Titus County Commissioners Court held a workshop discussion after a special meeting canvass to examine a proposed I-30 weigh-station and truck-parking project, hear a Texas Department of Public Safety briefing on operations and technology, and consider whether to pursue a State Infrastructure Bank (SIB) loan application.

Daniel (a DPS commercial-vehicle inspector who identified his role in the discussion) told the court that, for the county fiscal period he reviewed, DPS had conducted 7,343 inspections in Titus County, removed 733 unsafe vehicles from the roadway, removed 144 drivers from service and issued 315 citations alongside about 5,392 warnings. He described the new-generation facility as a “large scale” operation that would use sensors and license-plate readers to screen traffic remotely and prioritize “red” flags for inspection while allowing compliant trucks to bypass so commerce is not hindered.

Residents and county officials pressed DPS on staffing and procedures. Daniel said the current scale-house equipment (installed in 1994) constrains on-site staffing but that the modernized system could support additional civilian inspectors (the county budget, he said, includes funding for two additional FTE civilian inspectors). He described typical inspection times of 30–40 minutes for routine stops and two hours or more for complex, safety-critical investigations.

The court also focused on revenue, appeals and tracking. County representatives and a county-attorney office speaker explained that some pretrial fees (for CDL holders who accept pretrial offers) remain in county accounts and support local budgets, while other fine components are state funds remitted to the state comptroller. Several officials said county reporting places fine and fee receipts across multiple funds and that the treasurer and auditor reconcile monthly records; the court asked for a consolidated, station-specific accounting to understand the facility’s net revenue to the county.

Holly Parker (who identified herself during the discussion) outlined recent outreach to DPS, JP offices and peer counties and said she would file records requests for three years of weigh-station budgets, tickets and appeal records (including Seguin and Guadalupe County examples) to provide comparative operational and revenue data. Parker urged the court to do that background work before presenting any measure to voters; other participants countered that starting the SIB application (which does not obligate the county to borrow) would deliver the interest-rate and loan numbers the court needs to evaluate the project.

Judge Cooper told the court TxDOT would handle bidding, construction and letting for the main truck-parking infrastructure and that the state or federal government would retain ownership of the truck-parking area while the county would be responsible for the waste/station component. Commissioners and residents recommended the county seek service-level agreements and contractual “clawbacks” to ensure the facility is staffed and operated at levels needed to generate projected revenue, warning the court that building debt without operational control could leave the county exposed.

No formal vote to move forward with construction was recorded. The court recorded several next steps: formal records requests to JP offices and TxDOT, outreach to Seguin and Guadalupe County for comparative budgets, a possible site visit to an operating facility, and continued analysis before any vote or public measure. Commissioner Applewhite moved to adjourn and the court closed the meeting after the motion passed; the transcript records a single opposed voice as the only recorded dissent during adjournment.

Quotes from the meeting capture the tenor of the workshop. Daniel summarized operations: “7,343 inspections were conducted in Titus County... We removed 733 vehicles that were unsafe.” Holly Parker urged thorough review before a public vote: “You cannot ask me, a voter, to vote on this if you guys don't understand the process.” A DPS representative corrected a misconception about funding: “There's no such thing as getting an X amount of money per inspection,” the DPS speaker said, noting enforcement is funded by grants and formulas rather than per-inspection payments.

Next steps described on the record include records requests, comparative budget pulls for Seguin/Guadalupe, an offer by Holly Parker to compile district-level data, and the possibility of submitting a SIB application to secure precise loan terms before any final decision.