Plus – HOT increase, solar farm plans burn bright, county joins opioid settlement, ESD No. 2 gains board member from ESD No. 1
Ann Powers
Editor
PALO PINTO – Palo Pinto County Commissioners rescinded a $3.25 million bid for sewer plant improvements due to a technicality and approved the competing contractor’s $5.6 million dollar proposal for the same project, Dec. 23.
That eats up the $5.6 million share of the county’s American Recovery Plan Act funds commissioners planned on using to upgrade the county seat’s wastewater treatment facility and other infrastructure projects – unless a lower amount can be negotiated with Weatherford-based Imperial Construction, according to County Judge Shane Long.
Mineral Wells-based RDW Development initially won the bid on Dec. 16 with its $3.25 million offer to build a concrete sludge treatment system and replace sewer lines and pumps. The technicality resulted when a bid bond was not included in RDW’s sealed proposal, a requirement by law.
A bid bond is a guarantee from a contractor to accept the terms of the agreement and complete the work.
Burgess & Niple Project Engineer Amanda Frazier left a voicemail for RDW Development saying it was okay not to include the bond in the sealed proposal, as long as the company provided a check when the contract was officially awarded to them, according to RDW Development President Bobby Woodring.
“As we understood it, once we were awarded the bid we could provide the bond,” Woodring told the Palo Pinto Press.
Frazier also recommended RDW to commissioners at their Dec. 16 meeting shortly before the contract was granted. Imperial brought it to the court’s attention later on that RDW had not provided the required bond with its sealed bid making it invalid, County Attorney Maegan Kostiha told the court.
Imperial representatives “threatened litigation on the deal” if the bid wasn’t deemed “illegal” and given to their company, Woodring added.
“I won’t make the same mistake twice, I assure you,” Woodring told the Press.
The Press reached out to Frazier for comment about the error which caused the bid to be revoked. She declined to answer and referred the newspaper to the county.
Long said it was his understanding Frazier didn’t know a bond was required in a sealed bid when she gave the incorrect information to RDW and recommended the invalid proposal to the court.
Commissioners said once the discrepancy was discovered, they were required to void the lower offer and award it to the opposing bidder. Imperial was the only other contractor to apply.
“If it’s technically wrong, then I guess we have to rescind that bid,” County Commissioner Precinct 4 Jeff Fryer said of RDW’s offer during the court’s Dec. 23 meeting.
The court was hoping to spend the leftover ARPA funds for budgeted projects and use the savings to offset property taxes, Long explained. Imperial Estimator Coy Warner said bureaucratic red tape was the reason their proposal came in $2.35 million higher than RDW’s.
“There’s a lot of paperwork that comes with federal funds and we have experience with,” Warner told the court at its Dec. 16 meeting.
Imperial representatives estimated the project to be finished by the end of 2027. The sewer plant serves Palo Pinto’s 179 residents (World Population Review 2024), the county courthouse and jail.
Heads in beds
County visitors will see an increase in their lodging bills. The court upped the Hotel Occupancy Tax from 4% to 7%, which is the maximum allowed by the state.
“What that means is instead of $4 for $100 [billed], it’s going to be $7 for $100,” County Treasurer Deanna Copeland explained. “It’s just a couple of bucks. But overall in the county, it will be a significant amount.”
The Hotel Occupancy Tax is a fee tourists and visitors pay on their hotel, motel or bed and breakfast bills for overnight stays. It is not a tax levied on residents.
The county adopted the 4% rate in 1996 and the time is ripe for an increase, Copeland noted.
“Ten years ago I had less than 20 hotels to keep up with,” Copeland told the court. “Now, I have well over 100. The income from all that has greatly increased.”
Ninety-five percent of HOT funds are passed onto Mineral Wells, Strawn and Possum Kingdom Lake chambers of commerce to promote tourism. The remaining 5% goes toward county Christmas decorations and maintenance for Palo Pinto’s Old Jail Museum.
“It does make a big difference to your chambers,” Strawn Chamber of Commerce board member Alan Alison said. “It’s designed to put heads in beds.”
Copeland said reservations made before Jan. 1 will be taxed at 4%. All future bookings and payments will reflect the 7% hike, she added.
