Commissioners approve a package of contracts, bids, budget amendments and construction payments

McLennan County commissioners voted Friday to approve a slate of procurement actions, interlocal agreements, budget amendments, construction invoices and grant-related payments that were presented on the court's consent and supplemental agendas.

Court staff summarized purchase orders, bid awards and contract renewals across multiple departments. The court approved furniture and workspace moves for Information Technology (Total Office Solutions), aggregate material awards (multiple vendors), fire-alarm monitoring agreements following basement wiring changes, a document-scanning agreement for 2,003 felony records, talent-locator recruiting services for jail staffing, multiple interlocal roadwork agreements with nearby cities, renewal of employee-benefit consulting services with HUB International, and an agreement for a county hazard-mitigation-plan update with H2O Partners.

Construction and capital items advanced as presented: the court approved a construction budget for the 2124/2120/5th Street building acquisition and repairs ($658,304 included in permanent-improvement fund adjustments), payment applications for a county HVAC renovation project with Lockridge Priest, and an invoice from Brinkley, Sargent & Waitington Architects for downtown jail remodel work. The court also approved an amendment to the architects' agreement for the downtown jail remodel (item O2) reflecting higher design-development-based percentages tied to updated project budgets.

On budget matters, the court approved multiple fiscal-year-2025 budget amendments, including requests to move contingency funds into departmental repair and maintenance, software licensing, furniture and equipment, and funding for the 2124 North 20 Fifth Street purchase. The court approved the FY26 budget calendar and authorized the county to proceed with budget packet distribution and a July-focused budget-review schedule.

Grant and ARPA items approved included a contract amendment and management services invoices for ARPA administration, the authorization of draw request #5 for the City of Riesel subrecipient ARPA project, and multiple Title IV-E legal budget and claim corrections. The court also ratified an interlocal agreement needed for Operation Lone Star participation with cooperating cities.

Supplemental and department-specific items approved included acceptance of donations to the specialty court (including memorial donations), approval of a retiring deputy's request to purchase his duty weapon, authorization to destroy obsolete IT equipment in coordination with the City of Waco, and approval to participate again in a public-power aggregation procurement administered by the Public Power Pool (P3) for electric supply aggregation.

Votes at a glance (all actions were approved as recorded on the transcript; where an amount or vendor was stated it is noted):

- F1a / F1b: Total Office Solutions — cubicle relocation and new panels for IT (approved).

- F2: Bid 25-009 aggregate surface treatment — awards recommended by purchasing director (approved).

- G1a / G1b: Fire-monitoring agreements with First Fire Protection Services for courthouse and 1211 Washington Avenue (approved).

- G2: Service order with Exela/HOV for DA felony-case file scanning, $27,443.14 (approved).

- G3: Talent locator model with Recourse Communications for jail recruitment (approved).

- G4/G8: Interlocal roadwork agreements with the cities of Hawesburg and Mart to mill/repair local roadways (approved; discussed as supporting lake access and school-bus routes).

- G5: Renewal of professional services with HUB International for employee-benefit consulting ($49,500 renewal through May 8, 2026) (approved).

- G6: Professional services agreement with H2O Partners for hazard-mitigation-plan update (approved).

- G7: Encroachment agreement with City of Waco to cross right-of-way for records-building electrical work (approved).

- H1: Construction budget for 2124/2120/5th Street building project; purchase price noted at $425,000 and total project costs included in packet (approved).

- K1a1 / K1a2: ARPA administrative contract amendment and invoice approval for grant-management services (approved).

- K1b: ARPA draw request #5 for City of Riesel (approved).

- K1c1 / K1c2: Lockridge Priest HVAC renovation pay applications (approved; pay app totals as reflected in packet).

- K2 / K4: Title IV-E legal corrections/rats and corrected budgets (approved).

- K3: Operation Lone Star interlocal agreement/resolution (approved).

- L1: Acceptance of donations for specialty court (approved).

- L2: Sheriff request to purchase duty weapon upon retirement (approved, amount listed in packet).

- L3: Authorization to destroy obsolete IT devices (11 notepads; City of Waco to handle disposition) (approved).

- M4: Authorization of refund requests for overpayment of real-estate taxes per tax office list (approved).

- M6: Public Power Pool (P3) aggregation participation — court moved to continue aggregation with P3 (approved by voice vote); no action was required to remain enrolled, but court adopted a motion of support.

- N1: Amendment for records-building ADA renovations with SV (CPNY/STV) to survey and redesign entire parking lot to meet ADA standards (approved).

- O2a/O2b: Downtown jail remodel invoice and amendment for architect fees and budget-percentage updates (invoice approved; amendment approved).

- Supplemental B1: Agreement with Optum/UnitedHealthcare for Walgreens class-action claims processing (Optum to represent plan for fee; approved).

All items listed above were presented with motions and seconds and recorded on the court transcript as approved; where specific dollar amounts or vendor names were in the agenda packet, they were included in the court's discussion and packet materials. The transcript shows voice votes of "Aye" and the clerk announcing "Motion carries" for each listed motion; individual roll-call vote tallies or commissioner names for each vote were not recorded on the public oral record.

County staff said several items had gone through required reviews (legal, finance, purchasing) prior to coming to the court. No formal dissent or abstentions were recorded on the full consent and supplemental agendas during the session recorded in the transcript.