County leaders to hear budget amendment request to fund ACO position

RUSK – One of three CCSO requests listed on a Jan. 23 Cherokee County Commissioners’ Court meeting agenda calls for approval of an amendment of the county jail budget to provide for an Animal Control Officer position.

The sheriff’s office proposes to move $47,347 in funding from the Nurse Salaries expense account to salary/jailer expense account for the position. According to data provided each January to the court, CCSO handled 1,516 animal control calls/complaints in 2023, and 1,823 such calls in 2022.

In the past, Sheriff Brent Dickson has noted these calls include everything from loose dogs to escaped livestock, which can up officers’ time, taking them away from regular patrol duties.

Other requests from the sheriff’s office include approval to hire for deputy positions and sending applicants to the police academy, along with a $7,500 budget amendment to move funds from Jail Operations expense account to Remote House Inmates expense account for inmates housed in Limestone County.

The Jan. 23 agenda also includes:

• Consideration/acceptance of Genesis eBonds licensing and service provider agreement

• Hold public hearing to discuss authorization of county’s collection of mandatory payments for the Cherokee County Local Provider Participation Fund for Fiscal Year 2023, followed by a vote to authorize an order for such

• Presentation of 2023 Financial Report from Cherokee County Child & Family Services

• Request approval on a lease to purchase a day-cab tractor truck for one or more precincts

• Discuss/consider approval for Tax Assessor-Collector to purchase Property Tax Software using American Rescue Plan (ARPA) funds utilizing RFP #2024-01

• Consider approval of consent agenda that includes Final Plat adding Rows 15-27 of Block L of Seciton 2 of the Still Waters Memorial Gardens in Block No. 27 of the Jose Pineda East Four League Grant, Abstract No. 41, Cherokee County, Texas. Private drive for access to cemetery plots in ths plat; and a Final Plat creating Lots 1-11 of Mulberry Estates in the M.S. Durham Survey, Abstract No. 225, and the A.M. Hudson Survey, Abstract No. 370, Cherokee County, Texas. No roads.

The meeting begins at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Cherokee County Courthouse in Rusk.