The Sherman Police Department may soon have a new tool for protecting officers in dangerous situations.

The vehicle, if purchased, would be used for situations that would normally put an officer in danger including high-stakes negotiations, barricaded suspects and other situations with an armed suspect.

The city council has authorized the Sherman Police department to solicit bids for the purchase of an armored vehicle for the department.

“We have the opportunity to purchase an armored vehicle for our tactical team, which is the only full tactical team in our COG,” Flores said, referring to the Texoma Council of Governments. “So there have been several times over the past — really, during any year that we respond to other jurisdictions to take care of issues.”

The need for the vehicle was highlighted a few weeks ago following a bank robbery that led to a police involved shooting.

“In the wake of the bank robber shooting that happened here a couple weeks ago, the department started looking at something that could be done with these funds that would provide a safe way for officers to deal with dangerous circumstances,” Sherman Community and Support Services Manager Nate Strauch said.

The vehicle would be used, but would effectively be rebuilt and come with a fresh warranty by the dealer, Flores said. For this vehicle, the department plans to use a Ford chassis that has been modified to have additional armor and other protective features.

As the vehicle would still be technically used, Flores estimated the cost at about $150,000. For a new vehicle, the department would likely be paying double, he said.

Strauch said this vehicle would be different from the Mine Resistant, Ambush Protected vehicle that was brought into service by the Grayson County Sheriff’s department in late 2019. While that vehicle was designed for military use, Strauch said Sherman’s armored vehicle would be a modified civilian vehicle.

“That is something that has gotten a lot of press in recent years — departments that have, through the federal government, gotten ex-military vehicles,” Strauch said. “This is not that. This is a civilian made vehicle for the purposes of police use.”

The vehicle would be purchased using the department’s seizure fund, and would not utilize any funding from the city’s general coffers, officials said. The department got a significant payout for its participation in a drug case in Fort Worth, where several hundred thousand dollars was found tucked into a wall.

When Flores stepped into the police chief role about three years ago, the department’s seizure funds were nearly depleted, but the department has since held back from making purchases using these fund in order to save up for a larger purchase.

In 2018 the department would have likely called out the vehicle eight times, and an additional four times in 2019. As the vehicle would not be used on a regular basis, Flores said it was important not to use general funds for the purchase.

“That is one of the reasons we don’t want to spend general fund money on it, because it isn’t something we will have to use every day,” he said. “But it is something that when the need arises, you do need it.”

Thus far, SPD would have used the twice: once for the robbery call and again in support for another neighboring agency, Flores said. About half of the times the vehicle about be called it would be used in support of other agencies.

“It is something that will benefit not only Sherman, but really our three-county COG,” Flores said.

Source: https://www.heralddemocrat.com/news/20200322/sherman-police-to-purchase-armored-vehicle

Denison is joining Sherman and a number of area cities along with the Texoma Council of Governments to continue upgrading equipment for the next generation of 9-1-1 technology..

Public Safety Program Manager at TCOG CJ Durbin-Higgins said the NexGen 911 service is rolling out nationwide in various phases. Now, the cities are preparing to receive new equipment allowing for new features, including text to 911 as well as more accurate geospacial location and upgraded mapping software.

The biggest change is the migration from decades-old analog technology to more modern digital technology.

The NexGen 911 service began in 2014 for TCOG with Sherman and Denison coming on board a year later. The current upgrades are expected to be completed over the course of the next year.

Durbin-Higgins said the cities work together with TCOG on a host system that allows one site to have the routing equipment and the remote sites to receive calls to their respective dispatches. The upgraded technology will make it more accurate in pinpointing an exact location of a mobile device calling 9-1-1. Even though the switch moves away from analog technology, there will be no changes to those individuals with an older-style landline.

Denison has allocated funds for the upgrade in its 2020 budget that will be voted on by the City Council on Sept. 16. The funds are listed along with six other items under major capital improvements. The total capital improvement fund the city is discussing is $360,000 for the year.

Durbin-Higgins said that money is a cost-sharing agreement between Sherman, Denison and TCOG to provide the equipment for the whole county. She said it saves money on equipment at the individual sites while costing more up front at the host site.

