Commissioners approve engineering proposal for annex site work

Gonzales County commissioners approved on Monday, Nov. 25, a proposal for engineering services by Southwest Engineers Inc. to review the county annex building on Sarah DeWitt Drive for possible site improvements to support building renovation.

County Judge Pat Davis said Tere O’Connell and Jack Hawkins with O’Connell Architecture LLC indicated a need for a site plan that identifies any proposed parking improvements, sidewalks, ramps and restriping as well as ADA access.

There also will need to be a detailed grading plan and site drainage plan as some concerns have been identified throughout the existing parking and drive areas around the existing structure that may need to be addressed through grades or a storm drainage system.

Precinct 3 Commissioner Kevin La Fleur asked whether the court shouldn’t hold off taking action on the proposal “until we find out exactly what it is we’re going to do.”

“What’s going to happen when they change something on the front of the building? It’s going to change the elevation,” La Fleur said.

Amy Peeler, court administrator for Davis, reminded commissioners they will need the site drainage plan and elevation study regardless of anything else being done at the building and the agreement on the proposal must be in place before any such studies or plans can be performed.

“They’d like to get this done and over to WJE (Wiss Janney Elstner Engineering) so they can finalize their plans for the building,” Peeler said. “Right now they have 95 percent of what they need and this is the last piece of the puzzle.”

Commissioners also approved an interlocal agreement between the City of Nixon and Gonzales County for legal services and approved employing County Attorney-Elect Eduardo “Eddie” Xavier Escobar as a consultant for the County Attorney’s office for the month of December 2024 to assist in his transition into office.

Escobar has served as city attorney for Nixon for 17 years and Nixon officials wanted to have an agreement in place with the county that would allow him to continue.

“This would not cost the county anything,” Escobar said. “In fact, under the structure of the agreement, there would be a financial gain by the county of approximately $10,000 a year. It's basically for the four-year term, which at this time I've been currently elected for. At that time, it would have to be revisited. There's also a provision in there that either side, whether it be the county or the city, would be able to terminate that agreement if things weren't going to plan.”

As for the consultant position, Escobar will be helping manage the office as incumbent County Attorney Paul Watkins, whose term ends Dec. 31, will be out of the office due to medical issues.

“My prayers are with Paul, but I know that there's a need for a lot of the administrative work there at that office,” Escobar said. “I've had a discussion with Paul about this. He had no issue with me doing this.”

Escobar said he proposes being paid for under 30 hours so there will not be any benefits that kick in during the month of December and because he also still is trying to close out his private pactice after two decades in business.

“I do not anticipate that I will be having direct case involvement, at least for the month of December, just because I'm still cleaning stuff up,” Escobar said. “Now, if those things are resolved and there's absolutely zero things on my plate, then absolutely I'll do whatever is needed on the prosecution side, but on the front end, it's more about the administrative duties.”

Escobar suggested his pay should not be any more than what an assistant county attorney makes, which is $4,006 gross every two weeks, but commissioners agreed instead to pay him more in line with what the base salary is for the district attorney position for that month. Since the base salary is $140,000, they agreed to make it a flat rate of $11,700 to be paid from the legal fees budget line item.