On Tuesday, October 15, the Gray County commissioners and Judge Chris Porter held their bi-monthly meeting, starting with approving the first items on the agenda which included considering the minutes of the previous meeting, considering any line-item transfers and budget amendments, accepting the County Treasurer’s monthly and quarterly report and accepting the County Clerk’s monthly report.
During the discussion of the County Treasurer’s report, the health fund was brought into question and a concern was raised by Commissioner Jeff Haley.
“I just want you to be aware that there’s only $1600 in there. We have had some large payouts on claims, so we moved money to pay those out and we have more large claims to come,” County Treasurer Terri Kitchens said.
“Going forward for planning and budgeting, what we’re looking at here, we’ve dropped down to $1600 and some change, so what I’m asking is do we have a sense of where this is headed with these patients?” Commissioner Haley said.
“The more we know ahead of time the more we can plan. We’re thinking about spending money on capital projects, but until we know what our insurance deal is, we better not think about those. We can’t just sit here and spend money when we have an obligation to the insurance side that we can’t cover. We need a general idea of where this train is headed.”
Terri informed Haley that there was no way to tell how things are going to turn out for patients due to HIPAA laws and no one knows when they might need medical care.
“I’m going to sit here and say that we don’t touch anything until this ship is righted because it’s sinking today,” Haley said. “This is our responsibility and I think entertaining any other ideas today for now after what I just heard is crazy. This is a warning shot.”
After the discussion, the court moved forward to the next item on the agenda to discuss and consider the TAC provided Cyber-Security Insurance, where two representatives discussed the policy should the court decide to proceed.
The court decided to arrange a meeting with the company and the IT team to sit and have a further discussion about what is best for the cyber safety of the county.
Next was the approval of the Texas Department of Agriculture Home Delivered Meal Grant program for Pampa Meals on Wheels, which was approved.
Next was the the approval of Park Hill to renovate the property located at 300 W. Kingsmill.
The considerations of approving the purchase of a water tanker for Precinct 4 and the purchase of a 2005 Mack Truck for Precinct 2 were also passed.
The last item of interest on the agenda was the consideration of implementing a county wide burn ban.
“I have talked to other county judges and in their area, they have not adjusted their burn bans. I agree with everybody that government overreach is something that I do not want to do. Common sense has to be used in this. But the requirement is if you’re going to burn something, call dispatch and let them know first. I bring this up because I do not want to be the county that doesn’t have a burn ban and if one starts here, burns up 10,000 acres of grass,” Judge Porter said.
The consideration of implementing a county wide burn ban died due to lack of motion and the meeting was adjourned.
