Bridge wait might be three more weeks

Orange County Judge John Gothia said the East Roundbunch Road swing bridge will not be open to car traffic for another two-and-a-half to three weeks.

Commissioners Court got an update on the bridge that takes vehicular traffic across Cow Bayou from County Engineer Corey Oldbury. The county and the Texas Department of Transportation work together to keep the bridge operating.

Federal marine laws require road bridges allow boat traffic on navigable waters like Cow Bayou. The bridge has manual controls on an electrical system that will swing the bridge open for boats and barges. If something breaks, the bridge is moved to remain open and all road traffic for cars and trucks is stopped.

Gothia said it will be at least two weeks until the new control panel needed to operate the bridge is delivered and will then need to be installed by experts. Oldbury said the control panel is costing $14,000, not including the costs of installation.

The bridge was installed in 1961. It was used when it was acquired and moved here. The bridge allows traffic from the Bridge City area to take a short cut by East Roundbunch Road to FM 1006, known as Chemical Row where the industrial plants provide jobs for thousands.

Also during the court meeting, Precinct 2 Commissioner Chris Sowell mentioned the county has completed 51 miles of regrading ditches and installed nine miles of new, enlarged ditch culverts throughout the county this year. The work is part of an on-going project to improve drainage.

Most of the meeting involved finalizing expenditures for the upcoming budget year, which begins October 1. According to state law, commissioners court must approve the budget in September.

The budget is about $54 million. County Judge Gothia said after years of saving, the county should have $27 million, or six months of operating expenses, in reserves. The six months of reserves are recommended to help in case of disasters the county will have enough money to do recovery work and keep operations running.

"I guess we're out of the bad financial years," he said.

About 12 years ago, before members of the current court had been elected, the county was in a financial hole and had to cut back expenses, including eliminating some employee positions.

Last week, Gothia and the commissioners agreed to a $1 per hour pay raise for county employees and for elected officials. He said a pay increase could be $1.50 an hour for employees, but not for elected officials.

State law requires a county to post proposed annual pay for each elected official in July before a new fiscal year. Gothia said those pay scales have to be advertised in print before the county receives final property valuations to calculate incoming tax revenues.

He said he called the Texas Attorney General's office to ask whether commissioners court could give a pay raise to elected officials iff it is more than was advertised. After lawyers in the office researched, they told him the attorney general will need to write an opinion on that question. So until an offical legal opinion is given, the elected officials will have to keep the raise of $1.

Court members talked about salary increases for employees to help keep them from leaving jobs as the industrial plants pay much higher wages.

"We all want the county to pay more, but we also need to be fiscally responsible," Commissioner Sowell said.

Some of the discussion was as the county's finances have improved, should money go to salary increases or to add more employees to meet the service requirements of citizens. Again, commissioners talked about reaching a balance.

Some elected officials also asked for bigger pay raises if employees are getting more. District Clerk Anne Reed said she is not only an elected official, but also a department heads. Some department heads are not elected officials and would be getting more of a raise than she would.

Finally, commissioners agreed to give the additional 50 cents per hour increase to employees at the lower end of the pay matrix scale for a total of $1.50 an hour more as other employees and elected officals get only $1 an hour more. That pay rate also goes to the Orange County sheriff's deputies, whose bargaining contract includes deputies getting the same raise as all county employees.