The Jackson County Commissioners met for the Monday, Aug. 23 meeting with Phil Burk and Bob Bartlett also in attendance. The minutes of the Monday, Aug. 16 meeting were approved. There were no blanket purchase orders or reports.

During the officers' reports, Commissioner Dale Dunn announced that Dan McMahan has finished the rough draft on the refinancing of the Jackson County Jail. The approximate interest rate of the new loan will be down from about 5.0 percent to about 3.13 percent. This would be a projected approximate savings of $708,604.21 during the twelve more years of payments. Dunn said that the refinancing for the jail will not be completed by the end of August, but by the end of September, according to McMahan.

Some years ago the state legislature, according to Dunn, made a provision for county government offices to be able to borrow from their own in-house cash accounts rather than to issue expensive non-payable warrants. This process is a fairly common procedure.

County Treasurer Janet Wright advised the commissioners that she would need to borrow money earlier this year than normal. The County General Fund has a balance of $187,214. Last month's payroll was about $110,500, so Wright said the county needs to increase this fund for continued payroll for county employees. She said that usually the Treasurer's Office doesn't need to borrow money against taxes that will come in until October. This year and last, she has had to borrow in August. Fortunately, Sheriff Roger Levick and his staff have managed their funding very carefully. They have two cash accounts from which Wright's office may borrow $400,000. Wright said that she may need to borrow more funds by October since they don't receive tax revenues until December. Wright said "It's not good to keep borrowing earlier and earlier." Court Clerk Rhonda Stepanovich said, "Thank you to Roger Levick and staff for their hard work and ability to loan money to the county." Levick said, "We try to look out for each other." The commissioners approved this measure and Wright will take the signed documents to the County Excise Tax Board for approval.

Bob Bartlett informed the commissioners and officers that the county needed to do an update for their EMC Insurance coverage for county public officials and liability coverage. The commissioners approved chairman Commissioner Anthony Fixico signing this update. Bartlett also showed the commissioners and officers the current figures for replacement values for the county courthouse and other properties. These replacement values are very low. The courthouse only has a replacement value of $3.5 million and contents at one-half million dollars. Should a catastrophe hit, they'd be hard pressed to replace it for three to four times that much, both Dunn and County Assessor Sherrill said. Fixico advised taking no action on that item until further information is available on insurance rates.

The commissioners approved an annual service agreement with Trane for the same amount as last year, which was $2,200.

Phil Burk advised the commissioners of the scope of work for the courthouse fascia repair. The fascia will be attached to the building by cement and stainless steel fasteners which were not available when the courthouse was built. The base bid will be for the east side of the courthouse. Alternate bids will also be taken for the north, south and west walls. An additional per unit bid will be done for the price per square foot. The commissioners will run advertisements in the Altus Times on Wednesday, Aug. 25 and Wednesday, Sept. 1 for bids. Bid sample packets will be available at the Jackson County Clerk's Office on Aug. 30. Bids received will be due by Monday, Sept. 20, at 10 a.m. for the Commissioners meeting. The courthouse will remain open during the repair work, with the east side barricaded. The commissioners approved the advertising for bids for this project.

There were no public or vendors participation items.

The claims were all approved, and the meeting was adjourned at 11 a.m.