Taylor County Commissioners focus on juveniles, roads

On March 25, the Taylor County Commissioners Court held its regular meeting, to which they started off the meeting by discussing the previous two meetings. A special meeting on March 18 took place in the small town of Buffalo Gap, during which the commissioners discussed implementing a Smithsonian display in honor of Buffalo Gap hosting Smithsonian’s exhibit “Crossroads: Change in Rural America.”

During the March 25 meeting, presentations of the March service awards and the recognition of Taylor County Trooper Jack Bonner took place. One of the March service award recipients was Mari Moore, who worked for the Commissioners Court for 25 years.

Following the awards, the Commissioners discussed a range of topics from the juvenile services to the Parent/Student Reunification site.

Allison Stafford, the Chief Juvenile Probation Officer, gave her commentary on the need for funding to help support juvenile services for the Juvenile Justice Center.

“With the funds, we are able to provide a multitude of services for minority offenders that represent a disproportionate amount of kids within our juvenile justice system,” Stafford said.

Since 2016, the JJC has received over $20,000 each year to help support the services needed for children, and all funds have been used for psychological assessments and counseling sessions.

Triumph Public School and Taylor County Commissioners have worked together to create a memorandum for the Parent/Student Reunification site in an effort to help families in case of emergency or evacuations. Triumph Principal Beatriz Romero was present at the meeting and provided her own commentary about the need for the reunification site.

“If we could use the 300 North parking lot (of the Taylor County Courthouse), just in a case that I have to evacuate my students for any reason,” Romero said.

The Taylor County Commissioners approved the use of the parking lot at 317 Pecan Street as a place Triumph Public School could use for evacuating students and also a reunification location.
The Taylor County Commissioners approved a resolution stating that they oppose the elimination of county wide voting.

Elections Administrator Freda Ragan explained the situation, stating, “There were several bills that were introduced, and those bills are aimed at eliminating the countywide polling place program, as well as the use of electronic poll books.”

During the Road and Bridge segment of the meeting, Commissioner Chuck Statler discussed the implementation of a right of way sign from Taylor Telecom to install a fiber optic line on CR 166 in PCT4. Commissioner Brad Birchum also proposed the approval of several roads in need of acceptance, with the roads including Ridge Road, Sand Ridge Road, and Indian Ridge Road. After their discussion on the road and bridge items, the commissioners approved both.

For the final item of the meeting, Clint Rosenbaum, of Rosenbaum Engineering, presented a proposal to add additional paving for the Expo Center Paving project to combat issues that the Expo Center is currently experiencing.

“They’re mainly dealing with drainage issues and some of the dumpster locations where we scope up material and put it in the dumpster,” Rosenbaum said.

After his discussion about the areas affected and the pavement needed, the commissioners approved the proposal.

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