Jasper County Commissioners Court
The Jasper County Commissioners Court met in its first Regular Session of the year on a very cold and snowy Tuesday morning on January 21st, 2025 and covered the following agenda items:
First, the Court heard from Sheriff Chuck Havard and Chief Deputy Larry Pulliam Jr., who requested that the Court accept a donation of a new patrol shotgun valued at approximately $850.00 from Mr. David Littlefield of the Roganville area. Sheriff Havard advised that he planned to issue the weapon to his Patrol Lieutenant & K-9 Officer Chad Ainsworth.
The Court accepted the donation on behalf of the Sheriff's Office and thanked Mr. Littlefield for the donation and for all that he has done over the years for Jasper County as an Emergency Corps volunteer, volunteer fireman, and for providing professional heavy equipment services on projects throughout the county.
Next, Sheriff Havard provided the monthly Jail report, advising that the Sheriff's Office had invoiced a total of $22,005.00 for housing inmates in the month of December, 2024 from Nacogdoches and San Jacinto Counties, the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas and the City of Jasper, which the Court approved.
The Court then took up the renewal of Jasper County's contracts with outside jurisdictions for housing inmates, which were near expiration. Sheriff Havard advised that he had discussed housing inmates with the Sheriff of Liberty County and had tentatively agreed upon a rate of $100 per day per inmate.
Havard asked the Court to approve this contract and to also approve his proposal to increase the daily rate for housing inmates to $75 per day for jurisdictions for which Jasper County was already housing inmates, grandfathering them the lower rate.
The Court then agreed to renew contracts at the proposed increased rates and also voted to allow the City of Jasper to remain at the current rate of $45 per day per inmate with no increase.
Concluding law enforcement business, the Court voted to approve the proposed Memorandum of Understanding between Jasper County and the State of Texas under the Statewide Interoperability Plan, which is another required step toward constructing the next 440 feet tall emergency responder communication and 911 microwave tower at the Sheriff's Office in Jasper.
In other business, the Court heard from Deputy County Clerk P.J. Wagstaff who provided a request from County Clerk Holly Thomas to move the polling location at Precinct Box 19 to the Hillcrest Baptist Church on U.S. Highway 190 west of Jasper. Mrs. Wagstaff advised that the property owners at the prior box location no longer desired to be utilized for voting purposes and Hillcrest Baptist Church had expressed their availability to assist, which the Court approved.
Next, Mrs. Wagstaff presented the 2025 election services contracts between Jasper County and the other jurisdictions within the county who utilize the County Clerk's election equipment and services, which the Court also approved.
County Treasurer Rene' Ellis then provided a report on Jasper County's employee sick leave pool, which is comprised of sick time hours donated by employees to assist their peers who are experiencing extended or terminal illnesses.
The Court then approved four employees whose names were drawn to voluntarily serve on the Sick Leave Pool Committee in 2025, which were Cheryl Conner from Precinct 1 Commissioner Seth Martindale's Office, Chris Ruiz from Precinct 2 Commissioner Kevin Holloway's Office and Chelsea Washington and Officer Stormy Dorthy, both from County Judge Mark Allen's Office.
In other business, at the request of the subdivision developer, the Court voted to vacate a preliminary plat for the Estates at Hunt Hill Subdivision near Buna.
The Court also discussed adjusting payroll for individual Commissioner administrative support staff, but opted to take no action at this time.
The Court then voted to update appointments and to approve the organizational chart for the volunteer board members of the Jasper County Historical Commission for 2025 through 2026.
Concluding business, County Treasurer Rene' Ellis provided her monthly financial report, and I then presented the monthly civil and criminal fee report on behalf of District Clerk Rosa Norsworthy.
That covers it for the first Court meeting of the year. As always, feel free to give me a call if you need anything my way.
We pray that everybody stays safe during this current winter freeze event and wish everybody a healthy and prosperous New Year in 2025.
Mark Allen, County Judge
Jasper County, Texas