“We’re looking forward to upgrading our mapping software,” Durbin-Higgins said. “It will provide better location information especially for wireless calls. It will be more accurate. We’re still trying to get better information from wireless calls. We have to get the data cleaned up from going to geospatial information to route the calls. That is what we are working on to get it implemented. We did text to 911 as a region. That was beneficial to the citizens of our three counties. That is next generation technology. We are not completely transitioned; that will take a couple years state wide at least.”

Durbin-Higgins said there are backup systems in place to ensure service is not interrupted during the transition. TCOG is hoping to begin replacing the equipment with the newer technology by end of year or early 2020.

Source: https://www.heralddemocrat.com/news/20190907/grayson-county-preparing-for-next-gen-9-1-1

Ross Rolirad was recognized Tuesday as its newest member of the Texas Silver-Haired Legislature. Joe Henderson introduced Rolirad to the Grayson County Commissioners Court saying he would join Henderson, Barbara Spears of Sherman, Sharon Brazeal of Van Alstyne, Joe Dale of Fannin County and Kate Whitfield of Sherman in representing the area.

The group’s goal is to represent the needs of both present and future older Texans.

“Those six representatives now of Texoma puts us on par with Houston and San Antonio,” Henderson said. “We far surpass Dallas now.”

The Texas Silver-Haired Legislature is a non-partisan, group of people who are 60 years old or older and who are elected by their peers. There are a total of 114 Texas Silver-Haired representatives. The TSHL began in April of 1985 when the 69th Texas Legislature adopted supportive legislation. The TSHL meets in Austin in even-numbered years to consider and vote on proposed legislation that concerns the needs of older Texans.

Henderson said they were assigned to various committees in the Silver-Haired Legislature but mainly on the criminal affairs and rural affairs.

“Ross has not been assigned,” he said. “He will be able to pick his own committee.”

Grayson County Judge Bill Magers said he met Rolirad when he was running for Grayson County judge for the first time and Rolirad became a great friend.

“He’s a great civil servant,” Magers added.

Magers took a moment to add that the late Harold Wright and his wife Hazel were in the Silver-Haired Legislature for a long time.

Henderson said the next big meeting of the group would be in October for training.

– See more at: https://www.heralddemocrat.com/news/20190813/grayson-county-recognizes-new-silver-haired-legislator

Poverty is becoming an issue of growing concern in Texoma as the Texoma Council of Governments, and other agencies, are seeing an increase in families below the poverty line in Grayson County.

Even with jobless numbers improve, the number of residents in Grayson County who fall under the poverty line has increased. This comes despite a decrease across the state.

The poverty rate across the state of Texas dipped to 14.7 percent, down from the previous year’s 15.6 percent, says a report by the U.S. Census Bureau. Grayson County, meanwhile, went from 12.5 percent in 2016 to 13.7 percent in 2017. Grayson County still remains lower than the state.

Things are even worse for Hispanics. The percentage of Hispanic residents in Grayson County in poverty was 32.5 percent, compared to 22.5 percent for the state.

The Salvation Army is one of the agencies in the county that provides assistance to people facing financial hardships.

B.K. Schlesinger, social services director for the Salvation Army of Grayson County, said she has been getting an increase in residents seeking assistance.

“We have had a good increase of people coming to the food bank. We are also dealing with more people needing help with utility payments,” Schlesinger said.

Among those who fell under the poverty category, 2.2 percent had worked full-time the entire 12-month period in the report. The rate of those who were below poverty and had not worked full time the entire 12 months was 32.3 percent.

Forty-five percent of those below the poverty line were classified as having not worked at all in Grayson County. The rate was 49 percent for the state.

Schlesinger provided some insight into why poverty could be increasing despite a low unemployment rate.

“While the jobless rate is very low, the jobs that are available are typically minimum wage jobs. Even at 40 hours a week, a minimum wage job will not pay for rent and utilities on a 1-bedroom apartment. That’s just not enough income. Our skilled labor force is doing really well. But if you are unskilled you are not going to be able to get the kind of job to have a comfortable living,” Schlesinger said.

