Four days of gentle rain amounting to approximately 2 inches around the Brownwood area led Brown County commissioners to take no action on reinstating a burn ban Monday at commissioners court.
The area has been in one of the worst droughts in many years. The summer and early fall saw several months under a burn ban in Brown County due to dry weather and excessive temperatures. The last burn ban was lifted by Brown County commissioners on October 17 after receiving several inches of rain throughout the county. Commissioners continue to monitor the drought and periodically consider implementing a burn ban.
On November 7th, commissioners decided not to place the county under a burn ban due to improved ratings on the Keech-Byram Drought Index maps. On that date, Brown County had a 200-500 rating based on 0-800 with 0 being no moisture depletion and 800 being the worst rating which means soil is absolutely low in moisture.
Today, after having a weekend filled with steady slow rain and moisture soaking into the soil, again commissioners passed on the burn ban. The current Keetch-Byram Drought Index shows Brown County to have a 0-300 rating, with the eastern edge of the county in the best condition.
In other matters on the agenda:
*The Brown County Sheriff’s Office had a change of employees; Terry Sliger will replace Kelly Marsh as a deputy at base pay. Chief Deputy Bobby Duvall reported that the jail was at 124 for the population count on Monday morning.
*A new copier contract was approved and Kirbo’s will now service the color copier at BCSO. According to Duvall and County Auditor Nina Cox, the new contract is about the same cost as the previous contract with Xerox out of San Angelo. Duvall pointed out that BCSO would like to keep its business relationships local when possible and Kirbo’s was able to meet the price and even beat the color copy price by approximately 3.5 cents with a state contract rate per copy. The new contract was reported by Billy Willis of Kirbo’s to have a 60 month term; however able to be cancelled if the funding becomes unavailable.
“We have had a few issues on not anything big, but we would be down in service when we need a machine running. The Xerox contract is out of San Angelo,” said Duvall. “The Cannon contract is here locally and in respect to placing our business locally, we want to lean that way and the contract is pretty close to the same.”
*Commissioners approved installation of a utility easement along CR 147, near the intersection of CR 112. A bore under the pavement will be required to install the utility and will be performed to county specifications.
*The court approved the purchase of a four door flat bed truck, a used 2006 Ford F650, at the cost of $17,000. This vehicle will replace another service truck that Commissioner Larry Traweek stated was, “about ready to blow up.”
The next meeting of the Brown County Commissioners’ Court will be held Monday, December 12, 2001 at 9:00am in the commissioners’ court room, first floor of the Brown County Courthouse.
