By Gilda Morales
County Commissioners met last Monday morning to adopt the 2017-2018 budget, but had to recess until 5:00 p.m. to give Mark Cabezuela, County Auditor time to crunch some final numbers. In question, was a last-minute request from Culberson-Allamoore ISD asking the County for a match in the amount if $50,000 to update the Boys and Girls Club building to serve as one of the replacements for the high school gym which is the process of being demolished.
Commissioners also heard from Sheriff Oscar Carrillo, who announced that Van Horn will now have its own weather monitoring station which will provide information on actual conditions in Van Horn. Currently, information comes from the Guadalupe Mountain area, which is more often than not, different from conditions on the ground in Van Horn. Sheriff Carrillo also told the Court that his department were the recipients of an $8000 grant that will provide bullet-proof vests to his department.
The Court also unanimously approved an Interlocal agreement between Culberson County and Lubbock County to provided public defense in capital cases for only $1000 per year, which would otherwise could be extremely costly.
There was only one fuel bid submitted and as such, the Court approved awarding the fuel contract to C & L Oil Company, and also agreed to keep the same health insurance plan with TAC, with a modest cost increase to the county.