Thursday's Internet Edition, December 04, 2008.
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| STAYING BUSY- The Hamilton Volunteer Fire Department responded to a grass fire along FM Rd 1241 just south of Hamilton last Wednesday afternoon. Upon arrival they discovered three separate small fires only a short distance apart. Just as they finished extinguishing these fires, a call came in for a grass fire north of Hamilton off of Highway 281 across from Hamilton Livestock Commission Co. (above). The Carlton Fire Department also responded to this fire and helped quickly get it under control. After the area received from between a half and just over an inch of rain Monday morning, the Commissioners’ Court lifted the burn ban, but extreme caution is still urged. Staff Photo |
Commissioners Jim Boatwright, Mike Lewis, Jon Bonner and Dickie Clary were present for the meeting presided over by County Judge Randy Mills.
In discussion of the burn ban, Mills pointed out that the drought index for Hamilton County has dropped somewhat with the recent rains. “If we’re going to allow the ranchers to burn, I don’t think we’re going to get a better window,” he said.
Bonner appealed to landowners to use caution and good judgment when setting fires.
Mills said that he would like for the court to consider allowing Burn Masters to perform controlled burns even when the county is under a burn ban. Ranchers Jim Kenton and Forest Jenson, who are members of the Cross Timbers Burn Association, have been present at each meeting since the ban was implemented in hopes the ban would be lifted. The men have been preparing their land for a controlled burn for many months and have undergone extensive training in performing such burns.
Bonner made the motion, seconded by Boatwright to lift the burn ban. The motion passed unanimously.
Tom Pollan, the county’s bond counsel told the court that Bank of America would issue “Hamilton County, Texas Tax Notes, Series 2008” at an interest rate of 3.25%. At the recommendation of County Auditor Marliessa Clark, the court unanimously authorized issuance of the Tax Notes.
Property owners Alex Catoe and Sammy Seale were at the meeting to speak to commissioners about Hamilton County Road 203.
Catoe told the court that property owners on the county road are concerned about its maintenance. He said that the road, which is paved, was given to the county by the state in the 1950s. He said that three commissioners, Boatwright, Lewis and Bonner, are responsible for the road.
“We’re here to find out if our road was included in the FEMA money, and if not, why,” Catoe said.
Catoe told the court that in the 1950s there were seven dwellings along the road but now there are 30 people who use it.
Catoe said he and other property owners wanted to know: What if Lewis and Bonner don’t take care of their part of the road? How much money has been spent on the road in the last five years? How many times has it been maintained in the last five years? How many times have the trees been chopped?
Catoe said that since he moved to the property in 1995, he has maintained his own bar ditches. He said the road has not been topped or maintained.
“If it was a dirt road, water wouldn’t have been allowed to stand on it,” Catoe said. “You would have put in a tin horn.”
He said that many people other than property owners drive the road. “It’s a county treasure. I’d like to see you take a little more interest in the road,” he said.
Boatwright explained that the road was split among three commissioners after the 2000 census.
Catoe asked who’s precinct the road is in.
“From the center of the road west, it’s in Precinct One,” Boatwright said. “From the center of the road east, it’s in Precincts Two and Three.
“That road, by TxDot standards, would have been considered worn out a long time ago,” Bonner said. “There is no way Jim or Mike could have afforded to chip seal the road.”
“The flood had nothing to do with the alligator cracks running down the road,” Bonner said. “The road is worn out. Until we got the FEMA money you had one of the best roads in the county.”
Bonner said that he would be willing to take care of half the cost of upgrading the road if the property owners paid the other half.”
Catoe stated that taxpayers in Hamilton County have been getting new roads with FEMA funds.
Mills explained that, although Hamilton County has received a large amount of FEMA money, it must be spent exactly as FEMA says to spend it. He also said that the FEMA money is to be spent to return the roads to the condition they were in before the flooding occurred, not to improve the roads.
“FEMA is just not going to pay to re-pave a road that’s worn out,” Bonner said.
“We’re not in here trying to get the road re-paved,” Catoe said. “We’re trying to save what we’ve got.” He said that he wants the bar ditches to be maintained.
“We’ll go out there and grind those trees back,” Bonner said. “There’s always been some hesitancy by commissioners to do that because those cedars are going to look ragged.”
Catoe suggested that since commissioners have not maintained the road for several years, they should spend more money on it now to bring it to better standards.
Boatwright said he has chopped the trees along the road within the last four years.
Bonner said, “Y’all are going to have to realize that there is no way to fix the road outside of a lot of major renovation. I don’t think it would be fair to ask the taxpayers to pony up to re-pave the road with no more traffic than you have.”
Catoe stated several times that if the road was a gravel road, there would have been more maintenance performed.
“If you want to, I can put it back to a gravel road and you won’t be out anything,” Bonner said. “It’s like putting lipstick on a hog when you go out there and start trying to doctor a worn out road.”
Catoe said that he is not asking for the road to be re-paved, only that it be maintained.
Boatwright and Bonner both said they will take their equipment and chop the trees along the road and will keep the potholes patched.
The court also approved payment of bills in the amount of $239,452.06 and accepted minutes of the previous meeting.