Please note: All agenda items are considered PASSED unless indicated otherwise.

OPEN SESSION: 

RESOLUTIONS
1. Consider and take necessary action to adopt a resolution proclaiming April 2025, as “Child Abuse Prevention Month” in Smith County.

PRESENTATIONS
2. Receive presentation from Gollob, Morgan, Peddy on FY24 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.

Comments:

The Comprehensive Annual Financial Review (CAFR) provides the actual cost of government for a fiscal year. You are probably more familiar with “the budget” for the county. The Budget Officer develops the budget based on proposed revenue and expenditures. I could spend an hour or more of your time reviewing this report. I won’t do that here. I have linked the report above the video and it can always be found on the Smith County website under Financial Statements. To help you in understanding the CAFR and keep you from reading an instruction manual equivalent to Gone with the Wind, I have linked a YouTube video that explains the basics of reading a CAFR.

Smith County FY 2024 Comprehensive Annual Financial Review

The CAFR shows that we have $56 Million in unrestricted funds. Essentially, it is money that was not spent during the fiscal year and it accumulates over time. The County’s policy is to keep at minimum 25% of the yearly expenses in the general fund. You probably have an “emergency fund” to protect your financial position if you lose your job or have a life change that reduces your income. Generally, the rule of thumb for personal finance is 3 months of your yearly expenses. The Government Finance Officers Association recommends that local government maintain reserves equal to two months of general fund operating expenses or 16.7% of annual revenue. For FY 2024, the county had $140,880,982 in governmental expenses.

Each county must determine how much they keep in reserves based on their level of risk. A budget doesn’t predict a natural disaster, a man-made disaster, a pandemic, or a major employer shut down. The prior administrations of the Commissioners Court decided that a 25% reserve minimum was a prudent level of financial reserves to maintain continuity of service during an unexpected, temporary revenue shortfall or unpredicted one-time expenditure. Bond rating agencies consider an adequate level of reserves as a sign of creditworthiness. Reserves also can be used to cover expenses during times of the year that experience low levels of cash. Our fiscal year starts in October but the bulk of revenue from property taxes won’t be available until January – when most people pay their taxes. Reserves provide stability and flexibility to respond to unexpected adversity.

There are options to reduce the $56M. Some options that we should consider for the FY26 budget would be to reduce the tax rate, reduce the expenditures and make a one-time transfer to a fund like the Insurance Fund or Road and Bridge. We cannot use the funds to pay for recurring expenses, such as adding employees. The budget season is about to begin, and I have no doubt that we will be discussing what the best course of action would be to lessen the burden on the taxpayer.

COURT ORDERS

PURCHASING
3. Consider and take necessary action to approve a one (1) year renewal option and amendment with Teeco Safety, Inc. for contract 05-22, Fleet Vehicle Equipment and installation and authorize the county judge to sign all related documentation.

Comments:

Patrol vehicles are upfitted with lights, sirens, bumpers, cages, laptop cradles, docking stations and other components. The Sheriff’s Office has 11 new Chevy Tahoes that are waiting for upfitting currently at a cost of $129,813.49. Other Departments have vehicles that get upfitting such as Animal Control, Constables, Road & Bridge, and the Fire Marshal.

On April 4, 2022, the Commissioners Court approved a contract with Teeco for fleet vehicle equipment and installation. This contract includes upfitting for all Smith County fleet vehicles. That contract was for one year with 4 one-year renewal options. This was the third renewal option. This is not an exclusive contract. Sheriff Smith prefers to use Teeco and he has the lion’s share of the fleet. Animal Control, Constables, Fire Marshal and the Road and Bridge Department can use Teeco or they can get 3 bids for their vehicle upfitting.

I have taken part in ride alongs with patrol, the Constables offices, and Animal Control. In casual conversation, I was made aware of the installation problems associated with Teeco. In each occasion, the wiring harnesses and laptop cradles were top concern. On one particular night shift ride along, an officer called in to a supervisor that they could not turn the red & blue lights off and they were parking the vehicle at the EOC. In another vehicle, it was mentioned that the bumpers are made of plastic and this unit’s bumper was detaching because of poor placement of components. During a recent visit to the Road and Bridge facility, Commissioner Herod and I spoke with the County Barn employees and some issues with Teeco came up in the conversation. There are IT components that are a part of the install such as radios. Our IT employees have had to meet Officers out in the field to repair IT issues in their vehicles while on shift. I am told that these repairs have taken place on the side of I-20 or in the parking lot outside of the Courthouse Annex.

