Commissioners Court approve Nevarez Law Group as General Counsel and Will Apply for $400K SB 1747 Oil & Gas Funds for County Roads
By: Jose G. Landa
Copyright 2013 Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc.
The Maverick County Commissioners Court held a special meeting on Tuesday, December 17, 2013, at the Maverick County Courthouse located at 500 Quarry Street in Eagle Pass, Texas, approving several major decisions.
Among the agenda items discussed and approved was the review of bids for General Counsel legal services and the hiring of General Counsel for Maverick County.
After opening up the agenda item to review the proposed bids, County Commissioners approved State Representative Poncho Nevarez’s Law Group as new legal counsel for the County of Maverick pending negotiations of a final contract.
Voting to approve the Nevarez Law Group was County Judge David R. Saucedo, Commissioners Roberto Ruiz, Asalia Casares, and Jose Luis Rosales while Commissioner Gerardo “Jerry” Morales abstained from voting to avoid a potential conflict of interest.
The Nevarez Law Group proposal calls for a monthly retainer fee of $ 4,000.00 and a $ 200.00 per hour rate for any other legal work outside the General Counsel request for proposal.
Also discussed were agenda items numbers 12 and 13, which are related. These items pertain to establishing the required steps to apply for funding available through Senate Bill 1747, which was sponsored by Senator Carlos I. Uresti, which will provide over $224 million dollars in funds to counties whose roads have been affected by the oil and gas industry in the State of Texas.
Agenda item number 12 called to waive the request for advertising of professional services to hire a consultant for the CETRZ (County Energy Transportation Reinvestment Zone) project due to time constraints for the application process, which is due by January 14, 2014. In other words, Maverick County is waiving the state law requirement to advertise request for proposals to hire a consultant to assist the County to apply for these state funds. State government officials are in the process of asking the Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) to extend the deadline to apply for these SB 1747 CETRZ funds from January 14, 2014 to February but Maverick County Judge David R. Saucedo stated that he wants Maverick County to apply early and facilitate the process to ensure that the required application and steps are taken by the County to insure a better opportunity and probability to qualify for the much needed funds.
Commissioners Court approved unanimously agenda Item No. 13 to take action and hire the firm of The Solutions Group-1 (TSG-1) to prepare Maverick County’s application and the necessary fieldwork to complete the application for possible funding through Senate Bill 1747.
After further discussion and a presentation by TSG-I, who stated that the county has the possibility of receiving up to $396,000.00 for road and infrastructure repairs and improvement through this grant stemming from Senate Bill 1747 for counties that are affected by the oil and gas industry, agenda Item No. 13 was approved on a unanimous vote.
The SB 1747 CETRZ funding would allow counties affected by the oil and gas industry to fix roads and infrastructure on a determined area designated (CETRZ) as the affected zone. Once determined and appropriate action has been taken to establish the zone, Commissioners Court will then Form an advisory Board consisting of three oil and gas industry representatives and two citizens. This CETRZ Advisory Board will help in overlooking the project(s) and Maverick County and TSG-1 representatives will be in charge of doing the leg work needed to qualify for the maximum funding available for Maverick County, which is estimated to be $396,000.
Once these steps are in place then and only then may a county send the appropriate application to the state for approval. TXDOT will be determine which Texas counties qualified by February 14, 2014 and the counties need to apply 30 days prior to February 14th, or by January 14th, to be eligible and qualify for the SB 1747 CERTZ-TXDOT funds.
Senator Carlos I. Uresti and his office’s representative, Helen Martinez, have been closely working with County Judge David R. Saucedo and Commissioners Court to ensure Maverick County timely approves and submits its application for these important TXDOT funds made available by the increased state revenues arising from the booming Texas oil and gas industry.
