County settles litigation

ANAHUAC— Although many items were tabled or pulled in this session, commissioners were still able to get a bit of work done between settling litigation and passing items to benefit first responders.

The Chambers County Commissioners Court held its regular meeting on Tuesday, May 27.

Commissioners agreed to settle a lawsuit between the county and an engineering firm after a couple years of litigation.

Nathan Brandimarte of the Brandimarte Law Firm represented the county during litigation and was in attendance to explain the lawsuit.

The suit regards the Kilgore Parkway regional drainage project in which the county hired Lippke Cartwright and Roberts, Inc., an engineering consulting firm, to do the design work for the drainage system.

Brandimarte said at the end of the project, the county became aware of some miscalculations and errors.

According to Brandimarte, Paul Lippke claimed the county owed money and that the county refused to pay. The county denied the payment claim because the county had not approved the charges prior, and the firm made errors in the project.

Lippke then sued the county for about $500,000, and the county rejected the claim.

Brandimarte said the county then sued Lippke and the engineering firm for “their errors and omissions with the project.”

The lawsuit went on for a couple of years, and “the parties suffered from litigation fatigue,” resulting in the settlement where the parties would walk away without payment, according to Brandimarte.

Commissioners approved allowing all active county and local city first responders who are residents of the county to receive free dump stickers, which would go into effect Jan. 1, 2026.

Commissioner Pct. 4 Ryan Dagley clarified it would apply to volunteer firefighters, firefighters, sheriff’s deputies, and others.

“I think it’s a great thing,” Sheriff Brian Hawthorne said.

Commissioner Pct. 3 Tommy Hammond said Hatcherville Road will be closed from Thursday, June 12 to Monday, June 16, for road repairs. There is also a joint project with the Coastal Water Authority to repair leaks to a siphon underneath the road.

Commissioner Pct. 2 Mark Tice commented on drainage, saying crews have been cleaning out drainage ditches in the Maley Woods and Plantation subdivisions and will continue to do so over the next few weeks.

Tice said decades of debris will be removed throughout the precinct’s neighborhoods over the next several months. Working with the Texas Department of Transportation over the summer, drainage projects will be conducted along FM 3180 and FM 2354.

“The best is yet to come for the next several months, weather permitting,” Tice said. “The west side residents in Pct. 2 will have peace of mind knowing we have strived to clean out all choke points and allow water to get moving and away from our residents.”

The new alerting system for the EMS building is almost complete, with just a tower left to install, and costs were under the $150,000 budget.

The maintenance department made repairs to the third floor north-end office windows as they leaked when it rained. Commissioners approved the hire of Liqua-Tech Waterproofing to make window repairs to the rest of the building at $69,335.

Commissioners approved the TGSCP 4407 Grand Parkway, LLC, reinvestment zone following a public meeting with no comments from residents. The zone encompasses 47.217 acres.