Published: October 06, 2009 08:44 pm      

Commissioners to accelerate construction

The Henderson County Commissioner’s Court moved to accelerate construction of a new annex building to house the Precinct 4 Justice of the Peace court.

Commissioners voted to hire JML Architects of Jacksonville to work with the county on the building design. JBL is one of two firms that made presentations before the court in April, but opted at the time to complete the project using county personnel.

“We looked at the idea of building it in house,” County Judge David Holstein said, but we have since learned that the law says we need to hire an architect if the cost of the project is more than $100,000.”

Holstein said plans already drawn up by the county would be given to JML.

“We’ve done a lot of work ourselves, and I believe we can negotiate terms with the architect,” Holstein said.

Precinct 4 Commissioner Jerry West said Justice of the Peace Sue Tarrant agrees that the plan already on paper is a good one. The annex will be located on Farm-to-Market Road 315 in Poynor, near the site of the existing facility.

In other action, Commissioners voted to award a bid to purchase a Mobile Emergency Command Trailer to be used by the sheriff’s office. The 2010 Elite Trailer will be loaded with special gear for operations at remote locations, and will cost $71,000. The county will purchase the trailer with Homeland Security Grant funds awarded in 2007.

“It’s an 8-foot-wide, 30-foot-long, all-aluminum cargo trailer,” Henderson County Purchasing Agent Sherrie Carmichael said. “It’s really not an over-elaborate trailer.”

The trailer will be air-conditioned, and have living quarters and restroom facilities.

Commissioners also voted to:

• appoint Precinct 2 Commissioner Wade McKinney and Precinct 3 Commissioner Ronny Lawrence to a new 1-year term on the county insurance committee;

• renew a contract with U.S. Med for disposal of medications from the jail, raising the fee from $30 to $40 per month; and

• authorized payment of bills in the amount of $219,296.