County to seek bids again for jail's prescription pharmacy services

Tommy Mann Jr.

For The Record

Orange County Commissioners are once again looking for a vendor to provide prescription pharmacy services for the Orange County Jail.

During Tuesday's meeting of Orange County Commissioners Court, commissioners announced they would be rescinding the recently renewed contract with Sholars Medicine Chest in Orange because the company announced it was going out of business. Sholars has provided the prescription pharmacy services for the Orange County Jail and was renewed to continue those same services this past May.

"We found out less than two weeks ago that Sholars was going to close," said David Dubose, Orange County Commissioner of Precinct 1. "It's a sad day in Orange County hearing that Sholars is going out of business."

According to Dubose, Sholars Medicine Chest was founded in the 1890s in Orange and has been a staple of the community under five different owners. Dubose was the fourth owner of Sholars from 1988 to 2006, prior to becoming Orange County Commissioners in 2008.

Sholars Medicine Chest will close on Friday, Aug. 19. The county will use another local pharmacy temporarily to continue providing prescription pharmacy needs until another vendor can be determined.

Dubose said the county will be required to start the bidding process over for the prescription pharmacy services contract but no timetable was announced.

"We will go out for bids just like last time, and, hopefully, we will have a good response," he said. "Last time we had four vendors submit bids, and two of those were local and two were still in Texas but out of the area. We sure would like it to stay local as it seems to make things easier."

In other news, as announced at the Aug. 9 meeting of Orange County Commissioners, the court will hold two public hearings in which Orange County residents can voice any concerns they might have pertaining to the proposed ad valorem tax rate. However, those meetings have changed.

The first meeting will now be at 6 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 6, at Orange County Commissioners Courtroom, located at 123 S. Sixth St. in Orange. The second public hearing will be held at 9 a.m., Friday, Sept. 9, at the same location. The difference in time is to accommodate citizens who may have irregular schedules.

The meetings were originally scheduled for Sept. 20 and Sept. 23 before being changed on Tuesday.

Commissioners approved a request from Tina Barrow, Orange County Elections Administrator, to hire personnel as early voting and election day judges, clerks and workers during the Nov. 8 General Election period.

Early voting for the Nov. 8 election, which will feature the race for the next United States President, among others, will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday, Oct. 24, Wednesday, Oct. 26 through Saturday, Oct. 29; Monday, Oct. 31; and Wednesday, Nov. 2 through Friday, Nov. 4. Extended hours will be from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 25 and Tuesday, Nov. 1.

Early voting locations will be at the Orange Public Library, 220 N. Fifth St. in Orange; Bridge City Public Works Building, 220 Nitsche in Bridge City; the Mauriceville Volunteer Fire Department, 10691 N. State Highway 62 in Mauriceville; and the Raymond Gould Community Center, 385 Claiborne in Vidor.