More families impacted

Children are especially susceptible to the effects of poverty, Schlesinger said. In Grayson County, the percentage of children in poverty was 22.5 percent for children between the ages of 5-17. That is a significant increase from 15.3 percent in 2016. Statewide that number is 20.2 percent for children in the same age group. The U.S. Census Bureau uses various factors such as family size and income level to determine if an individual is considered below the poverty line.

“We are serving about the same number of children each year. I am concerned about making sure we have enough food from our food drive. For the first time ever, we have begun running short on things this year. We have had to supplement that food more than in the past,” Schlesinger said.

Annette Limoges, executive director for the Grayson County Shelter, said her agency is seeing an upward trend in families with children seeking assistance.

“We have been totally full for nearly a year-and-a-half. The length of time they stay is what has increased. We tell people we are a 21-day facility. In 2017 our average stay was closer to 48 days. We have also seen more families with children than from the previous year, an increase of 15 additional families,” Limoges said.

Limoges said the shelter has been at or near capacity for the last four years. She said the length people stay has increased in the last 18 months and is expected to follow the same trend into this year. For the first six months of 2018, those numbers were already higher than the previous year, suggesting things are still getting worse for some families.

TCOG recently addressed many of these concerns in their 2019 to 2021 needs survey. In that report TCOG recognized the increase in children in poverty, calling it alarming.

“This issue of child poverty is pervasive throughout the region. In fact, 22.4 percent of children in Grayson County live in poverty,” the report says. “One … trend found across all three counties is the percentage of age 18 to 34 years living in poverty; in the case of Grayson County, 19.4 percent. This trend is disturbing, as individuals in this age category are beginning careers, building families, and having children.”

There were two census tracts in Grayson County that had even higher rates than the average.

In Sherman, the region with the largest percentage of children in poverty lies on the easternmost side of the city. The poverty rate for children in that area was 46.3 percent, compared to the county’s 22.5 percent. The northernmost tract in the Denison are, which goes from the city limits to Lake Texoma, has a poverty rate for children at 43.5 percent. The TCOG report indicated the number of children in poverty was higher among single mothers with multiple children, and especially higher for Hispanic families.

Lack of affordable housing compounding problem

The TCOG report says affordable housing is a major problem people below the poverty line. The number of available, affordable housing options for low-income families hasn’t kept up with demand, the report said. Specifically, TCOG believed better educated, upward mobile workers were moving into the county, increasing the demand for homes while also pushing up rental rates.

Limoges said she has been having difficulty finding permanent homes for several of those staying at the shelter. Schlesinger echoed that sentiment saying the Salvation Army has been struggling to find affordable homes for a lot of the families seeking assistance due to a shortage of low-income housing in the county.

According to the census data, the number of men in the 35 to 64 age group in poverty had increased from 10.5 percent in 2016 to 11.8 percent last year. This is also a reversal of the state’s downward trend, from 11.4 percent in 2016 to 10.7 percent last year.

“Our largest number of homeless adults are men age 45-65; we are also seeing an increase in the 18-22 range who are homeless,” Schlesinger said.

Right now, Limoges said the shelter has been seeing an increase of individuals from out of state, and the shelter is preparing to see more following the hurricane evacuations.

Source: https://www.heralddemocrat.com/news/20181007/as-texas-rate-trends-downward-poverty-rate-up-in-grayson-county

Outlining how the organization will continue using a Community Services Block Grant, the Texoma Council of Governments held a meeting Wednesday afternoon to provide the public the opportunity to voice feedback on the Community Action Plan.

The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs requires annual updates from grantees on the Community Action Plan, which is completed every three years. The last plan from TCOG was completed in 2015, and the annual submission includes next year’s budget that is set for $245,900. The TCOG Governing Board approved plans to ratify the annual submission last week.

While no members of the public attended the meeting, TCOG employees were present. TCOG Energy Service Program Manager Judy Fullylove said the meeting also served to fulfill state requirements for the funding. The purpose of the grant is to address antipoverty initiatives, such as forming plans to reduce poverty and revitalize low-income households towards self-sufficiency, she said.

