Monday was an important and busy day for your Milam County Commissioners Court. We thanked and honored Drayton McLane, selected a general contractor for the annex renovation, selected the members for our Medical Task Force and began the tax abatement process for an estimated $800 million in Milam County solar farms.
HONORING DRAYTON McLANE—T h e McLane family came to Milam County from Abbeville, South Carolina, and opened a successful wholesale grocery distribution service in Cameron. The business later moved to Temple to be closer to Interstate 35.
However, McLane, nor the McLane family, has ever forgotten their Milam County roots. Over the years he has done so much to make Milam County a better place to live and work.
For example, McLane has helped our volunteer fire departments, renovated buildings in Cameron for use by the city, helped with economic development and just recently donated 700 boxes of food during the winter of 2021. The list goes on and on.
The Commissioners Court thanked him for his inspirational, unwavering support at court on Monday and provided him with a few mementos from the county, including Dr. Chubb’s new book, Milam County, Its Evolution and Leaders, a Milam County flag, a plaque and a wall photo.
ANNEX RENOVATION—The court selected EBCO as its general contractor for the annex renovation. Eight reputable contractors submitted professional bids for the project and the decision was not easy, but EBCO was the best fit for the project.
Work should begin soon on the estimated $3.5 million dollar project. Milam County received a grant in the amount of $4.7 million for the renovation project from the Economic Development Corporation (EDA). We thank all the contractors who submitted bids and the EDA for the biggest grant the county has ever received.
MEDICAL TASK FORCE—On March 29, the court passed a resolution to create a Milam County Medical Task Force to investigate and make recommendations to the court regarding after hours care, ambulance service and the Rockdale Hospital complex.
Thereafter, we asked for applications from any interested Milam County resident to serve on the nine-member task force. We received a lot of qualified applicants, which we truly appreciate.
After careful consideration, the court selected Collier Perry, Ward Roddam, Troy Zinn, Courtney Paulsen, Kain Dodd, Nathan Fuchs, John Egger, Robert Kirkpatrick and Pastor Royal Johnson. The Task Force must make recommendations to the court by Dec. 30.
SOLAR FARMS—The court also considered tax abatements for three more solar farms that are planned for Milam County. The estimated value of the three farms is $800 million.
The farms are as follows: Milano Solar with an estimated value of $150,000,000, Sandow Solar 1 with and estimated value of $400,000,000 and Cattlemen Solar with an estimated value of $250,000,000.
The court initiated the long process of tax abatement for each facility and a public hearing will be held on the matter on June 28. These farms will bring a lot of construction jobs and tax revenue to the county.
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