Employee Offers Draw Separate Reactions

CANTON—Van Zandt County Commissioners have taken two different stances on two offers to county employees.

In its commissioners’ court meeting Tuesday, the county approved an offer made by the East Texas Medical Center Olympic Center in Canton to provide individual and couple memberships at a reduced rate for county employees.

However, a request by Franklin Bank in Canton to offer special benefits to county employees met with more uncertainty from the court and was tabled until more information could be obtained.

The ETMC Olympic Center will provide county employees with a corporate discount rate of $25 per month for an individual and $40 per month for a couple, Van Zandt County Treasurer Detra Janzen said to the commissioners.

Janzen noted the regular rates are $45 and $75, respectively.

"There is a $60 enrollment fee normally, but they have also said that any county employee who asks for the corporate discount within the first month can enroll and they will waive the fee," she said.

Precinct 3 Commissioner Kelles Miller cast the only opposition vote on the matter, saying he felt it was no different from the Franklin Bank offer the court had just expressed reservations about.

That offer was for a package of special customer benefits the bank calls "Alliance Banking," Janzen explained.

"It provides more incentives, one of those being free ATMs (automated teller machines) nationwide," she said.

However, Precinct 2 Commissioner Virgil Melton Jr. said he was uneasy about the offer being made to county employees because the county currently has its depository with Franklin Bank.

"I agree it sounds like a good offer…but I think it could touch on being unethical," he said, later making the motion to table the matter for further study.

"I would like to ask some questions about the legality of it first," Melton said.

In other matters, the court took the following action:

— Approved bonds for J.J. Stubblefield and Dana Skiles, deputies in the district clerk’s office.

— Authorized the county library to apply for a grant from the Wal-Mart Corporation.

— Submitted a request to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts for unclaimed capital credits from electric cooperatives. The amount, tabulated at $379.20, will go to the Van Zandt County Children’s Advocacy Center.

— Approved an appointment list of precinct election judges and presiding and alternate counting station judges for the November General Election.

— Approved the annual $10 option fee for the county road and bridge fund on vehicle registration fees in the county.

— Tabled the awarding of a bid on a tractor for Precinct 3.

— Approved a budget amendment for Precinct 3 Commissioner Kelles Miller.

— Added to a county policy on use of county vehicles to state they may be used outside Van Zandt County only for official county business.