“The Community Action Plan does address those issues, not only what TCOG is able to do, also it identifies gaps in services as well as what agencies can help us address poverty within the tri-county region,” Fullylove said with the region referring to Cooke, Fannin and Grayson counties.

To form a plan, TCOG performs a needs assessment for the communities it serves. The plan outlines the top five needs and how the organization addresses those needs. The needs are the following: job skills, affordable housing, health care, transportation and food insecurity.

“When we do the assessment and get the needs of the community, it’s up to us to coordinate those efforts with other social serifs agencies and providers because we ourselves are not able to provide all of the resources that address these top five needs,” Allison Minton, client services department director for TCOG, said.

The partner organizations include Workforce Texoma and Grayson College to address job skills, state and county health departments for health care, and local food pantries and kitchens for food insecurity.

“This is a very small part of trying to provide to our community the assistance that low income families need to try and become self sufficient,” Minton said. “That’s why our partnerships are so important.”

The plan outlines the partnerships, funding sources and how services are delivered. TCOG relies on its partners to address the ultimate goal of eliminating poverty.

“It’s really about the community coming together to address the top five needs that have been identified through this assessment that TCOG went through,” Minton said.

Original article published at http://www.heralddemocrat.com/news/20161027/tcog-examines-community-needs-in-annual-grant-submission

The Governing Board of the Texoma Council of Governments established three new advisory subcommittees and welcomed three new members to the board at its meeting Thursday evening.

Near the end of the meeting, Board President Jason Brinkley, and Cooke County Judge, put forward the notion to create three ad hoc subcommittees — an executive committee, audit and finance advisory committee, and a human resources advisory committee.

“I think a healthy COG works best when it has good involvement and understanding by the board,” Brinkley said. “I think that is something that is needed in every organization like this, and it is something that without it doesn’t do anybody any good.”

The three subcommittees would consult during outside regular meeting times and report back to the board with recommendations on board actions. Brinkley said the subcommittees cannot take independent action, but they help increase involvement by digging deeper than what the board can typically do in its monthly meetings.

“I know it is within my authority as president to essentially create these committees, but I think it’s better to bring it before the board for a discussion — to get board input before creating these,” Brinkley said.

The executive committee is made up of the board president, vice president and the secretary treasurer with two ex-officio members — the executive director and the deputy director. As part of its responsibilities, this committee will maintain the bylaws, and its members could attend other committee meetings, but Brinkley said they would not be voting members of those subcommittees. Brinkley, with Sherman council member Tammy Johnson and Fannin County Judge Creta “Spanky” Carter would serve on the subcommittee with Executive Director Susan Thomas and Deputy Executive Director Randy McBroom.

The audit and finance advisory committee has three members from the board representing each county and two ex-officio members — the executive director and the finance director. The human resources committee also has three members appointed and three ex-officio members, which are the deputy human resources director, staff liaison and a staff representative, who could not be the executive director.

Brinkley told the board there is not a limit to how often these committees will meet, but the executive committee would probably meet monthly. The audit and finance committee would meet more often during budget planning time — January, February and March — and during the typical auditing months of June, July and August.

“I think this is something we need to strongly consider,” Brinkley said. “If it helps us do our jobs as board members better, which in turn would hopefully help the staff do their jobs better.”

Brinkley named Grayson County Commissioner Jeff Whitmire, Gainesville Council Member Keith Clegg and the Rev. Cecil Jones to the audit and finance advisory committee. Denison council member Teresa Adams, North Central Texas College representative Karla Metzler and Bonham council member Bob Thomas will serve on the human resources advisory committee. At its meeting last month, the board approved a motion that at least three staff members would meet with the board subcommittee of Brinkley, Whitmire and Carter to work together on changes to the personnel policy manual to propose to the board. Thomas noted the human resources committee would serve in place of the subcommittee established last month, which Brinkley clarified.

“We’ve been working on the employee personnel manual, and we did establish a committee to go back and continue to review that and work with staff,” Brinkley said. “This will be in lieu of that. I think that is a good starting point with what the previous committee has worked on. They will take that and run with it as they see fit and report back to the board.”

