The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

Commissioners discussed the possibility of selling or leasing the property at the location of the old Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace office located on Farm Road 1442.

Clark Slacum, county engineer also posed possibly using the building for auxiliary Road and Bridge offices.

Road and Bridge will be relocated when they Orange County Convention and Expo Center opens, scheduled for December.

Precinct 3 Commissioner John Dubose said a gentleman that owns a nearby car wash wants to use the building for storage.

The building has been cleaned out, but has not been remediated or had any mold testing, because they did not know if the building was going to be reused.

Commissioners asked Doug Manning, county attorney to research setting up a lease or sale of the property.

Commissioners tabled any action until Manning completes his research and a public workshop is scheduled on the matter.

Commissioners rejected bids on two pieces of property. The first piece was on Bridgeview in Bridge City, Account # 001501-000140, Suit/Case# A050157-T. “I think the property is worth more than that,” said John Dubose. “It’s a lot and a half for $3,000.” Dubose said the appraisal for the property is $15,000.

The second property is on Mockingbird, Account# 012285-001200, Suit/Case# A110056-T. The bid on it was only 31 percent of the appraised value. Commissioner Precinct 1 David Dubose moved to reject that bid also.

Gene Smith was appointed to the Airport Advisory Committee.

Commissioners approved the following projects that would fall under the 2012 Routine Airport Maintenance Program (RAMP) Grant for the Orange County Airport: quarterly AWOS (automated weather observing system) maintenance-just under $4,000 a year; AWOS Nadin Fee-$800; Fuel Farm Tank inspection, all hoses inspected and changed and calibrations of the pumps and nozzles. $10-10,500. Jeff Kelley, Emergency Management coordinator said the fuel pump hoses need to be certified.

“AWOS is an awful important thing to have at our airport. It’s all the weather and information coming in for any pilot trying to land here. So If we’re going to continue to grow our airport, I feel we need to have that,” said David Dubose. The monthly airport report showed an average of 15 flights a day. “It’s getting busier and busier,” said Kelley.

On the Emergency Management side, Kelley said, “There are changes going on in FEMA that is going to affect policy. Everything we have gone through, everything that we’ve worked on for two years straight is about to be flushed.” He said they will have to start over in some areas.

A proposal was accepted from Southwestern Bell for a five year agreement for services of data, voice and Internet connectivity service for Orange County.

Next week commissioners’ court will be held at 10 a.m., Tuesday, Nov. 13. Monday is the Veteran’s Day holiday and the court house will be closed.