Breckenridge Texan

By Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan

Stephens County Commissioners voted at their latest meeting to approve a “pothole fixing week” in conjunction with the City of Breckenridge. During that week, County employees will work with City employees to make repairs to potholes in the city streets. They will share workers and combine city and county equipment to get more work done fixing potholes that week.

Speaking to Interim Breckenridge City Manager Scott Dixon during the meeting on Monday, Dec. 14, County Judge Michael Roach said his understanding is that when two tax-funded entities, like the city and the county, work together, there has to be an interlocal agreement that is structured in such a way where there’s a balance or equal give-and-take that makes it acceptable.

Dixon said, by having the commissioners approve the measure during Monday’s meeting, it gives him the authority to work with their attorney in setting up the agreement, and the county can get started working with their attorney on the agreement.

“And certainly, I think our streets crews could benefit from working side by side with county crews,” he said.  “And maybe we can learn from each other and utilize equipment, do other things where the city, the county don’t both happen to own that same piece of equipment and can share that.”

Dixon said he can envision the city buying the materials that would go into the city streets so the county is not using its funds to pay for the actual items, but, donating labor to do the work or donating machine hours do the work and then the city reciprocating on county projects in the future.

“So that’s the way that works,” Dixon said. “And certainly it doesn’t have to be all streets related. So there may be other opportunities. For instance, we run a convenience station…then we help you dispose of items that you wouldn’t be able to dispose of.”

The date for the pothole fixing week was not set at Monday’s meeting because the city is waiting on a street study, which is expected to be conducted in January. Dixon said the company doing the study will send a team to Breckenridge in early January and will use a Google-type car to drive around and digitally capture images of the condition of Breckenridge’s streets.

The study will provide a list of all the streets and a condition analysis, which will be used to put together an engineered plan on where and how they’re going to fix streets and how much it will cost.

Roach said there is a lot that can be accomplished from the City and County working together.

“I’ve heard this numerous times since I’ve been in office, ‘Hey, why doesn’t this happen? Why isn’t there more collaboration? Why isn’t there more utilization?’” Roach said. “And I think we’ve all kind of hid behind our walls of, of our taxing entities. … And I think that we’re missing some good opportunities.”

During public comment on the issue, Breckenridge Fire Chief Calvin Chaney, who also serves as the Stephens County Fire Marshal, said the city and county used to collaborate on projects.

“A lot of people don’t know, but we used to do this together,” he said. “We paved all of East Elliott together, city and county. We hauled all the grass to the soccer fields from Fort Worth together. So it’s always been there. It’s just been the last several years it’s been forgotten. It’s not something that hasn’t been done before. It’s not like we’re doing a cookie cutter deal, it’s been there…it’s always been City helps the County, County helps the City. It’s always been like that.”

Rhonda Peacock Resolution

Commissioners also honored retiring Deputy District Clerk Rhonda Peacock with a resolution naming Dec. 14, 2020, as Rhonda Peacock Day. Before reading the resolution, Roach read a two-page letter written by County Attorney Gary Trammell, who was unable to attend the meeting, honoring her 24 years of service.

Commissioners then presented her with a resolution that said: “We hereby honor Rhonda Peacock for her 24 and a half years of service to Stephens County. We recognize her valuable contribution to our county, the 19th Judicial District Court, our community, and we wish her all the best in her retirement and we thank her for a job well done. We hereby declare the 14th day of December 2020 as Rhonda Peacock Day adopted, resolved and signed this working day.”

Roach, who has worked with Peacock during his four years as Justice of the Peace and the last two years as County Judge, said he has always appreciated Peacock’s sweet attitude and that she was a symbol of what dedicated public service is all about.

Fire Ban

Commissioners chose to leave the county-wide fire ban in place, following the recommendation of Chaney.

Other Business

In other business, commissioners approved Subdivision Rules for the unincorporated areas of Stephens County. Then,  following public comments by Jeorgann and Chuck Cook, they approved Junkyard Regulations for the unincorporated areas for Stephens County. The Cooks had questions about the regulations.

They approved a Surety Bond to be filed with the Comptroller of Public Accounts for the Tax Assessor-Collector for Stephens County Christie Latham.

They also acknowledged and filed for record Western Surety Bond No. 63477779 for Valeria Gallegos, Deputy Tax Assessor/Collector for Stephens County; Will Warren, Stephens County Commissioner Precinct 3, Surety Bonds Nos. 63010487 and 63010523; Western Surety Bond No. 14924276 for Brenda Mahan, Deputy District Clerk for Stephens County; Western Surety Bond No. 618950072 for Crystal Shook, Deputy Tax Assessor/Collector for Stephens County; Western Surety Bond No. 13749400 for Sharon Trigg, Treasurer for Stephens County; and Western Surety Bond No. 71488709 for Christie Latham, Tax Assessor/Collector Breckenridge Independent School District.

Commissioners approved a bid from Donnie Sechrest Construction, Inc. for security improvements at the Stephens County Airport. They also approved the payment of an invoice from West Texas County Judges and Commissioner Associations and an invoice from J & J Oilfield Electric.

Stephens County Judge Michael Roach presents Deputy District Clerk Rhonda Peacock with a resolution naming Dec. 14, 2020, as Rhonda Peacock Day. Peacock was honored by the court for her 24 years of service to Stephens County. Also pictured are Precinct 4 County Commissioner Eric O’Dell, Precinct 3 County Commissioner Will Warren, and Precinct  1 County Commissioner Mark McCullough. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

Cutline, top photo: Members of the Stephens County Commissioners Court listen as Stephens County resident Jeorgann Cook discusses proposed junkyard regulations for the unincorporated areas of Stephens County. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

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