Registration to be offered online

By LPR Staff
Editor/POST-REGISTER

The Caldwell County Tax Office will soon start participating in a program that will allow customers to renew their vehicle registration online.
According to a presentation given by Tax Assessor-Collector Mary Vicky Gonzales, Commissioner”s Court approval was required to begin the process of bringing Internet registration

to Caldwell County. The Court granted the approval on Monday morning.
The next step in the process requires Gonzales to complete the forms for third-party vendors, such as Visa and Mastercard to accept electronic payments for Caldwell County. In about two months, Internet registration will be available to Caldwell County customers.
The Court also heard a request from Ikon Document Services to perform an efficiency study to determine whether the county could be handling documents more effectively. The study, which would cost the county $39,500, would track documents from their creation to final storage to see if there were processes that are being duplicated and whether the processes could be streamlined.
“I know that document management is one of the areas that we need help in,” said County Judge H.T. Wright. “There are some things that we”re probably keeping that we don”t need to be, and I know that we”re running out of storage space.”
County Auditor Sonny Rougeou, whose office worked with Ikon to prepare the proposal, cautioned that the study would only provide suggestions, but would not include the costs for the technology to implement those suggestions.
“I agree that we need it, but I don”t know that we can afford it,” he said.
County Clerk Nina Sells also expressed concern about the proposal, because Ikon does not provide services for other county clerks” offices.
Ultimately, the Court decided to pass on the proposal.
In other Court business:
Despite Monday morning”s rains, the Court decided to continue the burn ban put in place last week. The commissioners agreed that if Caldwell County sees any extensive rainfall in the near future, the ban will be rescinded.
Wright presented a proposal from Galbraith”s Clocks in Austin to repair the Courthouse Clock and restore it to working order. The proposal includes an assessment of the clock, a full cleaning, and resetting the timepiece and the chimes to synchronize their movement.
The Court approved the proposal, which brings with it a cost of $1,200.
In recent months, the county has asked for and received bids to remodel the exterior of the tax office located on the corner of Main and Market Streets. The remodel process will include repairing the stucco, repainting and re-caulking the windows of the building. It will also include some cosmetic changes. The Court asked county staff to build a proposal, including the costs, colors and plans for the building and return the subject to the Court agenda at a later date.
In brief Court news:
Commissioner Joe Roland was elected to serve as County Judge Pro Tem, in the event Wright is unavailable.
Commissioner Tom Bonn was appointed as a representative to the Capital Area Council of Governments (CAPCOG) General Assembly.
Hunter Associates Texas, out of Austin, has been approved to begin road repair construction under the Office of Rural Community Affairs (ORCA) Disaster Relief Grant. The grant funds are in place, and Hunter has contracted to repair dozens of roads damaged in last fall”s floods.
The Court heard a report from County Extension Agent Rachel Bauer regarding her activities for the months of May and June.
The county paid bills in the amount of $32,374.77, including $1,901 in indigent legal defense. No expenses were accrued for indigent health care.