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The county has decided to sell the old Rockwall County Annex Building, leaving the fate of the 94-year-old building in the hands of the buyer.

Rockwall Historian Sherri Fowler said the annex is valuable piece of property and that it’s been a fixture for seven generations of her family.

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(CBSTV11 News) ROCKWALL – The smallest county in the State has become a job growth giant. Between 2000 and 2010, Rockwall County showed nearly 98 percent job growth. That’s good enough to rank number one in the country when it comes to job growth, we’ll run down this list, this is according to CNN Money survey.

Reporter Robbie Owens went to Rockwall to find out why people and businesses are flocking to Rockwall.

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ROCKWALL – Rockwall County has experienced the most job growth in the nation over the last ten years, the editors of CNN Money magazine announced this past week.

According to CNN Money, job growth between 2000-2010 increased 97.9 percent. Cities mentioned were Rockwall and Heath.

Second was Loudoun County VA, “the Silicon Valley of the East,” including Leesburg, at 75.3 percent.

Third was Williamson Co. TX, including Round Rock, home of Dell Computer, at 68.1 percent.

The announcement resulted in a CBS11 TV news story, quoting local officials.

As described by CNN Money:

“Rockwall County is rockin’ and rollin’ at the top of our list for job creation. It may be the Lone Star State’s smallest county, but it’s one of Texas’s fastest growing, with a population that’s almost doubled in the last decade.

The county borders Lake Ray Hubbard in the northeast corner of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Development there once centered on homes and recreation, but now Rockwall wants to be a place where its wealthy residents live, play — and work.

Like many of the counties on our list, Rockwall is luring businesses and jobs from nearby big cities with generous incentives and a higher quality of life. The latest development is Harbor Heights, a seven-story 110,000 square foot office tower slated to open next year. Major corporations like L-3 Communications and Pilgrim’s Pride make their home in the Rockwall Technology Park where more companies are expected to join their ranks.”

By J.J. Smith

ROCKWALL – After a standing room-only crowd of over 300 people packed County Judge Jerry Hogan’s Town Hall meeting last night at the Historic County Courthouse on the Square, and the majority made it clear they do not want the County library outsourced, the County’s chief administrator agreed to remove his outsourcing proposal from the agenda of this morning’s County Commissioners meeting.

Instead, library director Marcine McCulley will continue to operate the library locally with a new, as-yet to-be-determined budget, which will likely be discussed by Commissioners at this morning’s meeting. Hogan revealed at the end of the meeting that he had met with McCulley before the meeting and agreed on a $250,000 cut.

McCulley had made a presentation at the Commissioners work session last week showing how she can cut $100,000, $200,000 or $300,000 from the library’s $1.4 million budget and still keep most current services intact and most library staff employed.

To reduce those amounts, she would have to lay off or reduce either one or two librarians to part-time staff, reduce the number of part-time staff members and limit the library’s purchase of supplies, equipment and maintenance agreements.

At the most extreme $300,000 level, she would slash 75 percent of “public programs” and nearly $10,000 worth of computer programs; discontinue the $6,000 Dallas Morning News subscriptions, Ancestry.com and World Book online; plus cut back on the purchase of additional “books and periodicals” by $7,000.

Over 25 questions and comments were made by audience members, comprised largely by the 50+ set. Most were respectful of Hogan, who spent the first 20 minutes of the evening explaining why outsourcing library and County building custodial services made sense to him financially.

He said because the County growth has slowed considerably, housing values continue to decline and revenue has consequently been reduced, budget forecasts for the next five years show the County will have a difficult time balancing its budget. He explained that whatever amounts could be shaved from the library’s budget and by outsourcing custodial services will help prevent forcing the County to dip into its six-month reserve, which he does not want to do.

He reiterated that the rumor is false that he wants to take money from the library to pay for the completion of the new County courthouse, next to the library. The funding for the $30 million + courthouse has already been secured and is entirely separate.

