Freestone County Commissioners approved procurement policies and procedures under the American Rescue Plan Act and began the process of distributing the funds.
The county is working with GrantWorks to draft requests for proposals for approved spending.
“There are a lot of special considerations in this procurement policy to address under-served businesses and the way RFPs need to be written,” County Judge Linda Grant said.
“We have to adopt this and follow the rules if we want to spend the money,” summarized Commissioner Lloyd Lane.
In previous talks, the county has considered establishing emergency stations with generators at community centers and local churches for residents to use during natural disasters or outages, according to Grant.
“We’re trying to think about reaching all the citizens and spread out the funds among different areas to help,” Grant said, estimating nineteen generators would be needed altogether.
Another eligible expense is patrol cars, and Grant suggested utilizing the funds to upgrade the county’s fleet.
For the first round of expenditures, the county will request proposals for generators for nine emergency stations, nine fire stations, and the Sheriff’s Office.
Also included were replacement of the AC/heating system at one of the emergency station locations, headsets for FCSO dispatchers and four patrol cars, and new ambulances for Teague and Fairfield.
With grants currently available to fund generators for water supply systems, the court will gather more information and wait to solicit bids.
Area fire departments submitted requests for equipment ranging from $10,000 to over $80,000.
“I want to keep it fair,” Lane said. “I would just like to look at call volumes from each department. If somebody has a definite need then I want to see them get it, especially right now while we’ve got these funds.”
Commissioners opted to revisit the individual requests from VFDs and area ambulance services.
“We’re going to have a lot of different bids going out,” Grant said. “If we could get started with the things that we’re agreeing on, then we have less to talk about and worry about.”
She added that the county has two years to obligate the ARPA funds and four years to spend them.
In other business, the court accepted the first installment of $5,761.65 for Senior Services from the Texas Department of Agriculture Home-Delivered Meals grant program Feb. 16.
The program was established to help supplement and extend the current home-delivered meal program for seniors and disabled Texans.
No action was taken on the burn ban, which remains in effect.
Commissioners heard from landowners regarding a request to replat and combine lots in The Wilderness. The motion was unanimously approved.
Pending necessary documentation, the court tabled approval of an agreement between the District Clerk and Avenu Enterprise Solutions, LLC for microfilm storage from March 1, 2021 to February 28, 2026. The company currently stores 181 rolls for the county at $1.50 per roll, per year.
The racial profiling reports for Constable precincts 1 and 2 were accepted, as well as budget transfers, amendments, and certification, payment of bills, payroll, and reports from county departments.
