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Tuesday, January 10, 1995

Galindo wants better control of PIF loans


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By JACK KING
Staff Writer
PECOS, JAN. 10, 1995 - In the second half of a marathon session Monday
afternoon, the Reeves County Commissioners Court voted to notify the
Pecos Industrial Foundation that it is withdrawing about $24,000 in
administrative funds, part of the County's Revolving Fund which PIF has
been using to administer loans.

County Judge Jimmy Galindo told commissioners they are required to give
PIF 30 days' notice before withdrawing the funds.

PIF has used the administrative funds to support its efforts to select
Applicants for County loans made from another part of the Revolving Fund.

There are currently three outstanding loans made under the program,
Pecos River Livestock Co., Ben's Spanish Inn, and a restaurant not yet
completed by Ismael Dutchover in Balmorhea.

"We certainly appreciate the civic minded efforts of Pecos Industrial
Foundation members to administer these loans, especially without
adequate administrative assistance," Galindo said.

"But, in trying to examine the three loans that the Foundation has
presented and the County has approved, we've found that some of the
lines of communication have been clouded. One side will say, 'We the
county approved this loan,' while, on the county side, people will say,
'The Industrial Foundation presented us with his loan,'" he said.

"No one seems to know who is responsible for watching over each loan
and, in the confusion, responsibility has fallen through the cracks," he
added.

Galindo said he wanted to assure PIF president Dick Alligood the court
knew it couldn't abolish the Industrial Foundation, which performs other
important functions besides administering the County's Revolving Fund.

"We need more direct supervision of the loans, though," he added.

Galindo said the Texas Local Government Code allows Reeves County to set
up a county industrial development committee. Another possibility might
be hiring a county grants administrator, he said.

"We need to better utilize these administrative funds to help the
businesses be successful," he said.

"Whoever it is, they need to take the advice of former County Judge Mike
Harrison and learn to say "no,"' added Commissioner, Precinct. 3, Herman
Tarin.

"The Foundation has turned down more applications than you're aware of,"
said Precinct 4 Commissioner Bernardo Martinez, who is a member of PIF's
board.

With the exception of Martinez, no member of the PIF was present at the
Commissioners Court meeting.

Alligood said today neither he, nor any other member, had been notified
to appear at the meeting.

He said that withdrawal of the county funds will mean PIF has no more
money, currently, to fund its activities.

"We have not been notified by the court to turn over the administrative
funds, but when we are, we will turn them over," he said.

"We haven't had a meeting of the Industrial Foundation to decide what
we're going to do next in this situation, but after we do, we will
notify the court of our reaction. The Industrial Foundation will
continue to meet and select applicants for county funds," he added.

Alligood said earlier in the year that PIF had begun an internal audit
of its three outstanding loans. He said today the foundation had not yet
completed those audits.

Garcia indictment quashed

due to improper wording


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PECOS, JAN. 10, 1995 - An indictment charging Eleuterio "Chito" Garcia
with official oppression by sexual harassment was quashed Friday
following a hearing before District Judge Bob Parks in Monahans.

Tony Chavez, attorney for Garcia, said in his motion to quash that the
indictment was faulty in that it fails to allege the required culpable
mental state of the defendant and it fails to allege that the offense
was committed in Pecos, Reeves County, Texas.

Garcia allegedly made unwanted sexual advances and requests for sexual
favors from a female as a condition of her exercising a right and
privilege while serving as Pecos Housing Authority executive director.
He was acting under color of his office and employment as a public
servant at the time, the indictment alleges.

District Attorney John Stickels said he "messed up" the indictment, and
that he will present the evidence to another grand jury.

The Reeves County grand jury meets Thursday.

County plans to advertise

for Roads and Bridge post


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PECOS, JAN. 10, 1995 - Reeves County Commissioner's voted to unanimously
Monday afternoon to advertise for a new, permanent Roads and Bridges
Administrator.

"In doing this, I want to add that I'm very favorably impressed with the
work Russ Salcido has done as interim Roads and Bridges Administrator.
He's gotten very favorable comment from a wide variety of people,"
County Judge Jimmy Galindo said.

Salcido has been serving as interim Roads and Bridges Administrator
since appointed to the position in June, following the death of Roads
and Bridges Administrator Mack Ham.

Former County Judge Mike Harrison said last year he preferred to wait
until January to hire a permanent administrator, since that person would
serve most of his term under the administration of the new county judge.

Owens reminded the court that under Texas law it must advertise for an
engineer in the Roads and Bridges position.

"I would ask, for time and economy reasons, if we couldn't advertise for
an engineer or a roads and bridges person. State law says that if for
any good reason we can't hire an engineer, we can hire the next
acceptable person," he added.

In discussion of Reeves County's financial situation, the last of 19
items on the day-long agenda, Galindo showed Commissioners several
graphs showing spending trends.

"As you can see, we're in a very, very difficult situation with regard
to spending and receipts," he said.

Last week, Galindo talked to the Enterprise about ending the recent
practice of using money from the county's General Fund to balance the
budget. He also said he was against raising the county's property tax
rate from its current 57.9 cent per $100 valuation level. In other
action Monday afternoon, the court confirmed Galindo as a member of the
Permian Basin Regional Planning Commission and as Reeves County's
contact/contract person with the BOP.

It also approved official bonds and deputations for new county officials
and approved the appointment by the sheriffs department of Laurie Orona
as a reserve deputy.

