Published: October 28, 2009 02:06 pm      

County jail to house Hill County inmates

Cooke County will now provide jail services to Hill County for a 12 month period, beginning Nov. 1, 2009.

During Monday’s Commissioners Court, commissioners voted to unanimously approve the interlocal agreement.

County Auditor Shelly Atteberry explained that the agreement is a standard inmate housing contract Cooke County already has with other counties.

As part of the agreement, Hill County will pay Cooke County $42 a day per inmate housed at the county jail. In addition to the basic charge, Hill County will also be responsible for paying additional charges to reimburse Cooke County for expenses associated with providing jail services to inmates such as health care services and dental services.

In a 4:1 vote, with Commissioner Gary Hollowell abstaining, commissioners voted to approve a resolution supporting the Texans Feeding Texans Home Delivered Grant Program for the Tri-County Senior Nutrition Project.

While Hollowell said he fully supports the program, he did not feel comfortable voting for a grant that was “not clear.”

His concerns were stemmed by the grant verbiage which stated that “The county hereby certifies that it has made a grant to the Tri-County Senior Nutrition Project in the amount of $3,000 to be used between Oct. 1, 2009 and Sept. 30, 2010.”

Atteberry said the county did budget $3,000 to go towards the project, but she and Hollowell said it was unclear who the program’s fiscal agent was which could possibly affect the county’s book if she were left to apply for the grant.

Other items approved during court included:

• A resolution to appoint the following board members to the Local Data Advisory Board, through the Texas Department of Public Safety: Sheriff Michael Compton and Jail Administrator Larry Winter to represent the Cooke County Sheriff’s Department, District Attorney Janice Warder, Nancy Carlton and Traci King to represent the Cooke County Attorney, Susan Hughes to represent the Cooke County District Clerk, Pam Baldwin to represent the Cooke County Clerk, Jim Bleything to represent the Gainesville Police Department, Brenda Johnston to represent Adult Probation, Jim Farquhar to represent Adult Probation, Brandy Hammond to represent the County Court at Law and Debbie Reynolds to represent the Cooke County automated data processing.

• A polling place change of location for Precinct 15 from Myra Baptist Church to Myra Fire Station, located at 1659 FM 1198 in Myra.

• A vendor services agreement and pricing change for Geo Med Waste of Texas for the Justice Center and EMS.

• Specifications and advertising for bid for elevator maintenance services in the Cooke County Courthouse.