At commissioners court Monday morning County Judge Steve Young started things off with an update on Project Saratoga, which is the name for bringing the American Statesman Glove Co. to the Alcoa property.
Young said, “The main thing they are looking for is training and they have grant money coming up to build a regional training center. The company representatives and representatives of Temple College will be having lunch to discuss training.”
Young also noted that the company would like to make a location decision by Nov. 1.
AMR—A review of the situation with AMR was also given with Young noting that “AMR has one of two things we requested in place, a roving agent who has more leeway than the ambulance drivers.” Nurse Navigation is still a possibility which will cut down on the number of ambulance calls for non-emergency 911 calls but that has not been implemented in Milam County yet.”
GRANTS—“The Small Business Grant Program has gotten over 112 applications and 92 approvals so far. Ninety of the approvals have received their money. “This grant is $1 million that will go directly back into the community and I think this program has turned out very well,” Young said.
BIDS—Judge Young also sent out a bid for notes for some freeze damage from earlier this year on the courthouse annex. “We received two bids from Citizens National Bank and Classic Bank. The Citizens bid would save us approximately $70,000 over the course of the payback. And FEMA changed their rules in September, so they will also pay for some of the repairs, “ Young said.
COVID UPDATE—A COVID update was given by the Judge and he said Milam County’s vaccination rate is climbing but is still lower than the national average of 50%. Testing and vaccination clinics will still be held each week.
WEBSITE—The commissioners decided to make a change to the contract with Texas Association of Counties (TAC) for the Milam County website which would save the county $2,000 per year by updating the website themselves instead of using TAC to make the updates. The county employees had already been doing the updates themselves.
AGREEMENT—The Milam County Sheriff’s Department will enter into an interlocal agreement with the Texas Veterinary Enforcement and Training Task Force, and renew their contract with the Statewide Automated Victim Notification Service.
BONUSES—Robert Kirkpatrick, director of the Milam County Health Department, asked for and received permission to give bonuses to health department employees through a COVID grant.
ONE STOP—Jennifer Ranspot, WIC director, had funding approved for the Rockdale One Stop to update the public restrooms, WIC employee restrooms and the kitchen. She plans to offer cooking classes to WIC recipients. The cost of these improvements will be reimbursed by WIC.
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