County keeping burn ban off for now due to rain

With rain in the forecast for most of this week, Gonzales County will leave off the burn ban for now, although commissioners are reserving the right to reinstate it if the weather dries up.

“We’ve had been kind of dry on the south end of the county,” Precinct 4 Commissioner Collie Boatright said Monday, Oct. 23. “We did get some rain last night and we do have rain predicted for the next week or so. We can watch it for the next week or so .”

“Let’s just roll with it like it is and let people get their stuff burned and whatever the case may be,” said County Judge Pat Davis. “We can put it on the next agenda if we don’t get enough rain.”

Commissioners also discussed a nomination to the Gonzales Central Appraisal District Board of Directors. Every taxing unit which is a part of the district may nominate from one to five candidates to be on the board of directors.

Nominations were supposed to have been submitted in writing to Chief Appraiser John Liford by Oct. 15, but Liford was present and told commissioners he needed names of nominees before he puts out the ballot on Oct. 30.

Last time, the county nominated Craig Hines, who has served as secretary for the board, but Hines indicated he has served a number of years and does not wish to serve again. Davis told commissioners Sue Gottwald, the appraisal district vice chair, does wish to continue serving.

However, this sparked a question from Precinct 2 Commissioner Donnie Brzozowski, asking Liford “how many of your board members are from the school districts?” Gottwald was a Gonzales ISD board member until her resignation earlier this year.

Other school representatives include Sandra Gorden, who is on the GISD Board of Directors, and Frank “Bud” Box, who is on the Nixon-Smiley CISD Board of Directors.

Lauren Clampit, who has been nominated in the past by the City of Gonzales and both the City of Waelder and Waelder ISD, serves currently as the appraisal board chair and Tax Assessor-Collector Crystal Cedillo is a non-voting member.

“I’d like for us to see who else is out there,” Brzozowski said. “It just concerns me about so many people being on the school board and being on there. They are our biggest taxing entity and it seems like they are stacking that board a little bit.”

Liford noted that the votes for the appraisal district board by taxing entity total tax levy. Gonzales ISD has 34.51 percent of the total tax levy in Gonzales County, so they received 1,725 total votes, compared to 1,168 for Nixon-Smiley CISD (23.36 percent) and 1,141 for Gonzales County (22.83 percent). No other entity has more than 190 votes.

“The (GISD) school board has 34.5 percent of the vote, which is why the last couple of years, they’ve been able to elect two people to the board,” Liford said.

Liford told Brzozowski the county can easily elect one individual to the board if it puts all of its 1,141 votes behind a single candidate, but it does not have enough votes alone to swing more than one candidate it supports.

Commissioners asked whether they would have enough time to hold a special called meeting to discuss the position so they could come up with a candidate, but had concerns about running afoul of the Texas Open Meetings Act, which requires a 72-hour notice for any business which is not considered an “emergency.” Nominating an appraisal district board member, which is routine business handled by the court every year, would not be considered an emergency.

At the urging of Brzozowski and Precinct 1 Commissioner Dell Whiddon, the court agreed to take a break after handling the rest of their business Monday to allow them to reach out to possible candidates.

After the break ended, Whiddon nominated Jeff Harvey of Nixon for the appraisal district board with Brzozowski seconding the motion. The court voted unanimously in favor of nominating Harvey to the board.

Commissioners also approved a cost-sharing agreement with DeWitt County for legislative consulting services with Cornerstone Government Affairs Inc., which advocates on behalf of the counties regarding issues that matter them, including development of oil and gas in the Eagle Ford Shale.

Gonzales County’s cost is an equal  pro rata share determined by the number of counties which participate in the cost-sharing agreement. The total cost for the services from Cornerstone for all parties is $90,000 per year, so if four counties take part, then Gonzales County’s share would be a fourth of the cost.