Ellis County Commissioners approved two proclamations during Monday’s regularly-scheduled meeting. The first declared Friday, October 1, 2010 as “Pink Out Day” in support of breast cancer awareness, while the second recognized the Ellis County Sheriff’s Office Explorer Post 106 in celebration of its one-year anniversary.

“As a Commissioners’ Court, we want to make it known that we are in favor of supporting research and offering whatever kind of social support and emotional support we can to our community members who have suffered this terrible disease,” said County Judge Carol Bush before reading the first proclamation.

In attendance to receive the proclamation were four representatives of the Waxahachie Fire Department, two representatives of the Red Oak Fire Department, and Waxahachie ISD’s honorary “Pink Out Day” chairperson, Cindy Smith.

According to the proclamation, breast cancer survivors are the largest group of cancer survivors in the U.S., numbering approximately 2.5 million.

“Approximately 207,090 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in women in the United States in 2010,” Bush read. “And the need to educate our population about the need for early screening remains at the forefront.”

Waxahachie ISD and the City of Waxahachie have both declared October 1 as “Pink Out Day” as well, with special events planned during halftime at the Waxahachie High School football game. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month as well. For more information on breast cancer detection and treatment, visit the American Cancer Society at www.cancer.org.

Sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. Matthew Murrey acts as the advisor for Explorer Post 106, which was formed in August of 2009.

“I tell you it is my pleasure every week to work with these guys – they are outstanding young men,” Murrey told the Court. “As an Explorer when I was a teenager, to be in this position now through the Sheriff’s Office, it has come full circle for me.”

Murrey said the members of Post 106 are 15 years old and can continue in the program until the age of 20. They meet weekly on the Southwestern Assemblies of God University campus.

Post members have participated in three competitions during the last year, competing in events that mirror realistic situations an officer might encounter in the field. Judging is done by active police officers. At Regional competitions in Lake Jackson, Texas, the Post placed third in three events: bike patrol, agility, and active shooter scenarios. At the State level, the team placed second for the “burglary in progress” scenario and third for a “domestic crisis” scenario. At the National Police Explorer Competition held in Atlanta, Georgia, team Captain Tyler Bonner earned third place recognition in non-emergency vehicle operations.

Also during Monday’s meeting, the Court finalized its 2010-2011 budget process by adopting a total tax rate of $0.393599 per $100 of taxable property value. The rate is equivalent to the 2009-2010 tax rate.

Specifically, the Court adopted a General Maintenance and Operations tax rate of $0.360091 (consisting of an Interest and Sinking rate of $0.059006 and an Operations rate of $0.301085) and a Farm to Market tax rate of $0.033508, pursuant to Texas local Government Code paragraph 81.006 and Texas Tax Code paragraph 26.05.

At the request of Constable Terry Nay, Commissioners approved proposed changes to the Ellis County Sheriff and Constable fees effective January 1, 2011, as required under Local Government Code Section 118.131.

“We are proposing some changes and the addition of some fees we haven’t been charging for in the past, after studying what some other counties are doing,” said Nay, noting that other counties may in fact be increasing fees at this time as well, as schedules must be submitted to the Texas Comptroller’s Office no later than October 1.

Specifically, the fee schedule lowered the fee for all types of postings and for notices from $80 to $75; raised the fee for precepts from $55 to $75; raised the fee for writs of restitution from $90 to $150; raised the fee for temporary restraining orders from $85 to $150; added fees of $150 for writs of restoration, writs of re-entry, writs of supersedeas/certiorari, any other writ or order for the enforcement of a judgment or to seize property, tax warrants, turnover orders, injunctions, and mental commitments; added a fee of $75 for any other civil paper to serve an individual; and, added fees of $25 for taking and approving of civil bonds, executing a deed, executing a bill of sale, executing a replacement bill of sale (not recorded), executing a replacement deed (not recorded), executing a replacement proof of service or affidavit of sub-service, and release of court-ordered impounded or inventoried vehicles.

In other business, Commissioners:

• Awarded the bid for Inmate Medical Services to CHM for a period of three years with one renewal option for another three years, based on the best evaluated bidder;
• Awarded the bid for outfitting 12 Sheriff’s Vehicles to GT Distributors;
• Voted to continue participation in the Texas County and District Retirement System as approved in the 2010-2011 Budget, authorizing the County Judge to sign the necessary forms;
• Approved a contract with the North Central Texas Council of Governments for the Cities Readiness Initiative project for the period running August 1 2010 through July 31, 2012, authorizing the County Judge to sign the contract;
• Approved the purchase of five Chevy Crewcab pickups from Buy-Board at a cost of $150,631 from the 2009-2010 budget for the Sheriff’s Office;
• Approved the purchase of a Universal Forensic Extraction Device to analyze cell phones, smart phones, and PDA devices from Cellebrite USA Corporation in the amount of $10,095 from the 2009-2010 budget;
• Approved the East Texas Medical Center EMS request for Consumer Price Index percentage adjustment of two percent as allowed under the current subsidy contract;
• Took no action on a resolution in support of the Meals-on-Wheels of Johnson and Ellis County application for a grant from the Texas Department of Agriculture Home-Delivered Meal Grant program;
• Adjourned into a public hearing, during which no member of the public spoke, regarding the County Clerk Archive Fund and the District Clerk Technology Fund;
• Approved a plan for the County Clerk Archive Fund;
• Approved a plan for the District Clerk Technology Fund;
• Approved Interlocal Cooperation Contracts with the City of Ennis, the Avalon ISD, the City of Alma, the City of Garrett (for both precinct 1 and precinct 2), the City of Bardwell, the Ennis ISD, and the City of Italy;
• Agreed to file a Notice of Intent for Ellis County to participate in the Texas Department of Agriculture Feral Hog Abatement Technologies Program;
• Authorized an employee to be paid from two cost centers (engineering and law library) in accordance with the 2010-2011 budget; and
• Approved renewal of salary supplements to the justices on the Tenth Court of Appeals in the amount of $1,624 for fiscal year 2010-2011 with Commissioner Heath Sims, pct. 3, casting the sole dissenting vote.