FORT DAVIS – Jeff Davis County Commissioners were once again stalled on an attempt to approve a contractor for the county’s community center renovation and fared no better on efforts to finalize the location of a proposed “clinic in a box” for county residents during Tuesday’s regular meeting.
Following public comments by resident Melanie Blackman urging commissioners to slow down and be mindful of procedures and transparency on both projects, court members failed to raise a motion on the second attempt to approve a contractor for the community center project. A lengthy discussion on the project included input from County Attorney Glen Eisen and County Treasurer Dawn Kitts.
The planned construction is to be funded by the HUD grant, along with additional grants from the Brown Foundation and the FMH Foundation totaling just over $3 million, without the use of county tax monies. Commissioner Royce Laskoskie again voiced his concerns that the county’s procedures for obtaining contractor bids had been circumvented on this project.
Action on the agenda item to approve the location of the proposed medical clinic on the property of the fire hall near the new bunkhouse also died after Laskoskie said, “This has never been discussed in this courtroom during commissioners court.” With no motion put forth, there was no action on the item.
The cost of the federally qualified health center, or FQHC, is estimated to be around $6 million, a sum County Judge Curtis Evans has stated would be raised solely through grant funding.
In other business, the court approved the lone bid received for road maintenance submitted by Jarratt Dirtwork, approved the formal hiring of interim Emergency Medical Services Director Peggy Moats, and quickly tackled seven fiscal year-end budget amendments and another seven routine agenda items.