In court Tuesday, I wanted to bring these issues up so that we could address them as a body and develop a plan to ensure that we practice good contract management. When we enter into a contract, we are doing so based on price and contract commitments. We should be getting the very best service at the best price. If no one is monitoring the service, how do we know that the vendor is holding up their end of the contract? The County does not have a Contract Administrator. Who should these employees report their issues to? Who should be gathering this information and speaking with the vendor? The Purchasing Director, Jaye Latch said she was not aware of the problems with Teeco. There isn’t a spreadsheet or reporting system to track these issues. Our Chief Information Officer, Don Bell, has emailed and spoken with Sheriff Smith about some of the issues they have had to repair, and they have both spoken with the vendor recently. The County Barn doesn’t document when an install repair, whether warrantied or not, comes into their facility to be assessed.

The Fire Marshal, Chad Hogue, said that they had two vehicles that had issues and they drove the vehicle to Shreveport to be repaired and then had to drive back to pick them up. This means two officers in two vehicle drove 3 hours round trip, around 200 miles, on two different occasions to have issues under warranty repaired. They are not the only department that has had to drive to Shreveport for repair. Mrs. Latch mentioned that there is a $65 pickup and delivery charge for Teeco for the new installs and they will also do pickup/delivery trips for warranty work. Marshal Hogue was not aware of this part of the contract and will utilize this feature in the future. How many of the other employees are not aware?

During this contract term, I suggested that Mrs. Latch design a survey, a “customer service survey” if you will, for the drivers that have Teeco installed products. In my opinion, we need to collect reports of the issues now as we start the new contract term and solicit another survey before the renewal period begins so Mrs. Latch can hold the vendor accountable to service and negotiate. She was going to email the survey document to the heads of departments for them to disperse to the Teeco install unit drivers. This was the best course of action for her since she does not have a list of patrol vehicle drivers that have the Teeco installs. Prior to court, I had a phone conversation with Sheriff Smith about the survey suggestion and he was agreeable. He was going to address future reporting of the issues so we could gather data for next year’s contract negotiations. Sheriff Smith also said that he had spoken with Teeco and he was assured that they will do better.

In court, Mr. Bell brought up the possibility of a ticketing system for reporting the install issues. Since this is a new development, I’m sure there will be updates to bring to you as we work together on the various components to ensure we are getting the best service for the best price.

SHERIFF’S OFFICE

4. Consider and take necessary action regarding plans for the 2025 Countywide Cleanup program in Smith County

Comments:

Deputy Michael Johnson is our Environmental Crimes Officer. In court he presented the details for our Countywide Cleanup Program. This is funded by a grant in the amount of $4500. Residents of Smith County can take 1 truckload of bulky items to the Greenwood Farms Landfill for free starting March 31st through May 5th. You need to pick up a voucher before going to the landfill. They are available at the Courthouse Annex or any of the JP/Constable offices throughout the county. The Landfill is located at 12920 FM 2767, Tyler and they are open from 6:30AM to 4:30PM Monday through Friday and 6:30AM to Noon on Saturday. You can take 1 free mattress per voucher and any additional mattresses will cost $50 to dispose.

Items that are not accepted: hazardous waste, pesticides, herbicides, solvents, gasoline, oils, acid, batteries, asbestos, wet paint, freon, whole tires, televisions, computers, refrigerators and freezers. If you have any questions, you can call 903-590-4904 or 903-590-4905.

FIRE MARSHAL’S OFFICE

5. Consider and take necessary action to authorize the sale of fireworks for San Jacinto Day.

Comments: 

We approved the sale of fireworks for San Jacinto Day, April 21st.  Retail fireworks permit holders are authorized to sell fireworks from April 16th through April 21st, 2025.

HUMAN RESOURCES

6. Consider and take necessary action to approve the acceptance of donations pursuant to Texas Local Government Code, Section 81.032.
 
Comments: 

We accepted donations from Iglesias Law Firm, Grand Slam, Gaudy Me, Ricks on the Square, Lyric, Symetra Life, Optum Rx, Stealth/AMWINS, Superior Vision, Linebarger, Goggan, Blair & Sampson, LLP, Hospitality ER, Honest Rx, FlairData, In-Telecom, Smith County 9-1-1 Network and Brinson.  April is County Government Month and these companies donated items for our Employee Appreciation giveaways.
 
Thank you to each of these partners for their help in celebrating our employees in April. 

RECURRING BUSINESS 

AUDITOR’S OFFICE

7. Accept monthly Auditor/Treasurer report and Executive Summary for February 2025.
 
8. Consider and take necessary action to approve and/or ratify payment of accounts, bills, payroll, transfer of funds, amendments, and health claims.

ADJOURN