At a special meeting of the Blanco County Commissioners Court held on June 28, Commissioners voted to extend the disaster declaration that was officially proclaimed on June 21. The declaration was to have expired on the 28th unless the Court opted to extend it another seven days. It will now expire on July 5 unless the Commissioners again vote to extend it. “We have a letter from the governor that excludes fireworks until 7 a.m. on July 5,” declared Judge Guthrie. The ongoing drought conditions in this part of Texas have made it extremely dangerous to commerce in or to set off fireworks of any kind including major fireworks displays sponsored by towns and other entities.

An exemption was considered for the Johnson City Chamber of Commerce in order to proceed with the proposed July 4th Fireworks display. Commissioners rejected the exemption due to the fire danger in the area even though the Volunteer Fire Department felt it could handle any contingency.

Patrick Carter and Russell Lane asked the Commissioners to authorize the installation and use of Community Bulletin boards throughout the county. According to the group’s mission statement, “Our goal is to strengthen the relationship between business, citizens and government by providing a means for direct line-of-sight communication between all stake holders in the community.”

“We will be providing bulletin boards for densely populated areas of the rural community. They will be constructed and maintained at no cost to government or citizens,” said Mr. Corder. “We will seek an exclusive right to operate in exchange for a dedicated place on each bulletin board to be used by the county.” The entire project would be funded by reserving spaces for businesses to advertise on the boards. According to the presenters, citizens would be provided the majority of the space for communications purposes.

The boards could be used for missing person alerts, garage sale ads, employment opportunities, lost pets, special events and etc. Government entities could post such things as burn ban notices, community meetings and construction alerts.

They asked for a 60-month exclusive contract to operate the boards after which the contract could be re-negotiated. Judge Guthrie proposed tabling the matter pending an opinion by the County Attorney’s office, and the item was tabled. This is a for-profit enterprise.

Justice of the Peace Bob Riley requested that two pages of the Distribution Summary report in Precinct 4’s monthly report for May 2011 be replaced due to errors. His request was granted.

Commissioners accepted the annual audit from the North Blanco County Emergency Services District for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010.

A request to replat Lot 86 and the Common Reserve D in the Ranches of Brushy Top subdivision was approved.

Commissioners accepted the resignation of Jack Reichert from the CAPCOG Criminal Justice Advisory Committee due to his acceptance of a position that will take him out of the county quite often. Judge Guthrie said it would be necessary to formally accept his resignation before another individual could be appointed to the post.

Commissioners signed a resolution approving the Mitigation Plan for the Texas Colorado River Floodplain Coalition which will allow the County to apply for mitigation grants from FEMA should the need arise. “We have never made an application,” said Judge Guthrie, “but this approval would open the way to apply for a grant should it become necessary.” All the Commissioners and the Judge signed the resolution.

The Court accepted the low bid by Sabre Communications of $283,751 for the construction of two communication towers to be located in Round Mountain and Blanco. The County Judge was authorized to sign the contract contingent on the approval of the State Administrative Agency. The construction will be paid for by a Homeland Security grant. Other bids were provided by the World Tower Company, Inc. at $417,998 and by Electronics Research, Inc. for $758,230. Judge Guthrie indicated that Sabre Communications had built a similar tower in Burnet County that was “acceptable.”