A change in the criminal history clause of the Van Zandt County Game Room Ordinance received unanimous approval from the VZC Commissioners Court during its regular session July 6.

The action by the commissioners’ court was taken following a presentation by VZC Criminal District Attorney Tonda Curry.

“You, the commissioners’ court, adopted a set of regulations on this ordinance back in April,” pointed out Curry to the court. “There is one substantive change that I am proposing to you today (July 6). A couple of different entities have recently reached out to me that are anxious to go through the permit process. They have their locations established but they have pointed out one thing that has created difficulty for them.

“In the original set of regu lations that you passed on my recommendation, there was a limitation on criminal history for an owner, applicant, operator, or employee,” continued Curry. “It basically was ‘no criminal history.’ That is putting a hardship on some of these folks in obtaining workers. One of them that is already in operation and has workers currently would require them to let some folks go due to our current ordinance.

“The proposed amendment that I am presenting would change the criminal history portion from ‘no criminal history’ to ‘no gambling related criminal history at all and no other criminal history in the last 10 years’,” said Curry. “In other words, they would have had to complete serving any sentence, any period of community supervision, anything like that, at least 10 years ago. If they have done that, then they are still eligible to be an applicant, an owner, or a worker in the game room.”

In a related move, Curry presented a proposed application form to the commissioners’ court. “This is an application that I have put together that an applicant would fill out to operate a game room,” said Curry. “I have presented this to a couple of different entities, and I told them that the application form was a draft until the commissioners’ court approves it and I am presenting this to you today (July 6). This application form is pretty thorough. It requires it to be sworn to. It lists all of the steps involved before the VZC fire marshal’s office grants the approval.”

VZC Pct. 3 Commissioner Keith Pearson made the motion to approve the change in the criminal history portion of the game room ordinance as well as approving the new application form.

The motion was seconded by VZC Pct. 1 Commissioner Chad LaPrade before VZC Pct. 2 Commissioner Virgil Melton Jr. and VZC Pct. 4 Commissioner Tim West joined the unanimous vote.

In other action during the July 6 commissioners’ court meeting, VZC Human Resource Director Jessica Deville announced that the final deadline for VZC employees to complete their cyber security training is Monday, Aug. 15.

On a different agenda item, Deville recommended a change in the VZC employee handbook regarding ‘overtime calculations and rules’ which was approved by the commissioners’ court.

The selection of a VZC Salary Grievance Committee to include nine public members was approved by the commissioners’ court following a recommendation by VZC Judge Don Kirkpatrick.

“My recommendation is to use nine public members from those who have served on the VZC Grand Jury last year during the calendar year,” said Kirkpatrick. “This takes the politics out of the process. There will be no elected officials serving on this committee. In order to use nine public members, it must be approved by the commissioners’ court.” The commissioners’ court unanimously approved the recommendation by Kirkpatrick.

Kirkpatrick then drew from a bowl that had folded pieces of paper representing the names of everyone who served on the VZC Grand Jury in 2021.

After selecting the first nine names drawn to serve on the VZC Salary Grievance Committee, the VZC judge then drew the names of 17 alternates. The nine public members selected will be sent a letter from the VZC Clerk’s office to make sure that the individuals are available and willing to serve on the committee, according to Kirkpatrick.

“We have never been short on the number that we needed, which is nine, to serve on this committee,” pointed out Kirkpatrick. “If we happen to run short of the nine people we need to serve, we will go with the number that we got.”

The VZC Salary Grievance Committee is scheduled to meet on Friday, Aug. 26, according to the VZC judge.

A donation of electronic hardware from Tyler Technologies was tabled by the commissioners’ court following a recommendation by VZC IT Director Scott Slaton.

The commissioners’ court denied going out for bids regarding the replacement of a door control console at the VZC Jail.

Regarding a potential interlocal agreement with San Augustine County involving a piggyback contract with Sydaptic Inc. of Waco for replacement of the door control console at the VZC Jail, the commissioners’ court voted to put in place a ‘discretionary exemption.’

A plat for Easley Estates located on VZCR 2501 in VZC Pct. 2 was approved by the commissioners’ court following a recommendation by Melton.

A donation check totaling $15,000 from FRE Ranch Partners L.L.C. for repairs on VZCR 3417 in VZC Pct. 3 was approved by the commissioners’ court following a recommendation by Pearson.

A series of fiscal year 2022 budget amendments were approved by the commissioners’ court.

Monthly reports submitted by various offices and departments of VZC government were approved and entered into the minutes of the commissioners’ court as a matter of record.

The minutes of the June 22 and June 27 meetings as well as the VZC bills submitted for payment were approved by the commissioners’ court.

There was no action taken by the commissioners’ court following a closed executive session at the end of their July 6 regular meeting.

The next regular meeting of the VZC Commissioners Court is scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday, July 20, in the VZC Courthouse.