New members

As the 2015-2016 board term expired, seven of the 15 seats were vacated, though four seats are currently unfilled: Fannin County small city representative, Grayson County community representative, Cooke County community representative and the independent school district representative.

Three new members were sworn in at the beginning of the meeting and at the end, the TCOG department directors gave a brief overview of the operations of which TCOG is involved.

Source: http://heralddemocrat.com/news/local/tcog-board-establishes-subcommittees-brings-new-members

Grayson County Commissioners aren’t sure whether the value the county gets from the Texoma Council of Governments is enough to keep the county in the organization. Commissioners tabled agenda item Tuesday that called for them to consider renewing the county’s membership in the COG.

Grayson County Judge Bill Magers said it would cost the county about $6,453 to renew its membership. He said that doesn’t sound like a lot when one considers the county’s budget is approximately $50 million, but the county has some concerns with TCOG.

Commissioner Jeff Whitmire sits on the TCOG board and discussed some of the issues. He said he wanted people to understand that there are lots of programs that TCOG runs that are worthwhile, such as those that help people with housing and those that help the elderly. He said he just wants a clearer picture of what the county is actually getting out of its participation with TCOG.

TCOG Executive Director Susan Thomas was not at the meeting Tuesday. However, she said via email Tuesday that TCOG provides plenty of service to the people of Grayson County.

“Every single program at TCOG delivers services in Grayson County,” Thomas said. “For our planning and development services/programs — e.g. criminal justice, homeland security, etc. — the customers (direct beneficiaries) are generally the member jurisdictions. For our aging and client services, the customers are the citizens of the county. Although a good argument can be made that as we build quality of life for individual residents, the institution of the county indirectly benefits as well.”

Whitmire said the purpose for a COG is “for member entity governments to be able to work together to try to eliminate duplication of effort, and to try to make things a little more cost efficient to the member entities or to allow them access to something that they otherwise might not have. He said it “is no secret that over the years,” the county’s relationship with TCOG has been strained regardless of who has been the county’s representative.

“The governing board’s assigned responsibility is to decide what that organization does, what their priorities are and what their direction is,” Whitmire said. “The council of governments is supposed to work for the member entities, not the other way around.”

He said somewhere along the line, it has grown into a large organization, and he is not sure the member entities are still the primary focus at TCOG.

For its involvement with the COG, he said the county gets a share of a homeland security grant for about $52,000 and a criminal justice grant for about $34,000, both of which come from the Governor’s Office. He said TCOG also disperses 911 fees to the county.

“I don’t know if we have access to the governor’s grants of criminal justice or the homeland security if we have access to those direct as the two largest cities are able to get those direct themselves,” he said.

He said there are things that the county does not know about how leaving the COG might affect funding for some programs.

The county does know, he said, that when previous Grayson County Judge Drue Bynum tried to separate the county’s 911 funding from TCOG, there were some state requirements that kept that from being possible. He said that is the case even though Sherman and Denison each get direct funding.

“So the COG gets to set the allocation,” Whitmire said.

He said he doesn’t know how much of the 911 fees generated in this area are returned to Grayson County and how the county might get that money without the COG.

“It is a volunteer organization, so we can drop out,” Whitmire said.

He said he thinks the county needs answers to questions before it can make a decision.

Commissioner Phyllis James sat on the TCOG board before Whitmire.

“The indirect costs that go to pay the employees and the director, who increased her salary drastically last year, takes away from funds that could benefit the citizens of Grayson County,” James said.

She said she voted against many of the decisions that were made while she sat on the board.

“I was not real pleased with the fact that a lot of the money that comes from the state is actually just paying salaries (for people at TCOG) and doesn’t go to the people who need it the most,” she said.

Commissioner Bart Lawrence has also served on the board previously, said he just wanted to “say a hearty Amen” to the statements by James and Whitmire.

Magers said it might turn out that after some investigation, the county learns that it gets more than anyone ever suspected from the COG. But he said he thinks the questions from the commissioners warrant a closer look by the county before it renews its membership. He did not set a timetable for that decision to be made.

