Liberty County has adopted a new way of keeping track of residences on private roads. On Tuesday, March 28, County Commissioners unanimously approved a new 911 addressing system that will require property owners to obtain a private road designation and sign from the county before a new address can be assigned for an additional home or business on the property.
David Douglas, head of the County’s Engineering, Permits and Inspections Department, explained to commissioners at a previous commissioners court meeting that the private road designation will help first responders locate a home or business in an emergency. As there seems to be a growing trend where multiple family members live on the same family land, often sharing a communal driveway, the addressing system has become complicated.
The County’s new procedure will prevent future homes and businesses from obtaining mailing addresses unless they have the private road designation. This new policy only applies to new homes and businesses.
Commissioners debated the best way to number the private roads at previous meetings. It was determined that all private roads will be identified based on their county road number or the nearest county road number, followed by two other digits that will identify the specific property. For example, the first private road to apply for 911 addressing off of CR 133 North will be given Private Road 13301. The second will be given Private Road 13302, and so forth.
County roads are numbered based on their precincts. Most county roads starting with the number 2 are in Pct. 2, or in the general area of Hardin and Moss Hill; county roads starting with the number 4 are generally in Pct. 4 in the Dayton area.
For new addresses on private roads off of major highways, the private road number will be assigned based on the nearest county road, not the state highway or the farm-to-market road.
“The one good thing that is coming out of this form we will be using is that it will require the property owner petitioning for the private road to provide the latitude and longitude of the property,” said Douglas.
Fire Marshall Bill Hergemueller and Sheriff Bobby Rader expressed their support for the new policy when asked by commissioners on Tuesday.
Commissioners took another step in dissolving the Elections Administration Office by transferring the remaining budget from that office, minus the cost of a voter registrar, to a newly-named Elections Department under the County Clerk. The voter registrar portion of the budget will be transferred to the County Tax Assessor-Collector as that office will handle all voter registration duties.
Construction projects related to the new office for Liberty County Pct. 2 were approved by commissioners. These projects will provide the construction of a new covered deck and steps on the east side of the county building (used by law enforcement) and construction of a covered deck with a wheelchair ramp to be used on the justice of the peace portion of the building. The new office is located at 410 Main St., Daisetta. The contractor is GEM Construction of Cleveland.
Repairs and improvements for the County annex in Dayton are on the horizon. Commissioners okayed $35,840 for the work to be performed by Myron McDowell Construction.
In other business, commissioners:
- authorized the sale of fireworks, with the exception of those with sticks and fins, for San Jacinto Day celebrations for the period of April 16-21, 2023;
- approved the application for a Community Development Block Grant;
- approved Jim Spencer and Lisa Smesny to two-year terms on the Liberty County Housing Authority Board;’
- approved high mileage sheriff’s office vehicles to be declared as surplus property and sold in an auction or used as a trade-in for other vehicles;
- approved a contract with El Norte Subdivisions that will add two more sheriff’s deputies to the community. El Norte has agreed to cover the costs of $221,280 for salaries and expenses related to those positions. According to estimates provided at commissioners court, El Norte has roughly 45,000 residents living in the communities.
- approved the purchase of emergency equipment for three 2023 Chevrolet Tahoes for the sheriff’s office;
- approved the reassignment of the payment for security at the tax office. While the security officers have not changed, the company name and structure have changed, which made this action necessary for the security guards to be paid.
Commissioners were set to approve the selection of a Liberty County depository bank, but they agreed to table it until they can meet with representatives of First Liberty Bank and Prosperity Bank and/or review the terms listed in the contracts provided by the two financial institutions.