At Monday’s meeting of the Brown County Commissioners Court, approval was voted to reinstate a burn ban in the County. Burn bans have been common in recent years, but the big rains in May allowed Commissioners to drop the ban. As things are drying out and heating up now, Commissioners thought it would be prudent to put the burn ban back on for ninety days. Authority was given to County Judge Shane Britton, if we receive large rains, to cancel the burn ban without having to wait for the next meeting of the Commissioners Court.
The Commissioners also passed a resolution to honor the late Ricky Preas of Bangs for his work as a First Responder. Preas was a member of the Bangs Volunteer Fire Department since he moved to Bangs in 1979, and served as Chief for the last ten- to twelve-years. The Resolution states that Preas was “always ready to respond to any call in his district or mutual aid with surrounding Brown County Fire Departments or surrounding counties,” and that he “faithfully served the citizens of Bangs and Brown County for over 40 years.” After retiring from Kohler Company, Preas went to work for the Central United Methodist Church of Brownwood in maintenance. Ricky Preas passed away in June of this year. Pictured below are his wife Sherri and his family accepting the award from County Judge Shane Britton and Precinct 4 Commissioner Larry Traweek.
In other business:
*** Commissioners approved a payment of $10,000 to L & K Construction for work done at the Oaks Juvenile Center. This payment is a portion of the agreed upon price for the project.
*** Commissioners made a decision on an interest rate agreement for County funds in Texas Bank. Commissioners recently voted to keep the County’s banking at Texas Bank for another four years. The bank will pay 4.5% interest during the first year. For years two through four, two options were available: (a) a guaranteed fixed rate of 3%, or (b) a floating rate equal to the current 13-week Treasury Bill rate minus 0.5%. The Commissioners voted for the floating rate.