By J.J. Smith, Publisher

ROCKWALL – Rockwall County Judge Jerry Hogan has announced that he will hold his next town hall meeting June 13 to discuss and answer questions about his proposal to outsource County library and custodial services in order to raise $458,000 for next year’s budget.

It will begin at 7 pm on the third floor of the Historic County Courthouse, 101 E. Rusk St. 75087.

The meeting is being called in response to what Hogan wrote in an email to media and County commissioners has been “a significant number of emails from people who have had the facts about the possible outsourcing of the library misrepresented to them.”

“This is an important issue for our County and I want to give all of the people the opportunity to personally question me on the details of this proposal and why it is being made,” he wrote.

“I will answer all questions asked about the proposal to outsource the library. I hope you can pass this information on to as many people as possible.”

Many of the emails have likely come from some of the hundreds of angry and concerned citizens who during the past few days have launched a “Save the Rockwall County Library” campaign. (See the separate article on TheRockwallNews.com).

They have started an email and letter-writing campaign to Hogan and other Commissioners asking them not to outsource or library services nor lay off any library staff.

To contact Hogan and other Commissioners call 972-204-6000 or email them at:

Judge Jerry Hogan at: jhogan@rockwallcountytexas.com

Precinct 1 Commissioner Jerry Wimpee at: jwimpee@rockwallcountytexas.com

Precinct 2 Commissioner Lorie Grinnan at: lgrinnan@rockwallcountytexas.com

Precinct 3 Commissioner Dennis Bailey at: dbailey@rockwallcountytexas.com or 972-322-2612

Precinct 4 Commissioner David Magness at: dmagness@rockwallcountytexas.com or 214-676-3966

By J.J. Smith, Publisher

ROCKWALL – On the heels of the Rockwall ISD school board’s decision two weeks ago to outsource transportation and custodial services to save over $1.1 million dollars for the 2011-2012 school year, Rockwall County Judge Jerry Hogan introduced the idea of outsourcing custodial and County library services to County Commissioners at their work-session May 31.

According to Hogan, outsourcing custodial services for County buildings and library services should save the county $458,000 the next fiscal year — $158,000 for custodial services and $300,000 for library services.

He said he thinks it would be a “very wise business decision for us to make” and plans to recommend that commissioners consider an RFP (Request for Proposals) involving custodial and library services at their next monthly meeting June 14.

The subject will likely come up again tomorrow as the County budget is discussed by Commissioners June 7 at an additional work meeting at the Historic County Courthouse at 101 E. Rusk. It is open to the public.

The County currently pays $65,000 for custodial services at the library and $112,000 for “in-house people” to clean other county buildings.

Hogan said the total will increase to $289,000, when $112,000 is added for custodial services at the new County courthouse.

“We have gotten answers back from bidders,” he said. “That $289,000 has been reduced to $131,000 for all the buildings in the County. That, to me, is a very significant business decision that’s easy to make.”

Hogan said he has talked with several outsourcing companies during the past six months about third-party management of the Rockwall County Library.

Library Systems & Services (LSSI), for example, would maintain all current programs and hours and interview current employees for possible positions.

The company currently provides library management services across 13 public library systems and 63 branch operations across the U.S.

“These guys are devoted to not only provide service, they also are devoted to programs, the collection and it’s an operation I think we can benefit from,” Hogan said.

Commissioner Lorie Grinnan said there’s a strong lobby against the outsourcing of library services by library professionals.

Commissioner David Magness said he was somewhat surprised by Judge Hogan’s outsourcing idea and questions how it can save so much money.

“How it’s going to cost less, I don’t know,” he said.

Area residents have also begun expressing their concerns on Facebook, worried if the cost-savings measures will reduce services at the Library.

By J.J. Smith, Publisher

ROCKWALL — Rockwall County Commissioners approved the expenditure of $499,500 for the new Veterans Memorial at the new Rockwall County Courthouse at last Tuesday’s meeting.

After the maximum guaranteed cost was set at $516,479 by Manhattan Construction, the American Legion agreed to pay the remaining balance.

