The second budget workshop of the week on Friday gave the Commissioners Court another opportunity to hear from department heads about their needs and concerns for next fiscal. Four departments presented their budget requests and three departments gave capital outlay requests.
Two departments with some very expensive capital outlay requests are the Management Information Systems and the Road and Bridge Department. Their two requests for capital outlay items would exceed one million dollars if all the items were approved.
Overseeing all the computers, software, and office machines in the Courthouse and other county offices is the responsibility of Management Information Systems or MIS. Lisa Reeves is the department’s director, and she told the Court her main need is a new I Series Power 9 server to handle the computers for the Sheriff’s Office, the District Attorney’s office, and all the district courts. That piece of equipment alone will cost $85,000. The current server is seven years old. MIS can no longer get software support for it and soon will not be able to get support for the hardware.
Following that news Reeves informed the Commissioners that the current software used by the District Clerk’s Office and most of the other departments in the Courthouse would not be compatible with the new server if purchased. Orange County is the only county in the state using the JEMS software program and replacing it is considered a priority by Reeves. Because of the tight budget following Harvey it may need to be delayed for another year. A Dell server could be purchased to serve the District Clerk’s Office in the interim.
The other priority according to Reeves is a new high-speed printer. MIS has two printers currently, but a new one priced at $18,000 which includes a one-year maintenance agreement would be her choice. Reeves’ is asking for $207,000 in capital outlay items.
Road and Bridge always has some of the highest capital outlay requests needing to upgrade road construction equipment. County Engineer Clark Slacum presented his requests for several items including four new pickup trucks, two maintainers, a culvert cleaning machine, and accessories to the Skid Steer excavator that was donated this year to his department. His requests would total $794,795 in new equipment.
Parks Department gave the other capital outlay request. Sabrina Gray only requested a new pickup truck with a crew cab so all of her employees could ride in it. She priced one on the state buying contract for $35,000.
Gray presented her budget requests during the first portion of the workshop. Her main concern is replacing the office at the Claiborne West Park that was seriously damaged during Harvey. The building has never been even cleaned out of storm debris. Maintenance Director Kurt Guidry has been asked to seek bids for the cleanout and then restoring of the building at the park.
The Orange County Landfill known as the Citizen Collection Station is operated under the Road and Bridge Department. Slacum and the Commissioners Court had the longest discussion of the workshop on the future operation of the landfill. They discussed whether the facility should revert to being open just two days a week like before Harvey or some other number of days less than the current six days a week.
The decision on the number of days the landfill would be open will go a long way to determining how many employees are needed to run the landfill. Slacum would like to have one full-time employee and one part-time employee there, but that would not be adequate if the landfill is open for up to 40 hours a week since part-time employees are only allowed to work 29 hours a week.
Methods of payment for the disposing of garbage at the landfill was discussed. Currently citizens are allowed to use the landfill for free when disposing of Harvey debris. Previously, payment was done by purchasing an annual sticker and then a punch card that would allow a certain number of visits to the landfill depending on the size of the load to be dropped off. The discussions included going to the use of credit cards and cash to pay for use the landfill by citizens.
County Judge Dean Crooks and his office manager Bailey Aaron spoke on the other two departments. Crooks said he is looking to reinstatement a floater position in his department that could step in for Aaron which she is out and serve in other offices where needed. The position would be a NE-2 classification.
The Mailroom in the Administration Building comes under the county judge. Aaron said the main need in the Mailroom is $4,000 for Pitney Bowes products to allow county offices to mail items without going to the Post Office.
Two more similar workshops are scheduled for next week. There will be other workshops to discuss specific items like coverage for dependents of county employees also next week.
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