Ellis County Commissioners on Tuesday approved several purchasing actions on the court’s agenda, including a preventive maintenance contract for the county jail, network equipment for a new office, and the exemption‑based purchase of two work trucks for Road & Bridge Precinct 2.

Assistant purchasing agent Eric Test told the court that RFB 2025‑002 (convenience store fuel) had been advertised as required and the agenda sought to award that RFB; Test reported the county received only one bid, which the presentation identified as Pyramid Oil & Gas at 14 cents over the invoice rack price. The court approved the item as presented on the agenda. The record shows the court voted to approve the purchasing item listed on the agenda and the county’s purchasing staff will finalize contract documents consistent with legal review.

On the Ellis County Jail, the court approved $109,492 to purchase HVAC and mechanical preventative maintenance services using a Choice Partners cooperative contract with Heritage Air Services LLC. Test said Heritage Air is currently the subcontractor on‑site and the new contract includes boiler maintenance and two additional coil cleanings; the agreement is scheduled to start Jan. 1, 2025. Commissioner Grayson moved the item and Commissioner Stinson seconded it; the court approved the contract unanimously.

The court also approved $38,705.14 to purchase JP2 office network equipment from Flare Data, equipment described by staff as Meraki switches and related licenses to bring network functionality to the JP2 building. The purchase was presented by purchasing staff and the item passed on a voice vote.

Separately, the court granted an exemption under Local Government Code §262.024(1) to permit the purchase of two 2023 Chevrolet 1500 work trucks for Road & Bridge Precinct 2 under an expedited procurement path. Purchasing staff reported a corrected total price of $58,574.46 (a unit price of $29,287.23). Under that exemption, the court approved the subsequent purchase (agenda item 2.6) of the two work trucks from Century Trucks & Vans at $29,287.23 each. Commissioners said the vehicles were needed quickly to replace surplus equipment and that the models matched existing fleet vehicles.

All procurement motions were approved by voice vote; staff said legal review had been completed where required and that cooperative contract authority (Choice Partners, TIPS) was being used for some purchases. The court did not discuss any contract amendments or long‑term budgetary impacts during the public portion of the meeting.