It approved the selection from the Reeves County Grand Jury list of
seven persons to be on the county's Grievance Committee and six persons
to be alternates.

The 13 persons were selected by having their names drawn randomly by
commissioners. If selected, they don't have to serve on the committee.
If they chose not to, Galindo said an alternate will fill their position.

The seven drawn to serve on the committee are Oscar Rodriguez, 1220 S.
Plum; Sylvia Dominguez, 801 S. Pecan; Ellie Mae Henderson, 105 S. Plum;
Mada Luisa Salgado, 823 S. Pecan; Francisco Martinez, 1003 S. Pecan;
Janette Marie Fuentes, 413 S. Walnut; Anuro H. Rayos, 115 S. Pecan;
Elisa Contreras, 714 S. Hickory; and Imelda Anchondo, 409 S. Willow.

Selected to be alternates were Socoro Mendoza, 1601 S. Johnson; Patricia
Fuentes, 708 S.Elm; Sara Williams Perry, 511 S. Hackberry; Rosemary
Scroggins, 2033 S. Park; and Mary Belle Jimenez,802 S. Peach.

Commissioners vote to change pay schedules


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By JACK K1NG
Staff Writer
PECOS, JAN. 10, 1995 - Two employment issues raised a controversy at the
afternoon session of the Reeves County Commissioners Court meeting
Monday.

In one, commissioners approved a new pay schedule for County employees
over objections from County Treasurer Linda Clark. In another, County
Judge Jimmy Galindo received approval for a new watchdog position in his
office, which would be paid out of Law Enforcement Center funds.

Galindo said he was responding to requests of Reeves County employees
with a proposal for a more regular pay schedule, but Clark said he was
making life harder for other county employees namely those in her office.

Currently county employees are paid under two different schedules. Road~
and Bridges crews are paid every two weeks on Thursdays, while other
county workers are paid twice a month, on the 15th and at the end of the
month.

Under a proposal by the Galindo, who was sworn in as county judge last
week, all county employees will henceforth be paid every two weeks, on
Friday.

Galindo said the matter came to his attention while he was working at
the Reeves County Law Enforcement Center last year. Over Christmas,
workers there complained they were having trouble stretching their pay
checks, he said.

"They said, 'If we were getting paid every two weeks we could pay our
bills at the first of the month, then have money to buy toys for our
children, then get another pay check to buy groceries for the rest of
the month," Galindo said.

Under the new system, Roads and Bridges crews will continue to get paid
every two weeks, as always, except they will collect their paychecks on
Fridays rather than Thursdays.

Other Reeves County employees, however, will notice a change. They will
make the same amount of money per year, but their pay checks will be
slightly smaller per pay period some by as much as $50, Clark said. They
will be paid more frequently, however, and will receive two extra
paychecks per

"I don't know how you're going to boost morale by paying employees less
money a day earlier," he said.

"I can see it as a move toward greater efficiency, but it seems like it
would have been simpler to change the pay periods of 16 Roads and
Bridges crew members than to change over 200 other County employees' pay
periods," he added.

"There may be another problem, too! in that we take child support out of
some workers' paychecks. Under this new system, mothers will be
receiving $92 rather than $100 per paycheck. It may be hard to explain
that they'll be getting checks a little more frequently," he added.

Commissioners approved the new payroll system 3-1, with Commissioner
W.J. Bang dissenting.

Another controversy arose when Galindo proposed creating a new
Administrative Assistant positive, for which he would hire his current
Executive Assistant Alicia Nichols.
The Administrative Assistant's role will be to help the County Judge
monitor requisitions from County offices and to help with correspondence
in his role as the County's liaison with the Bureau of Prisons.

The assistant would be located in Galindo's office, but would be paid
with money from the LEC fund, which currently funds two part-time
positions.

In addition, Galindo will hire another person for his office to replace
Nichols as Executive Assistant, he said.

"In the past, the county judge has waived his signature on requisitions
and they have gone directly to the county auditor. Under state law, the
county auditor only has to power to tell you whether or not there is
money in a fund to pay for a requisition, not whether or not that
requisition should be made," Galindo said, explaining his reasons for
creating the new position.

"I'm not going to waive my signature on these requisitions and the LEC
makes up $6 to $6.5 million in purchases over a five-year period, but I
will need help to administer this oversight role, as well as in my work
as liaison with the BOP," he added.

The explanation brought a protest from District Clerk Juana Jaquez, who
attended the meeting.

"Do you mean every time we need to buy a pencil, we're going to have to
get approval from your office?" she asked.

"Hopefully, this will lead county offices to adopt some advance
planning, so you won't have to be buying pencils one at a time," Galindo
said.

"I agree with the objective of the judge, although I hope you'll allow
me to continue presenting the bill register at each Commissioners Court,
since some bills are not covered by requisitions," Owens said.

"I think it's a good step. We do need to control county spending and
these requisitions do need to be channeled through Galindo's office. I
wonder what BOP is going to say about us using these LEC funds to pay a
person who's going to work in his office," he added.

Galindo said that, even though the LEC funds only equal $16,000, the
Administrative Assistant position will be funded at $16,640, Nichols'
current salary as an Executive Assistant. The person hired to replace
Nichols as Executive Assistant will be hired for $640 less to make up
the coverage, he said.

Commissioners approved the new position unanimously.
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Copyright 1996 Pecos Enterprise
324 S. Cedar, Box 2057, Pecos TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
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