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Land development asks for more professional services funding and proposes $10,000 in‑house long‑range transportation work
Summary
Erath County land development department requested increased professional services funding to cover two inspectors, proposed $10,000 for an in‑house long‑range transportation plan (versus $40,000–$80,000 for outside consultants), and raised the need for a shared administrative assistant and future vehicle replacement.
Jason, speaking for the Land Development Department, asked the Commissioners Court to increase the department's professional services allocation to account for both Joe England and newly hired county inspector Kevin Rust and outlined options for a long-range transportation plan.
"Since I brought Kevin Rust on as our county inspector, I needed to add a little bit more to that ... because I'm using him a lot for inspections," Jason said, requesting additional funds in professional services to avoid operating in the red. He estimated that outside consultants for a long-range transportation plan would likely cost "anywhere from 40,000 to 80,000," but proposed doing the plan in-house with Joe England and himself for roughly $10,000.
Jason also requested guidance on whether to budget for a shared administrative assistant (to be coordinated with commissioners' secretarial support and existing staff like Rachel Hazard) and noted potential one-time equipment costs if the county chooses to hire a dedicated administrative employee. He raised a planning question about a 2017 pickup in county ownership: the truck has about 70,000 miles, the transmission is beginning to slip, and he asked whether to plan for replacement or keep running it until the county decides to swap vehicles.
The court asked Jason to confer with Joe England about plan scope and to provide comparable contract examples from other counties to better evaluate the outside-versus-in‑house decision. Commissioners indicated they favored getting more detail and said staff should bring examples and refined estimates to the next session.