Source: http://heralddemocrat.com/news/local/grayson-county-considering-its-relationship-tcog

The Texoma Council of Governments hosted an inter-regional roundtable Wednesday afternoon for the Economic Development Administration Economic Development District meeting. The meeting provided a chance to introduce North Texas COGs to new key figures within the EDA, while also sharing ideas and providing resources with those present.

In total six different Council of Governments were represented, including the Heart of Texas COG, the North Central Texas COG, East Texas COG, Central Texas COG and Ark-Tex COG. EDA Regional Director Jorge Ayala traveled from Austin to spearhead the meeting, taking the opportunity to introduce the COGs represented to newly appointed Economic Development Representative Cornell Wesley.

“The primary reason was to introduce him, but also to have them get together and kind of network a bit, because Texas is so big,” Ayala said. “They all (the COGs) go down to Austin only two or three times a year and meets with this statewide organization, which is great … but in smaller groups it’s a little easier to communicate.”

And that’s just what these organizations took the opportunity to do. The roundtable gave each entity the opportunity to speak on their projects and programs, and what has been working for them and what hasn’t.

Ayala said Wesley would be able to help the COGs use a variety of resources, from putting together revolving loan funding programs to putting together proposals or grants for funding.

“We want to get smarter and partner with you more,” Ayala said during the meeting. “We want to provide you with some resources.”

TCOG Executive Director Susan Thomas said she came away from the day with at least two ideas she is ready to get started on that came from the other representatives simply sharing their ideas. One of these included a Texoma leadership program to put graduates from local leadership programs on a list available to the community to see who may be a good fit for board seats or appointments.

“That’s what these days are all about,” she said. “Everybody in this room walked away with an idea. … And the thing about COGs, we are extraordinarily transparent and generous with one another. We are not stingy about our ideas. When we have an idea that works, we tell other COGs about that so they can copy that.”

Earlier in the day TCOG had hosted a roundtable for regional economic development. Economic development cooperation (sic) leaders across Texoma gathered to also share their ideas, and what’s been working for them and what they may need assistance with at a local level.

“I think the most interesting thing about today was what we started with all of our local economic development corporations coming together, and sort of in this same roundtable type fashion, going around and talking about what’s going on in their communities,” Thomas said. “So as a region we understand each other and we plug in where we can help. And you see that expanded to … six different COGs coming together and talking about how we’re doing economic development, so it’s regions being regional.”

– See more at: http://heralddemocrat.com/news/local/economic-development-meeting-sees-6-different-cogs-sharing-ideas#sthash.uCcjD1KV.dpuf

The Texoma Senior Citizens Foundation recently gifted the Texoma Council of Governments with $99,410.36 for use in area aging programs.

“These were funds that had been accumulated over several years,” Randy McBroom, TCOG’s Regional Services Department director, said. “They were being held by the Texoma Senior Citizens Foundation and several of them were designated funds for programs only our AAA (Area Agency on Aging) programs could deal with.”

McBroom said the Texoma Senior Citizens Foundation voted to transfer those funds directly to TCOG to be used to further AAA programs, as well as the activities of TCOG’s recently revitalized Texoma Regional Council on Aging Committee.

“We know several of them are targeted for specific purposes, but how we’re going to use them and actually when even, is something we have to consider,” McBroom said. “We agreed with the Texoma Senior Citizens Foundation that we would use those funds as they were originally designated for.”

The Texoma Senior Citizens Foundation earmarked $60,989.72 of the funds to be used for benefits counseling, $32,863.95 to be used for TCOG local funds and $5,556.69 to be used for medication assistance and/or emergency medical expenses. The Texoma Regional Council on Aging Committee will oversee the funds.

“We are so appreciative of the Texoma Senior Citizens Foundation for releasing that money where we can now use it, even more effectively with our new tract,” McBroom said. “I don’t think all of it will go into direct services, but a very large part of it will. But these funds will provide additional benefits to the senior citizens of the Texoma region.”

