Members of the Tax Increment Finance District recently approved a request for $11,420 from the Veterans Plaza Committee.
The money will be spent on the purchase of a statue, fencing, lighting and other decorations designed to improve the look of the plaza.
The Beeville City Council must approve the TIF board’s recommendation first.
Gwen DeWitt, a member of the Veterans Plaza Committee, shared the good news with commissioners during their regular monthly meeting on Monday.
She said the committee has already raised more than $5,000 for the “fallen soldier” statue, a bronze pair of combat boots holding up a rifle topped with a helmet.
DeWitt said a member of the TIF board encouraged the committee to apply for the grant.
She said she and the other members of the Veterans Plaza Committee enhanced the original project to include lighting, security fencing, additional paver bricks, bronze service organization wall mounts — including the Army, Air Force, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy — to increase their chance of getting the grant.
The project also was enhanced to include an automated sound system, which will play an automated sound tracks of taps, reveille and retreat.
She said she and other committee members expected the TIF board to shoot down some of the proposed enhancements. Instead, the board approved all the requests for funding, she said.
In yet other action Monday, commissioners adopted a policy governing the closing and abandoning of county roads.
In the past, property owners have asked commissioners to close or abandon county roads that are unused by the general public.
Commissioners have held public hearings in the past when such requests are made and the property owner has had to bear all costs associated with the road closing.
However, there has never been a policy regarding the closing of county roads.
Commissioners last month appointed Dennis DeWitt, director of the Bee County Community Affairs Department, to research and write a policy.
He presented it to commissioners on Monday.
DeWitt said his policy ensures county leaders always follow the same guidelines when discussing and approving the closing of county roads.
“Presently, each commissioner relies on memory and current, sometimes emotional, conditions instead of a set of policy and procedures that will ensure fairness, not only to the petitioner, but to the taxpaying citizens of Bee County,” DeWitt said. “The taxpayers own the roads and rights of way in Bee County. The commissioners court is the elected steward for the taxpayer. The taxpayer expects and deserves good, sound, consistent and fair decisions regarding (one’s) property.”
In other business Monday, commissioners agreed to buy a new computer for the district clerk’s office and a laptop computer for the district courtroom.
The laptop will allow district court judges immediate access to files kept on computer in the district clerk’s office.
District Clerk Anna Marie Silvas said trials and hearings are often delayed because a judge has to send someone upstairs to the district clerk’s office to retrieve a record or verify an attorney’s claim that a document has been filed.
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