Ellis County Commissioners were proud to have an opportunity to honor Ennis Independent School District student archers for their achievement in the recent National Archery Tournament in Louisville, Kentucky.

“This is not the first time Ennis has participated in the National Tournament,” said Commissioner Bill Dodson, pct. 2. “They have been very successful in the last three years and after reading about this, I wanted to acknowledge their participation.”

Dodson presented a proclamation to the Court for its approval, noting that the Ennis Junior High team placed 33rd out of 106 teams in the national competition, which included over 7,000 registered competitors.

“Each participant represented Ellis County with great pride and accomplishment as they competed at a level within the guidelines of the National Archery in School Program, which program promotes student education, physical education, and participation in the lifelong sport of Archery,” Dodson read.

Students present to receive the proclamation included Kayla McCabe, Wacey Newman, Madison VanDerKroon, Sarah Blazek, and Joylynn Garcia. Volunteer coach Lana McCabe was also in attendance, along with her younger daughter, who was “adopted” by the team as somewhat of a mascot.

“We took 53 students to State competition and qualified two teams for nationals,” McCabe told Commissioners. In all, 14 boys and 13 girls competed in Louisville.

Following up on an item that was discussed at the last regular meeting of the Commissioners’ Court, the Court gave its approval for Sheriff Johnny Brown to sign an interagency agreement to participate in an auto burglary task force through the City of Mansfield.

Projected numbers of stolen or burglarized vehicles, not including trailers, indicated approximately 800 crimes from 2007 through 2010 in the unincorporated areas of Ellis County.

“The money is from the insurance companies,” said Captain Chuck Laubach. “When you pay a premium on your insurance, a certain amount goes into a fund and the agencies use that fund to support task forces.”

Agencies represented in the task force will be the City of Mansfield, the City of Burleson, the City of Grand Prairie, the County of Ellis and the County of Johnson. The agreement will require annual renewal and can be terminated at any time with 60 days notice.

Commissioners also approved application for a grant through the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board for structural repair projects on flood control dams in accordance with Texas Administrative Code, Chapter 529, Subchapter B.

“I want to make it clear that these are new funds, and they are State funds and not Federal funds,” said Dam Inspector Tom Sulak. “All we are doing is making application – we are not obligating the county or any district for these (matching) funds.”

Sulak told the Court that the County has already received $30,000 this year under a grant requiring a ten percent local match, noting that work done by the City of Ennis and by the Lakeview Camp on Highway 66 was used as “in kind” match, eliminating any cash outlay by the County in return for that funding.

Application for current grant funding for structural repair, which requires a five percent local match, will be made jointly by Ellis County and the Ellis Prairie Soil Conservation District. Working together, the agencies have identified nine of the County’s 87 flood control structures that are in need of repair, totaling approximately $2.7 million.

“That’s more than the $1.8 million that is available, but we don’t know how they are going to score the applications, so we thought it better to get it all out there,” Sulak said.

Of the nine structures in need of repair, four have had those repairs mandated by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

“There’s been a formal inspection of those sites, and they’ve uncovered specific things that need to be repaired,” said Sulak. “What happens in their scoring process is that should bump our score up on the application – it should help us.”

In other business, Commissioners:

• Took no action regarding selection of three public members of the Elected Official Salary Grievance Committee for FY 2010-2011;
• Executed renewal of interlocal agreements with the City of Red Oak, the City of Glenn Heights, the City of Pecan Hill, the City of Ovilla, and the Red Oak Independent School District for the term of February 1, 2010 through February 2, 2011;
• Approved the Early Voting Schedule for the June 22, 2010 Special Run-Off Election for Senate District 22;
• Approved the Election Day polling locations for the June 22, 2010 Special Run-Off Election for Senate District 22;
• Approved the Presiding and Alternate Judges and the number of clerks for each poll for the June 22, 2010 Special Run-Off Election for Senate District 22;
• Approved a replat in Shiloh Forest, Phase 2;
• Approved an agreement for the assessment and compensation of road damage between Ellis County and Range Production Company for precinct 4;
• Awarded the bid for the annual requirement for Limestone Chip Seal to Shipman Transport of Alvarado, Texas;
• Awarded the Bid for the annual requirement for Limestone Flex Base Type A Grade 2 to Shipman Transport and the bid for Limestone Flex Base Type A Grade 4 to Lone Star of Richland, Texas;
• Ratified a tax abatement agreement approved during the May 10, 2010 meeting of the Commissioners’ Court with Quik N Tasty Foods, Inc. granting an abatement of 50 percent for a period of seven years in accordance with the County’s existing tax abatement guidelines;
• Authorized purchase of a Tiger Boom Mower model TRB50C-30S for Precinct 1 through the BuyBoard and supplied by Bane Machinery at a total cost of $33,540.00.