– See more at: http://heralddemocrat.com/news/local/tcog-receives-funds-area-aging-programs#sthash.McEdaBAU.dpuf

During its regular meeting Thursday, the governing board of the Texoma Council of Governments received a completely clean audit for the fiscal year that ended in April.

The accounting firm of LaFollett & Abbott PLLC in Tom Bean performed TCOG’s financial and compliance audit for the fiscal year that began May 1, 2014 and ended April 30.

“It’s good news,” Finance Director Stacee Sloan said. “This year, we have an audit with zero findings and that has not been done since 2006.”

Susan LaFollett said her firm issued opinions on TCOG’s internal controls over its reporting practices and on its federal and state programs, and there were no findings on either opinion.

“Basically, the TCOG has it together,” LaFollett said. “I would call it a successful audit with no problems.”

Executive Director Susan B. Thomas praised Sloan and her team for their efforts in getting the agency a clean audit.

“It was one of my priorities and she made it her priority and we got there this year,” Thomas said. “I can’t say enough about Stacee and the amount of time and effort and dedication you have (put in) to making this happen.”

The board accepted the audit report and authorized payment to the audit firm and distribution of the report to grantor agencies.

Sloan also gave a status update on the current fiscal year budget and told the board the proposal she recently received for modernizing the building’s elevators was higher than the $90,000 approved. So she said she’s working to get that number down in line with what the board previously approved.

The board also approved TCOG’s Municipal Solid Waste Cooperative Reimbursement contract with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

“This is the program that funds the municipal solid waste program here,” Michael Schmitz, geographic information systems and planning program manager, said. “This program funds our household hazardous waste event, which we hold every two years and is a very successful program throughout the region.”

Pass-through grants from TCEQ provide funding to promote recycling, stop illegal dumping and work to reduce the amount of waste in landfills.

“This program also helps us fund education throughout the region,” Schmitz said. “This year we were able to purchase environmental models that we’re going to take to some local schools.”

The contract totals $230,000 for fiscal year 2016 and fiscal year 2017, with $115,000 slated for each year.

“We are also fortunate to have generous other colleague COGs (because) based on the formula, our allocation would actually be less than this and result in a number that’s not functional to keep the program alive,” Thomas said. “So some of the larger COGs subsidized the smaller COGs and willingly redistribute that money so we maintain full statewide coverage of the MSW program.”

The board saved 2 percent on 9-1-1 maintenance and support from AT&T for TCOG’s 9-1-1 Program by approving prepayment of $58,682.40 for services.

“Each year we pay AT&T maintenance on our 9-1-1 equipment,” CJ Durbin-Higgins, public safety program manager, said. “They come out all hours of the day and night, 365 days a year if we have any kind of issues. They also do proventative maintenance as well.”

TCOG provides management and planning support for 9-1-1 public safety answering points at the Grayson County Sheriff’s Office, Bonham Police Department, Whitesboro Police Department, Fannin County Sheriff’s Office, Gainsville Police Department and Cooke County Sheriff’s Office.

Interlocal agreements for geographic information systems services were approved with Cooke and Fannin counties and the cities of Gunter, Van Alstyne and Whitewright.

“They each have different service levels that we do offer,” Schmitz said.

Gunter, Van Alstyne, Fannin and Cooke counties will be receiving GIS services. Cooke County will also be getting addressing and mapviewer services, while Fannin and Gunter will also receive addressing service. Van Alstyne and Whitewright will have addressing, data development, data maintenance, pictometry online and custom flex mapviewer services.

For one year of services, the GIS Program will receive reimbursements from each of those entities. Van Alstyne will pay $12,000. Whitewright will pay $7,000. Gunter will pay $2,000. Fannin County will pay $23,000. And Cooke County will pay $28,000.

The board also ratified the Comprehensive Energy Assistance Program contract with the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs to have TCOG administer the program for seven East Texas counties. TDHCA requested TCOG oversee the program for the remainder of the calendar year for the counties of Delta, Franklin, Hopkins, Lamar, Rains, Red River and Titus.

– See more at: http://heralddemocrat.com/news/local/tcog-receives-clean-audit-report#sthash.4jlSq4Ti.dpuf