Solar farm plans shine on
The court OK’d a 30%, ten-year tax abatement for a planned 690-acre solar farm near Gordon.
Arlington-based Priority Power is the builder and a hospital in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the client, according to Priority Power Development Manager Mike Correale. The name of the hospital cannot be released until the agreement is fully in place, he added.
The 108.5-megawatt solar array will rest inside a 2,040-acre reinvestment zone approved by commissioners on Dec. 9. Gordon ISD is the taxing entity within the zone.
Construction is expected to take 24 months and be completed by the end of 2025, county consultant Jeff Snowden said.
Sixty percent of the energy produced will go to the hospital and 40% will be sold to the Electrical Reliability Council of Texas power grid, according to Priority Power.
The developers said the farm would “generate significant tax benefits to the community” over the project’s 35-plus year life, including:
- Estimated $14 million to Gordon ISD
- Approximately $400,000 to Emergency Services District No. 1
Under the contract, the project will also provide a one-time $20,000 contribution to the local fire department.
The agreement requires Priority Power to restore county roads to their pre-project condition when the contract expires, screen business aesthetics to align with community standards and provide solar material safety sheets to the public.
“This is going to be a great project for the community,”Correale said.
Kudos on capital murder case
In what was his last commissioners court meeting as the Palo Pinto County sheriff, Brett McGuire recognized officers who “did a phenomenal job” locating three capital murder suspects in less than 30 hours with no leads to follow.
“It’s said amongst law enforcement that if you do not solve a homicide within the first 48 hours, then your chances of solving that homicide go down exponentially from that point on,” McGuire told the court. “I just wanted to let you know what kind of quality individuals you have investigating crimes and solving crimes in Palo Pinto County for you.”
McGuire recognized Chief Deputy James Goodwin, Captain Darrell Self, Criminal Investigation Division Seargent Waylon Boles, Criminal Investigation Division Seargent David Clemens and the new sheriff in town, JR Patterson. Patterson will be sworn in on Jan. 1.
On Dec. 16, the body of Dallas County resident Marvin Wayne Henry, 68, was found near Gordon. McGuire said foul play was immediately suspected in Henry’s death and the victim was transported to the area and discarded.
The suspects have been identified as:
- Natalie Gomez, 31, of Dallas County
- Pascual Villaneda, 39, of Dallas County
- Ruperto Toscano, 44, of Mexico
Toscano is being held on a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement warrant, McGuire said.
ESD No. 2 appointment
The court appointed Marvin Slimp to serve a two-year term on the Emergency Services District No. 2 Board of Directors.
Slimp recently finished a term for ESD No. 1. He said he will take some lessons learned to his new post by not treating emergency services as a typical business.
“They keep trying to make it where you turn a profit,” Slimp told the Press. “You need to keep the funds you can keep but not at the expense of the people.”
Opioid lawsuit
Commissioners agreed to opt-in on the Kroger Opioid Settlement through the Texas Attorney General’s Office. The alternative was filing a separate case for the county on the taxpayer’s dime.
Texas reached final agreements with twelve companies to resolve legal claims for their role in the opioid crisis. The newest agreement is with retail pharmacy Kroger.
Long said the county’s estimated portion of the $83 million lawsuit is $9,385.91
Burn Ban
Heeding the advice of Fire Marshal/Emergency Management Coordinator Chad Jordan, commissioners voted to keep the burn ban off due to low fire risk and rain in the forecast.
For updates to the burn ban status, visit www.co.palo-pinto.tx.us or call 940-659-1253.
November monthly reports
McGuire said the PPCSO:
- Delivered seven civil papers
- Issued 141 citations
- Wrote 221 warnings
- Made 362 contacts
- Received 1,508 calls for service
- Made 44 arrests
- Booked 104 people
- Drove 54,834 miles
The monthly inmate population average was 81 and there were 91 individuals behind bars at the county jail on Dec. 23, McGuire added.
Public Works Director David McDonald said his department issued nine permits last month, collecting $3,140 in fees. From that, $3,050 was deposited into the general fund and $90 was sent to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
McDonald said eight of the nine permits were for new structures, bringing that total to 125 for the year through November.
