Liberty County Commissioners Court held its final regular meeting of the year on Tuesday, Dec. 17, a week earlier than usual due to the upcoming Christmas holiday. During the meeting, the court approved key appointments to fill the positions of fire marshal and emergency management coordinator.
Nathan Green, who currently serves as the fire marshal for the City of Shenandoah near The Woodlands, Texas, was appointed as Liberty County’s new fire marshal. Antwyne Johnson was selected as the county’s new emergency management coordinator. Both appointments come after a thorough review process led by a review board committee formed in September following the arrest of the former fire marshal, who also served as emergency management coordinator.
The review board committee, which was tasked with vetting applicants, included the Liberty County Sheriff or a designee, the County Treasurer or a designee, the County Attorney or a designee, the County Auditor or a designee, and the County Purchasing Agent or a designee. After evaluating all applicants, the committee presented its findings and rankings to the Commissioners Court for consideration.
Commissioners discussed the appointments in executive session before reconvening in open session to formally approve Green and Johnson for their respective roles. County Treasurer Kim Harris has been tasked with notifying the selected applicants of their appointments.
The court also addressed the vacant Precinct 4 commissioner position, left open following the passing of Commissioner Leon Wilson last month. An agenda item to consider and approve a recommendation for the position, to be made by County Judge Jay Knight, was discussed in executive session. However, commissioners took no action on the matter at this time.
Another item discussed in executive session and approved by commissioners was an offer from First Liberty Bank to convey a property owned by First Liberty Bank at 311 Travis St., in exchange for the county conveying to First Liberty Bank a property owned by the county at 1801 Trinity St., Liberty, which is the former offices of the now-defunct Liberty-Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce. Judge Knight said that both properties need to be appraised before the agreements can become final, and commissioners agreed to move forward with negotiations with FLB.
Another interesting item on the agenda dealt with Hull Fresh Water District #1’s project for a new water well. The County agreed to award $800,000 to HFWD, with the remaining funds needed for the project coming from HFWD. The county’s portion of funding comes from ARPA grant funds.
Commissioners had an information-only item on the agenda pertaining to who has authority in Liberty County to provide certificates of occupancy, which were previously provided by the fire marshal’s office. Assistant County Attorney Kathrine McCarty told commissioners that the State Fire Marshal’s Office believes the responsibility for COOs should be shifted elsewhere.
“The State Fire Marshal’s Office, just to be 100 percent transparent, suggested that it not lie with the fire marshal’s office,” McCarty said.
Commissioners discussed making the permits department responsible for issuing COOs once the property owners complete a checklist, but they were concerned about overwhelming the already-busy permits department with another chore. They took no action on this item.
In other business, commissioners approved creating a memorandum of understanding between Liberty County and its purchasing department for the purchase of vehicles designated for public safety use using remaining ARPA funds; approved transferring ARPA funds from the county-wide radios projects to the law enforcement vehicles project in the amount of $250,000; and approved transferring unobligated ARPA funds from the City of Ames Rehabilitation Project to the law enforcement vehicles project in the amount of $165,758.
The next regular commissioners court meeting will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 14. Meetings are held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month in the Liberty County Courthouse, County Court at Law, on the second floor.