Jefferson County commissioners approve contracts, budget transfers, tax refund and MOU for recycling program

Jefferson County Commissioners Court approved a series of contracts, budget transfers, a property tax refund and a memorandum of understanding to pursue a plastic recycling program during its meeting. The court voted unanimously on each item as presented by the presiding county judge.

The actions affect county procurement, a Community Development Block Grant—Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) construction contract, office build-out spending contingent on Texas Historical Commission approval, a victims notification service agreement, and a tax refund under state property tax law. The recycling MOU would authorize the county judge to sign an agreement with private companies to develop a local recycling program.

Votes at a glance: - Approved a professional services agreement with La Biche Architectural Group Inc. for architectural services for the tax office, not to exceed $15,000 (discretionary exemption under Texas Local Government Code 262.024(a) as cited in the meeting). Motion and second were called and the court voted to approve.

- Approved Change Order No. 2 to the Crane Bayou pump station generator and building contract (CDBG-DR project) with BDS Construction LLC dba MK Constructions to remove old electrical equipment and install new equipment for $41,347, bringing the contractor’s cited total from $1,549,000 to $1,590,347 as stated in the meeting; the change order also added 20 contract days (the transcript contains inconsistent phrasing about the existing total contract days). Funding for this change was said to be provided by the Texas General Land Office (GLO) contract number 20.065-121-C408, with over-budget amounts to be funded by the Jefferson County Drainage District No. 7 per an interlocal agreement.

- Approved budget transfers including: a $1,000 transfer for a switch replacement to the 170 Second District Court account; a $59,100 transfer to fund engineering and build-out of a portion of county office space pending approval by the Texas Historical Commission; and other transfers as listed in the agenda.

- Approved an electronic disbursement of $365,844.71 to LaSalle for revenue received from entities for inmate housing.

- Received and filed financial and operational statements for county funds for March 2025 and approved regular county bills as listed on the agenda (check numbers provided in the meeting record).

- Approved participation in a statewide automatic victims notification system service agreement (listed in the meeting as with "Soligenix, Gulf, Incorporated" for the period shown in the agenda); the meeting record stated the cost of the service is reimbursable by the Office of the Attorney General.

- Authorized the county judge to execute a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Cylix International LLC and ExxonMobil Product Solutions Company to develop a plastic recycling program in Jefferson County; the court voted to authorize execution of the MOU.

- Approved engineering items including the replat of specified McFall/Hargreaves tracts (meeting record said the replat met county plat requirements) and execution of an overweight vehicle permit and road use agreement with Longhorn RV Park to transport equipment on Weber Road (highway number stated in the agenda). These items were approved by motion and second.

- Approved an erroneous and overpayment property tax refund to Hung Noon in the amount of $9,750.62 in accordance with Property Tax Code §31.11.

- Approved a wire transfer of state pool fees in the amount stated in the meeting to the Texas Comptroller (amount cited in the meeting was $345,603.9); motion and second were recorded and the court voted to approve.

Several motions were moved and seconded from the bench; the meeting record repeatedly shows the court saying "motion carries" or "motion carried unanimous" after votes. Where the record named a mover for a specific motion, it was noted in the minutes (for example, the county treasurer wire motion was recorded as moved by Commissioner Sinegal and seconded by Commissioner Keri/Kerry Erickson). Individual roll-call vote tallies by member name were not included in the transcript; the court announced unanimous approval for the listed items.

Many approvals were presented as ministerial or routine and drew no public discussion during the session. The agenda included several items that are contingent on external approvals or funding sources (for example, the office build-out requires Texas Historical Commission approval; the CDBG-DR work relies on GLO grant funding and interlocal support from the Jefferson County Drainage District No. 7).