissioners Court

In-Person Meetings, Resumption of Concerts Discussed

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

HOUSTON COUNTY – With the lifting of the mask mandate last week, Gov. Greg Abbott signaled Texas was now entering the “new normal” phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a result of the loosening of restrictions related to the virus, many entities are slowly beginning to return to a semblance of normalcy as evidenced by discussions held during a Tuesday, March 9 meeting of the Houston County Commissioners Court.

During the departmental report portion of the meeting, Houston County Judge Jim Lovell indicated the court would be returning to normal meetings later this month. He also spoke about the Houston County Senior Center.

“After tomorrow (March 10), we can re-open the Senior Center again. We have said all along as soon as restaurants were open to 100 percent, we would re-open the Senior Center,” the judge said.

“I would also like to talk about our future meetings,” Judge Lovell said. “As most people know, the governor’s new executive order leaves a lot of discretion to the county judges. It makes masks voluntary. It opens restaurants to 100 percent. Since it is at the discretion of the judge, I would like to see our meetings go back to the way they were before COVID-19. I know we still have COVID but if restaurants are open to 100 percent, I don’t see why we can’t be open to 100 percent in here. I am open to any feedback. It’s not that we can’t do both (Zoom meetings and in-person meetings).”

Judge Lovell also reported Veterans Service Officer Milton Ladner had set up a program for veterans to get the COVID-19 vaccine.

“There is a program today with 50 doses of COVID-19 vaccine for veterans over the age of 65. If they don’t use them, they will go down to vets under 65 with underlying conditions and then just vets. Period,” Lovell said.

The judge also reported Bobby Hutcherson had resigned from the ESD #2 Board.

“I would personally like to publicly thank Mr. Hutcherson for his service to this board. We will be in search of a new board member at our next meeting,” he said.

As the meeting continued, another sign of slowly returning to a sense of normalcy was seen as Piney Woods Fine Arts Association Executive Director Ann Walker requested Hotel Occupancy Tax (HOT) funding for an upcoming Tracy Lawrence concert.

“Ann, I think it is great news that the governor’s order can help open up the seating there,” Lovell said.

Walker replied the PWFAA had originally planned the concert for 75 percent.

“If we sell more (tickets) than that, people will still be able to space their chairs out, if they want to. At least we are open now so we can continue to sell tickets up to the time,” she said.

The request for HOT funding was unanimously approved.

In other matters brought before the court:

The commissioners approved the minutes from previous meetings.
Budget amendments were approved as were the payment of bills and expenses incurred by the county.
The Houston County Environmental and Community Service Reports were received as information by the court.
The court approved salaries for new and/or transfer employees.
The commissioners approved an Interlocal Cooperation Agreement with Nacogdoches County to house inmates at a daily rate of $35.
The Fiscal Year 2020 Audit for Houston County Juvenile Probation was accepted as information by the court.
The engineering firm of Goodwin, Lasiter, Strong was selected to provide application and project engineer services for the 2021-2022 Texas Community Development Block Grant program.

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