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Colorado County Commissioners Court lifted the county’s burn ban and accepted a proposal from Weaver and Tidwell LLP for an external review on departments’ efficiency and functionality, Monday, April 13.
Burn ban
The commissioners unanimously rescinded the county’s burn ban effective 10 a.m. on Monday, April 13. The court cited recent rain over the past week and determined a public safety hazard did not exist. The National Weather Service does not have any active watches, warnings or advisories, including Red Flag Warnings, across southeast Texas as of Monday, April 13, at 8:45 p.m.
“We had some gorgeous, beautiful rain—a blessing from above— [and] measurements from seven inches,” County Judge Ty Prause said.
Colorado County Emergency Management requests that prior to starting any controlled burning (woodpiles, fields or large refuse piles), please call the Colorado County Communications Center at 979-732-2388, option 1. Notifying local authorities prevents the needless dispatch of volunteer fire departments.
External review
The court voted to accept a presented proposal from Weaver and Tidewell LLP for services to “improve operational efficiency and strengthen fiscal transparency” of numerous county departments. The recommendation follows two transitions in the county’s operations: first, the search for a new county auditor, and second, the recent implementation of a new management system.
“I know there are things that we can improve upon,” Prause said. “…We don’t know what the state honestly is going to do to counties, municipalizes at the next legislative session…No new revenue is frankly scary because the cost of everything has gone up.”
Prause referenced recent legislative efforts to limit local jurisdictions from collecting property taxes. State law currently limits cities and counties to collect 3.5% in property tax. Senate Bill 10 from the 89th Legislature sought to reduce tax collection to 1%. Both the House and Senate passed the bill, but it failed to reach governor action before the session ended.
The departments that would be under review are the offices of the county judge, Commissioners Court, county auditor, county treasurer, county tax assessor, district clerk, county clerk and county EMS. Pct. 2 Commissioner Ryan suggested adding the offices of the justices of peace and sheriff, though no action was taken.
The project will progress over 16 weeks, or four months, and is broken down into four phases. According to the presentation, the project will result in “recommendations for structuring an auditor’s role for the county, ERP stabilization recommendations, and a roadmap of recommended steps in priority order.”
1. Discovery (Weeks 1-4): “identifying the true current state at the County” through data collection, interviews and documentation review 2. Analysis (Weeks 6-9): identify patterns and reoccurring problems from phase one results 3. Recommendations and Road Mapping (Weeks 10-15): identify county priorities and proposed solutions then develop a final report and implementation roadmap 4. Reporting (Weeks 16+): final presentation to county leadership “These are going to be recommendations that are feasible within your budget. Recommendations that will work upon one another, not particularly in a vacuum,” Weaver Director Ki ley Holbrook said. “Basically, as we start to work through, what can we do to fix some of the challenges that you have, we will also work with you on… what kinds of things are actually going to improve and make a difference.”
