BY JERRIE WHITELEY
HERALD DEMOCRAT
Grayson County commissioners will be discussing money when they meet at 10 a.m. Monday. One item could limit the amount of money certain elected officials can do after they either decide to retire or fail to win an election. Another item could change the way inmate money is handled at the Grayson County Jail.
An unrelated item could increase the number of people on the North Texas Regional Airport Zoning Commission.
Information supplied with the Court's agenda packet shows that commissioners will consider adopting a new policy about how much money outgoing elected officials can spend without prior approval.
The amount at which that approval sets in is still up for debate though the proposed plan in the agenda packet shows $500 or 10 percent of the annual budget for the line item or half of the budget for the line item.
Section 130.908 of the Local Government Code says, "If an incumbent county or precinct office is not re-nominated or is not re-elected to the county or precinct office of a county, during the time following the date the results of the official canvass of the primary or election returns are announced, the commissioner's court must approve any expenditure by the incumbent county or precinct officer who was not re-nominated or re-elected that is over an amount set by the commissioner's court."
County or precinct officers who are to comply with the policy are the county judge, county commissioners, constables, sheriff, treasurer, justices of the peace, tax assessor-collectors, county clerks, district clerks, county attorneys, district judges and county court-at-law judges. In this current election cycle, Grayson County Commissioner Gene Short chose to retire after more than 20 years of service to the county. District Clerk Tracy Powers chose not to seek re-election.
The next money-related item deals with the inmate funds at the county jail. The proposed plan would have the county implement an EZ card and Kiosk system that would, according to information in the agenda packet, allow arresting officers the ability to deposit all inmate cash into a kiosk before they reach the booking area. Using the kiosk, it is proposed, would allow inmates to bond out or pay fines immediately using their credit cards and reduce the amount of time some booked inmates are held in the jail. Additionally, the kiosk is proposed to allow inmates' family and friends to add funds to the inmates' trust account via a lobby kiosk or online service. When inmates get out of the county jail, they would be issued a debit card for the amount of any money that might be left in their account.
"The EX card system will practically eliminate all cash handling at the jail, and end the process of issuing checks at the time of release. This will save a tremendous amount of time in daily cash handling, depositing, purchasing checks, and balancing bank statements," the request said.
In addition to those money matters, commissioners will also discuss increasing the size of the North Texas Regional Airport Zoning Commission. In a letter to commissioners, NTRA Director Mike Shahan said the commission is currently three voting members, each of which is appointed by a county commissioner. He said the cities of Sherman, Denison and Pottsboro are represented on the Commission by a group known as Airport Zoning Committee, but they are not allowed to vote.
Shahan proposed giving those cities actual voting membership on the Commission. He said each city should be allowed to appoint a person to the Commission and Grayson County commissioners should each continue to appoint one person to the Commission. He said the members appointed to NTRA Zoning Commission by the cities should be appointed for two-year terms.
In addition to those items, commissioners will consider:
* request to approve buyboard purchase of a pothole patcher for Precinct 2;
* request to approve buyboard purchase of a pothole patcher for Precinct 3;
* request to approve the preliminary plat of Copper Branch Estates.