Bridge, culvert repair plans approved
Federal inmates will be housed at the Hopkins County jail per a agreement between the county and the U.S. Marshal Service approved by the commissioners court at their regular meeting Tuesday morning.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for us to keep federal inmates,” Hopkins County Sheriff Lewis Tatum said. “We’ve been wanting to do this for a long time.”
According to Tatum, those accused of white collar crimes or are sex offenders will be kept at the jail. The contract is set for 150 days, and Tatum said it would give more time to create a full-time contract.
“They [the U.S. Marshal Service inspectors] were pretty pleased with our facility,” Tatum said. “They’ve been through it two or three times now.”
Up to 30 inmates will be added to the jail’s current count, which sits at 151 as of 5:30 a.m. Tuesday. According to Tatum, the county will be paid $60 per inmate per day, which amounts to a maximum of $1,800 a day. Jail administrator Kenneth Dean said current staff should be sufficient, but if the jails decides to include transportation, a transport officer may have to be added.
“We’re utilizing those who are part-time right now,” Dean said. “I’m still holding a couple of fulltime vacancies open to try to save some money on that end.”
The court also approved two items for bridge and culvert repairs in the county. Sydney Newman, the Paris district bridge engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation, said the county’s cost is “well under $90,000” for the bridges.
Rains County helped Hopkins in sending their Equivalent Match Project credits to bring down the cost. The Rains County commissioners approved the measure last week, according to Newman.
Culverts will be repaired at: County Road 4719 near Brashear, County Road 4707 off State Highway 11 west, County Road 4574 between Tira and Birthright, County Road 1100 outside Rockdale, County Road 1173 off State Highway 19 south, County Road 2407 between Pickton and Winnsboro and Rains County 1140 near Lake Creek.
“I want to thank [Rains County] Judge [Wayne] Wolfe and the commissioners court of Rains County for sharing with us,” Hopkins County Judge Robert Newsom said. “A lot of times it goes the other way, and we’ll do the same for them one day, I hope.”
The court approved the advance funding agreements for repairs to two bridges. Repairs will be made to the bridge on County Road 1152 at Big Creek near Cumby and the bridge on County Road 4714 at Crooks Creek near FM 2653.
The court also recognized assistant emergency management coordinator Kristy Springfield for completing training related to traffic incident responses.
Commissioner approved a $200,000 lease purchase over seven years for a reclaimer for Pct. 3.
In their consent agenda, the commissioners also approved a notification of a service hookup in Precinct 2, a request to build electric power distribution facilities crossing County Road 4759 near Pleasant Grove Estates and a notification of a utility service connection in Precinct 2.