The County had approved setting aside $500,000 for the project in 2007 to honor all Rockwall County military veterans.

Commissioner Lorie Grinnan, veterans groups and others have worked diligently on the project since then.

The veterans memorial and new courthouse will be dedicated Nov. 11.

“It will be a big deal for Rockwall County and we hope all of you can participate,” said County Judge Jerry Hogan.

Commissioner Jerry Wimpee expressed amazement that $500,000 was approved for the project in 2007 and the price today is the same.

The approved design of the memorial can be seen with details at on the Rockwall County website at:

http://www.rockwallcountytexas.com/DocumentView.aspx?DID=894

By J.J. Smith, Publisher

New Rockwall County Judge Jerry Hogan has just announced that the Rockwall County Commissioners Court is reversing how Rockwall County plans for the future.

Rather than telling County residents what is going to happen, County Commissioners want citizens to help develop a five-year master plan for what they want Rockwall County to become by 2016, beginning in early April.

He said strategic planning expert, Dr. Joan Terry, who is RISD’s Assistant Superintendent of Department of Policy, Planning, and Research, has agreed to voluntarily help lead this effort, at no cost to the County.

“Most governments, whether at the local, state, or national level, develop their plans for the future and then tell their citizens what is going to happen,” said Hogan.

“We here in Rockwall County want to reverse that. We want our citizens to develop a master plan that lays out where they want our County to be five years from now. We want our citizens to tell us what they want; not us telling them what they are going to get!”

Hogan cited the former Road Bond Committee as an excellent example of what a joint government-citizen committee can accomplish.

“Right now, for example, the county has an excellent transportation plan that was jointly developed with the cities and citizens in the county. A large Road Bond Committee, made up of citizens throughout the County, took this plan and met with individuals and explained what was being planned. Buy-in occurred at every level because the citizens got to change the draft and put the focus on the roads where they thought it was needed.”

“However in other areas such as financial forecasting and taxation, facilities needed going forward, personnel levels and expertise, law enforcement, the arts, and how all of these various parts fit together in terms of affordability and needs, has not been addressed on a coordinated basis. And that’s where the opportunity lies for our citizens to get involved.”

Dr. Terry said she agrees that a group of volunteer citizens can achieve amazing results.

“What a great opportunity for the people of our County to influence where we want our County to be five years from now. This gives us the opportunity to lay out our plan for what we want where we live.”

“Of course it’s possible. I have helped many different groups of do this and the result is always better than what anyone though it would be going into the process.”

She said the committee will take about three months to finish.

“It will require about three months to finish and the different groups will probably meet once a week after they get organized and start the actual work. The meetings will be in the evenings or perhaps on some Saturdays, but the work is fun, challenging, important, and the results are just amazing.”

Hogan explained what the criteria are for someone wanting to help.

“We want any citizen who wants to be involved to be involved. This is really going to be a result that depends on the effort that goes into the development.”

“Experts in the areas mentioned are asked to consider volunteering. If you don’t have a field of expertise, but want to get involved, please volunteer. There will be plenty of opportunity for everyone to contribute and to really make a difference.”

To volunteer or for more info, contact Hogan at 972-204-6020 or jhogan@rockwallcountytexas.com, or contact Commissioner Lorie Grinnan at 972-204-6000 or lgrinnan@rockwallcountytexas.com.

Hogan said Grinnan had “considerable experience” in strategic planning while on the RISD school board.

“If you could give your name, email address, phone number, and area you would like to be involved with, it would be appreciated,” said Hogan.

By J.J. Smith, Publisher

(Rockwall Herald Banner) Jerry Hogan, who just completed his first month as county judge, has implemented audio streaming of Rockwall County Commissioners Court workshop meetings on a test basis and scheduled his first town hall meeting for Feb. 24.

Next, Hogan wants to schedule a night meeting of commissioners court.

Commissioners now meet at 9 a.m. every Tuesday, either with a workshop meeting or regular meeting.

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