Brown: virtual operations “going real well”
The Ark-Tex Council of Governments is still receiving and disbursing grants despite the COVID-19 shutdown at their April executive committee meeting.
Patricia Haley, criminal justice coordinator, presented projects to council which had been pre-screened for grant approval by her office. According to Haley, the projects will next move to the office of the governor’s criminal justice division for final approval. According to the written motion by Judge L.D. Williamson, of Red River county and president of COG, the services provided are “urgently needed for the public safety and welfare.” The COG unanimously approved.
The COG received grant funding for the HUD family self-sufficiency program. This enables HUD-assisted families to decrease their dependency on housing assistance rental subsidies, executive director Chris Brown informed the COG. Brown sought permission to open a new account with Guaranty Bank to deposit the grant funds, and the measure was unanimously approved.
The COG also unanimously approved Brown to grant administrative leave to any COG employee at his discretion. This would primarily affect transportation drivers and those working from home, according to the COG, or those or have come into contact with COVID-19.
“We’ve worked very hard to find masks,” said Brown. “We’ve had people donate, people have made masks for the drivers, so we’re pretty well stocked, but we felt that this was a good thing to do since they’re on the front lines.”
Currently, only three COG employees are in the physical headquarters in Texarkana, Brown said. These include the front desk and two housing staff.
“We have not put together a game plan to bring people back in… because Bowie and Cass County EOC [Emergency Operations Centers] are operating out of our building,” Brown stated. “We’re probably going to take it a little slower.”
Brown stated, however, that conducting business via email and signing documents with Adobe Signature was “going real well” and that communication had largely not been affected.