The Hockley County Commissioners’ Court held a regular meeting Monday morning, discussing the asbestos abatement of multiple properties and items concerning the District Attorney’s Office.
As the county recently purchased multiple properties located at 702, 706 and 708 Avenue H, asbestos abatement was deemed necessary moving forward to begin necessary renovations or construction.
Going out for bids, the court received two bids of which, it was decided to go with Allen & Co. Environmental operating out of Lubbock. The bid was accepted for roughly $108,000 compared to the second bid from a company that quoted the county a rough estimate of $180,000.
Following the abatement of those properties, it was explained that the next step would be demolition of the properties to create additional parking space for the area as it has become a necessity.
Hockley County District Attorney Angela Overman had two requests for the court that dealt with funds and personnel.
The first item was a request for more funds to retain expert witnesses for two of Hockley County’s capital trials that are both currently pending in the 286th Judicial District Court.
The Mathis Trial, and Soto-Chavira Trial have been reoccurring topics of discussion within the commissioners’ meetings as capital trials are known to come with lofty price tags.
In previous meetings, Overman has explained to the court that experts are one of the keys to having successful trials, but do come with a cost with expenses and hours dedicated to the case.
Frustration has become a common occurrence with the group as it is understood that many counties struggle to finance a capital case let alone multiple.
As the Mathiss trial is further along, retaining experts for the case was only estimated at $6,000, however, for Soto-Chavira’s case, a much higher price tag of $50,000 was requested.
Through ARPA funds, the court is able to fund the expenditure for both cases. The request passed 3-1, with Commissioner Alan Wisdom voting against the item. Wisdom posed multiple questions about funds as there did not seem to be a final amount of funds needed in sight.
The second request from Overman dealt with using forfeiture funds to increase an employee’s salary as she is currently looking to hire someone for her office. Overman explained that by doing so, the increase could become more appealing and possibly bring in someone quicker to fill the role needed. It was added that the district Attorney’s Office has been requesting more staff for a while, and recently lost another of their staff due to better pay.
Hockley County Judge Sharla Baldrige explained that if the item was approved the fund fix would only last until January, resulting in revisiting the item again in the next year.
Additionally, multiple court members voiced the displeasure with approving the item as multiple department have been struggling with losing employees and filling those roles.
Citing that it would be unfair and create possible animosity between offices, the court decided to not move forward with the item.