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At the Monday Commissioner’s Court meeting, two items on the agenda were rejected following tense negotiations.

The first, a request to ratify an application that had been sent to Homeland Security for a grant for FY 2012, estimated to be $74,020 if awarded and with no local match to the county, died for lack of a majority vote.

The grant, had it been awarded, was to go to the purchase of software that would enhance communication for officers while on patrol. Unfortunately, the deadline for the application was January 13, and, according to Judge Wayne Brascom, it was not received in time to be placed on the agenda for the last Commissioner’s Court. The deadline fell before Monday’s meeting, thus the project worksheet, which let Homeland Security know that Llano County was interested in applying for the grant was signed and mailed to make the deadline.

Judge Brascom placed the item on the agenda in order to ratify the submission. However, concerns were expressed by County Auditor Cindy Lent that because normal procedure had not been followed, which is to let her research all grants, that the Court could not be sure that the grant would not carry stipulations that would be a burden on the County.

Although all of the commissioners agreed that the software and grant would be welcome to the county, they were hesitant to move forward with grant process without knowing what, if any, stipulations the County would be faced with.

When it came time to vote, Commissioners Johnnie Heck and Tommy Duncan as well as Judge Brascom voted for the approval, while Commissioners Linda Raschke and Jerry Don Moss were opposed.

Judge Brascom made the decision to abstain from the vote, making it 2-2, and with no majority, the motion died.

Because it was just a letter of interest, the application will be pulled from the pool with no ramifications to the County, according to Judge Brascom.

In other business, the Court considered payment for service even though a Purchase Order was not issued prior to the work being completed.

An invoice was submitted to the county by Cher-Tex Communications, owned by Bode Barker, for parts and service used for the installation of security camera systems at each site of the Tri-County Tower Project.

Barker, who has worked with the county in the past, had discussed the installation of the security cameras prior to the installation and the County had purchased most of the equipment needed for the project, but no authorization for the project had been given.

In December, Barker was on-site at one of the towers and went ahead with the installation even though he had not obtained a purchase order number, which is required for all parts and service purchased by the County.

County Auditor Lent informed the Commissioners that State statute disallows payment for any parts that has not been issued a purchase order, however, she said that while the county rules say that neither parts nor service can be paid without a purchase order having been issued prior to receiving them, that the State statute leaves the payment of services up to the Court.

While considering the matter, Commissioner Duncan told the Court, “I have a problem setting a precedent.” Commissioner Heck agreed saying, “What should he have done? He should have gotten a purchase order.”

Judge Brascom made a motion to approve the payment of the invoice, for the amount of $3,519 which was only for the labor and excluded any cost for parts as required by the State statute, and Commissioner Heck seconded it.

All four commissioners voted against paying the bill, and Judge Brascom cast the lone ‘for’ vote.

As the matter stands now, the bill will not be paid unless the matter is taken to the county attorney for a second opinion. If the county attorney finds that it would be in the county’s best interest to pay the amount, than it will go back on the agenda for approval by the Court.

Following a short recess, the Court approved several grants for advertising, including $8,000 for all lodges who wish to advertise in 101 Fun Things to Do for two issues in 2012; a max of $13,500 for advertising on the website Thehighlandlakes.com for any participating lodge in Llano County, and $12,000 maximum for the Kingsland/Lake LBJ Chamber of Commerce for advertising, including a two-page spread in for the Llano County Lodging Association. These grants are all 75/25 matching grants, and funds are taken from Hotel and Motel Tax.

In addition, the Llano County Lodging Association asked for, and received at total of $57,404 dollars for advertising and a membership to the Central Texas Water Coalition ($1,000), including billboards in three major cities, advertising in Texas Highways Magazine and rack cards.

Finally, the Court accepted the resignation of Sherry Musgrove from the Llano County Library Board and accepted the appointment of Dr. Terry Northup to the Llano County Library Board to represent the Friends of the Kingsland Library. His term will expire December 31, 2015.