County Accepts Paving Bid
The Glasscock County Commissioners’ Court on June 11 accepted the Van Zant Company’s bid of $149,027 for its 2001 paving project of six miles and some seal coating on older pavement. Van Zant also had the low price of $13,152 in a companion bid for paving at the school. The other bids were from Jones Bros. in the amounts of $158,175 for the county’s work and $17,095 for the school’s. County Engineer Dan Glass reported that Commissioner Michael Hoch had agreed to do the patching necessary prior to the school’s paving. Hoch and Commissioner Mark Halfmann were not present at the meeting.
County Judge Wilburn Bednar reported that the lawsuit brought against the county by Elida Sepeda in 1995 was recently settled out of court for $30,000. Bednar said he was unhappy with the settlement. He said when the insurance company lawyer, working on the county’s behalf, told him they planned to settle with Sepeda out of court, Bednar said, “Well, don’t give her very much, because we don’t owe her anything.” The suit stemmed from an accident in which a car driven by Sepeda, a mail carrier, collided with caliche piled on Overton Road, 2 miles west of Highway 87.
County Treasurer Alan Dierschke said that possible litigation between Eckerd Drug and West Texas Rural Counties (of which Glasscock County is a part) is on hold pending an auditor’s report to the judge regarding WTRC’s financial condition. He said another hearing in the matter is set for Aug. 8. Dierschke said WTRC has filed suit against each of its member counties to be sure they honor agreements to pay their own insurance claims.
The court agreed with Commissioner Jimmy Strube that enough money has been spent on repairs on a county pickup, and that it should be traded in on another. Strube said he thought he could find an early 1990’s model with a Cummings diesel engine for $8,000.
The court briefly discussed a Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission survey regarding illegal dumping, and Bednar said he would complete and return it.
The court discussed the possibility of having old tires, now held at the county barn, chopped into quarters so they would take less space when disposed of in the county’s landfill.
Discussions of an emergency warning system and of a water planning group were tabled, as was an annual report to the Texas Department of Transportation regarding county road mileage.