Commissioners Court applauds county’s volunteers

Victims Services Officer Tonya Foster Leon County residents take pride in the fact that it is a place where people care for people, and that was in evidence at the September 29th meeting of the Commissioners Court. Several agenda items dealt with recognition of the county's attitude of volunteerism.

Court was opened with a prayer by Pastor Dean Easterling of Calvary Baptist Church in Centerville. Following the opening ceremonies, the commissioners authorized two local revivals to use the gazebo on the Courthouse Square. The House of Prayer Ministry will use the spot on October 9-10 (5:00-10:00) and the Centerville Ministry of Fellowship has their revival scheduled October 12-13 and reserved the gazebo during the same hours.

Triple AAA representative Ed Houk took the floor to describe things which that agency and the Department of Aging are trying to do to benefit seniors throughout the seven-county area through BVCOG. Houk reported that the Centerville Senior Center has earned special recognition.

Veteran Services Officers Gary and Susan Maples reported on a recent training program which they attended. While there, the Maples were recognized by the Texas Veterans Commission as being the most pro-active county service officers in the State, and they had a presentation to make to the County, as well. Both of the Maples are now accredited with the State of Texas, which gives them direct access to all VA files. While that will save them "a lot of running back and forth to Temple and Waco" as they assist the county's veterans, strict State security regulations require a stand-alone computer programmed by TVC and set up in a private, secured office. There was a motion to purchase the computer out of contingency funds.

Tonya Foster gave a report on the work of the Victm Services Office and pointed out that family violence and sexual assaults are on the rise in our county due to an increase in population. Since spring, her office has served 102 victims including nine sexual assaults. She has worked suicide attempts, emergency protective orders, hospital assists, helped MHMR and the Leon County Domestic Violence Advacotes Program. Working through the Leon County Coalition, Foster will be speaking at county schools on teen dating violence. Not all counties offer this service to residents and Foster concluded, "It is really great to have a Victims Service Officer to help those victims -- somebody there (for example) to hold an elderly woman's hand through a sexual assault exam at the hospital." She concluded that her office may soon need additional personnel.

In other routine agenda items: - Judge Ryder signed the official notice of the upcoming constitutional election, with voting to be at consolidated precincts. - The county officially requested a 120-day extention (through January 7, 2010) from the Attorney General's office on the SAVNS Implementation Grant contract. - The court renewed a Memorandum of Understanding with BVCOG's Transportation Partnership Program ($900/month), then accepted the COG's donation of a 2005 seven-passenger Chevy minivan with 57K miles. It will be used for delivering meals to seniors. - Former commissioner Ray Gaskin was replaced by David Ferguson as a member of the county's Investment Committee. - County Agent Tommy Neyland was commended for finding outside resources to get extra help in his office without adding to his budget. A part-time office worker has been hired through Experienced Workers, at no cost to the county. An intern, Clayton Loftin, has also been employed through Texas Work Force Solutions, and that agency will reimburse the county for 100% of his salary. Neyland reported that Leon County 4-H now has the largest rural membership in the state. - Auditor Susan Pugh presented line item transfers totaling $132,487. She also announced the donation of a computer from BVCOG to the Leon Health Center.