On Monday, Wharton County Commissioners Court met for its scheduled special session meeting.
Prior to executing the agenda, Wharton County Judge Phillip Spenrath announced a county-wide burn ban could go into effect on Thursday morning.
“The (Keetch-Byram Drought Index) is currently at 494,” Spenrath told commissioners. “A burn ban goes into effect at 500; we are six points away. It gained seven points yesterday alone. So, if today is as dry as yesterday, we’ll exceed 500 this afternoon. If that’s the case, a burn ban will go into effect Thursday, Nov. 19. 12:01 a.m. I really don’t see anyway around that.”
The El Campo FFA Ag Issues Team presented to the court as part of their upcoming competition; the topic was eminent domain. The team will head to Boling High School for the Area XI Texas FFA Leadership/Career Development completion on Saturday, Nov. 21.
Commissioners proceeded to the second and final agenda item — canvassing votes for Nov. 3 General Election.
“Texas Statuary Law requires that our court canvas all county-wide votes cast in the recent General Election,” Spenrath said. “It’s in the Texas Election Code 67.002… we do this every two years. All we do is go look through them to make sure it matches what we believe the local intent was.”
Wharton County Election Administrator Cindy Richter stated she felt there were a greater number of voters and too many mail-in ballots compared to previous years, noting, “I never want to go through this stress again.”
Pct. 3 Commissioner Steven Goetsch made a motion, Pct. 2 Commissioner Rusty Graves seconded and the motioned carried to approve the canvassing of votes cast in the Nov. 3 General Election.
To view the meeting in its entirety, visit The County Gin on Facebook.
