Commissioners Lower Speed Limits On Some County Roads

Speed limits will be lowered and signs posted for several county roads in Van Zandt County.

Tuesday, county commissioners approved a speed limit change to 30 miles per hour on county roads 3508, 4701, 4807, 4122 and 4120.

Van Zandt County Road 4203 will be dropped to a 40 miles per hour speed limit and VZCR 3837 will go to 45 miles per hour.

During the public hearing on the matter before the vote, Edgewood residents Chuck and Helen Thompson said they felt the speed limit on VZCR 3508 should be dropped to 15 miles per hour and had a signed petition for that by all but two residents on the road.

After some discussion, Precinct 3 Commissioner Kelles Miller said he was in favor of lowering it to 30 miles per hour.

"We’ll see how that goes and come back if we need to, but 30 miles per hour is what the school zones are," Miller said.

The court also held the first public hearing on the proposed 2008 tax rate of .38689 per $100 property valuation.

Helen Thompson addressed the court about the tax rate, saying she felt the county should look into other possible avenues to generate funds.

In other matters, the commissioners’ court took the following action:

— Accepted the annual report from Van Zandt County Child Protective Services.

— Approved the renaming of the Wills Point Airport as Van Zandt County Regional Airport.

— Awarded two lots of surplus computer and miscellaneous office equipment from the Van Zandt County Community Supervision and Corrections Department to sealed bids of $15 and $25. County Auditor John Shinn said the hard drives had been removed from the computers in those lots to protect county data.

— Approved entering a class action settlement with General Motors regarding defective instrument panel clusters on model year 2003-2005 vehicles.

— Ratified a payment to Southside Bank on a 2004 series certificates of obligation interest payment.

— Approved an emergency budget transfer of $14,509.39 to Precinct 1 Road and Bridge Material for a reimbursement from Creagleville Cemetery Association for road material.

— Rejected a bid of $80,585.50 from Paul Addison for the six county-owned lots in Wills Point.

— Amended the county’s employee sick leave policy to allow an employee who has given notice of termination to be paid for sick leave with a medical authorization. The change is retroactive to July 1, 2008. Precinct 1 Commissioner Ricky LaPrade voted against the measure, saying he felt single-day illnesses during that time should not have to require medical authorization.

— Approved budget amendments for the offices of Precinct 2 Commissioner, Precinct 3 Commissioner, County Treasurer, District Attorney and County Judge.