Veterans Service officers Billy Murphey, Jr. and James Masters received certificates of training and accreditation at Monday morning’s meeting of the Brown County Commissioners’ Court.

Through training offered twice yearly by the Texas Veterans Commission and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Murphey and Masters achieved status as accredited representatives of the Texas Veterans Commission.  With this status they are qualified to represent claimants before the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs under the provisions of Title 40, Part 15, Chapter 415, Texas Administrative Code.  Murphey and Masters serve as National Service Officers for the VFW and Texas Veterans Commissionable to process the Veterans Administration’s claims data base nationwide for both the organizations.

Certificates signed by Governor Rick Perry and Thomas P. Palladino, Col. US Army Retired were presented by County Judge Ray West on behalf of the Texas Veterans Commission.  Pictured above is Masters (left) during the presentation.  Murphey is pictured below.

In other matters on Monday’s agenda of the Commissioners’ Court:

*No action was taken on implementing a burn ban.

*Elections Administrator Suzy Young received approval of Election Services Renewal Agreement, a 3 year renewal of services at the same prices as the current agreement, according to Young.

*Commissioners approved to accept the draft of the County Energy Transportation Reinvestment Zone (CERTZ) agreement to be signed when an original copy is received.  The creation of this CERTZ allows Brown County to receive a grant which will provide funding to the county in an amount of $349,771 for projects such as road repair needed because of increased truck traffic of oil field equipment.  The grant will be administered by Texas Department of Transportation. Statewide, an amount of $224,500,000 in funding was made available through the grant to all Texas counties that chose to make application.

*Commissioners approved the addition of emergency lighting to the Brown County Courthouse elevator.  According to West, the elevator was recently inspected and the county was given notice that without this lighting being added to the elevator or it would not pass the next inspection.  West explained that bids were obtained with ThyssenKrupp in the amount of $3833 and with Otis Elevator, which was “substantially more.”  He explained that the upgrade is required for safety of riders, and that it mainly was due to Federal requirement.  The lighting will be powered by maintenance free batteries so that lighting will activate when needed and that the funding for the upgrade will come from the equipment fund, according to West.

*Commissioners also approved replacement of the sliding glass door off of the jury room in the Brown County District Court.  According to Carl Greer (Brown County Maintenance Department), the door needs to be completely replaced as repair is extensive and costly.  Three bids were received, with Tunnell Construction of Blanket being awarded the job at a price of $1700 to install a French-style door with sidelights.  The current door is a single pane sliding glass door with a broken track.  This new door will be more weather resistant due to its double pans with blinds in between.  The award of this bid is subject to Tunnell Construction having compliance with Workman’s Compensation insurance.

*Commissioner Precinct 4 Larry Traweek received approval for a private line, fiber optic cable, to be installed by Coleman County Telephone Cooperative in the area of County Roads 163 and 612.  The installation will require a bore underneath the paved road.