County to help with show barn

By Melinda L. Lucas

Shackelford County elected officials worked through a fairly routine agenda at their regular meeting on Monday morning, May 22, with discussions ranging from a disconnected HVAC control system to planting something in the Courthouse Square flowerbeds.

The commissioners agreed that they could haul and lay down gravel at the county-owned show barn, which is currently undergoing some extensive improvements, with fundraising organized by the Shackelford County Youth & Livestock Association. Association officers are planning to find donors for the material and asked that the precincts help upgrade the parking area.

A motion passed to provide machinery and labor to resurface the show barn parking lot.

HVAC Panel

County judge John Viertel reported that in his effort to figure out a way to disable the Courthouse chiller at night,  he has been trying to find out more about a $10,000 control system that the county purchased several years before CTSI became the county’s IT provider.

Viertel said that former IT consultant Sam Goldsmith spent several hours at the Courthouse recently at no charge to try and figure out how to get it reconnected. Both Goldsmith and CTSI contacted the installer, but it couldn’t be done remotely.

Viertel suggested that no action be taken until Cary Services, with whom the county has been discussing a new chiller, presents a recommendation in June.

Courthouse Flowerbeds

The judge presented a $1,000 proposal from Texas Grass Shall Grow to replace the old drip line irrigation in the Courthouse flowerbeds, which is no longer usable.

The elected officials also discussed some options for plantings in the beds, which were seeded with bluebonnets earlier in the year, but no decisions were made.