The Hockley County Commissioners’ Court approved the next step of a traffic camera project at the Hockley County Sheriff’s Office during their regular meeting on Monday.
According to the meeting agenda, the document approved was a memorandum of understanding between the Hockley County Sheriff’s Office and Flock Safety for access to Flock’s technology platform.
Sheriff Ray Scifres said the memorandum is the next part of an agreement with the South Plains Auto Theft Task force.
Flock Safety operates the license plate reading cameras, Scifres said, and the memorandum would give them access to all the data. The memorandum just agrees that they’re granted access, and protocols and policies would have to be drafted.
A grant match that was approved by the court during a previous meeting would cover access for the life of the grant, which Scifres said would be two years.
The sheriff said a third part will follow during installation of the cameras. If the devices are placed on a state-owned pole, they will have to return to the court for an agreement with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).
They will have a total of five cameras installed: four will be in the city and one will go in an external area of the county, he said.
Other presentations and reviews were on the rest of the meeting’s agenda.
Cara Phelan presented the monthly Public Assistance report to the court. They approved seven utility requests, and five were denied for being over income. Phelan said they’re at about 60% of their budget.
The annual public notice for Indigent Health Care for 2025 was approved, which Phelan said was for the state fiscal year.
She said there were changes in the wording of the Indigent Health Care act, but no eligibility guidelines were changed. The public notice for the Indigent Health Care guidelines is available on the Hockley County website.
A resolution supporting Operation Green Light for veterans was also approved by the court.
Operation Green Light is an event in which everyone can turn their porch lights to green through Veterans Day to show support for veterans.
The court reviewed the September 2024 fire runs submitted by the City of Levelland.
Four pages of Ad Valorem tax refunds were approved by the court. Some names appeared twice in the document, and it was explained to the court that either multiple payments were made and it reflects a refund on each payment, or it’s a representation of a different year.
The minutes for the court’s regular meeting on Oct. 21, as well as all monthly bills and claims submitted to the court through Nov. 4, were approved during the meeting.