Commissioners Say Yes To Jail Work, No To Roads
County Jail Administrator to get new office space
GILMER, TX, Jan. 30, 2009 -- Upshur County commissioners agreed today to renovations in the jail building, designed to create a new office for the County Jail Administrator.
In other business, they approved and accepted the plat filed for the Eagle Ranch Subdivision, and reappointed David Stevenson as Upshur's representative on the board of the Northeast Texas Regional Mobility Authority.
Commisioners split, though, on whether to accept two private roads, PR-1198 and 1199, into the county maintenance inventory.
Commissioner James Crittenden argued for accepting the roads, saying in effect that residents who live on the road had fulfilled their two year obligation to maintain the roads.
But Commissioner Joe Ferguson argued against acceptance, saying the roads did not have school bus turnarounds. His argument was helped by Bubba Pendarvis, Road Administrator, who said the roads did not meet county specifications.
Crittenden said he had spoken with Gilmer ISD Superintendent Rick Albritton, and had been told buses currently picked up and dropped off children at the corners of the two roads and Golden Eagle Road. Crittenden said Albritton had confirmed that the routes would't change, even if the county accepted the roads.
Ferguson, seizing on Pendarvis' statement, said the county "might as well throw away our specifications", and worried that accepting the roads would set a precedent the county would have to live by in later actions.
In the end, Commissioner's Crittenden and Glenn Campbell voted to accept the roads, and Ferguson, along with Commissioner Lloyd Crabtree voted against it. County Judge Dean Fowler cast the tie-breaking vote against accepting the roads, saying he based his vote on Pendarvis' comments.
