County conducts workshop on Round 2 of ORCA funding
By SHARON KERR Staff Writer

Jasper County commissioners held a workshop on the ORCA Round 2 funding with county grant-writer David Waxman during the regularly scheduled monthly meeting Monday, Jan. 14. ORCA is the Office or Rural Community Affairs, and the grants are administered in Texas by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA).

In November, commissioners announced that Jasper County was fifth in line, the last to be awarded any of the $22.2 million TDHCA Round 2 funding, in competitive bidding process that left more than a dozen others, including Newton County, empty handed.

Jasper was awarded $2.56 million for infrastructure repair and debris removal, only half of the $5 million in Jasper's request. Waxman, commissioners and engineers have been wrangling with the proposed projects to try to stretch the money as effectively as they can.

Waxman told commissioners that if they dropped two of the proposed bridges, possibly the ones on CR 139 in Precinct 1 and CR 480 in Precinct 3, kept the remaining five bridges at full budget, and concentrated on headwalls, culverts and road ditches that might bring the projects within budget and time constraints.

"This would give us a presence in our whole county and will get the five bridges done the right way," Waxman said. "Then, if we can economize or come up with cost savings, we can put another bridge back in. It makes sense to make the money go as far as we possibly can at this point."

Being approved for the grant and having that money in the bank are not the same thing.

The purpose of Waxman's update was to explain what commitments and expenditures Jasper would have to make to be reimbursed according to the rules of the grant.

One of the biggest concerns is that projects must be completed within 24 months of the contract date, but contracts have not yet been issued by the state.

Precinct 2 Commissioner Roy Parker questioned why debris removal was not more of a priority.

"Debris removal is a never-ending process," Waxman replied. "You can clean the drainage now, but what happens when debris comes washing out of the woods and clogs drainage again?"

Waxman said a bridge benefits the county for 50 years or more, but he acknowledged, "bridges don't happen to fall in equal proportion for all precincts."

In some cases, Waxman said, the bridge project will also address debris removal issues at the same time, as is the case with the Kirbyville bridge which currently creates drainage problems.

Waxman recommended that the environmental assessment continue, and that commissioners prioritize projects and give him direct input before the next commissioners court meeting in February.

Other business

Names were drawn to administer the county's employee sick leave pool. Mary Stephens, Danny White, Matthew Love and John Jackson Jr. will serve on the 2008 committee.

Commissioners approved the early voting schedule in the city of Jasper as Feb. 19-23 and Feb. 25-29; in Kirbyville, Buna, Evadale and Browndell, early voting will be Feb. 22-23 only.

Michael Hunter requested an extension of the housing contract for six months to complete closing on the final four homes under a TDCHA grant.

The county has been reimbursed approximately $100,000 for two of the six modular homes the county has already purchased to replace Hurricane Rita-damaged homes.