(a) The Lamar County Commission is hereby authorized and empowered, within Lamar County, to go upon private property and perform work or services for churches or individuals, and to sell materials to churches, schools, individuals, and nonprofit associations or corporations.
(b) It is the intent of this section to make available to the citizens of Lamar County services only when such services are not reasonably available to them at a reasonable cost from private enterprise. Upon May 6, 1980, and during the month of January each year thereafter, the county commission shall investigate the availability of work, services, and material from private enterprise in the various areas of Lamar County and shall enter upon the minutes of the county commission the results of such investigation. The county commission shall thereafter adopt a written policy governing the doing of such work or services and the sale of such material. The policy shall include a description of the work and services which will be performed and the materials to be sold and a limitation upon the areas in which work or services will be performed and in which materials will be sold to those areas in which such work, services, or materials are not reasonably available at a reasonable cost from private enterprise. The policy shall include a provision that such work, services, or materials are available to all citizens of Lamar County where such work, services, or materials are not reasonably available from private enterprise at a reasonable cost. The written policy adopted by the county commission shall be published annually in a newspaper of general circulation in Lamar County in the type normally used for news stories.
(c) No work may be done by the Lamar County Commission upon private property unless the county commission has no present need for the use for public county purposes of the personnel and equipment necessary to perform such work and unless the county commission is justly compensated for work or services performed and for the materials used or sold. In determining just compensation for work or services performed and for materials used or sold, all indirect costs including, but not limited to, overhead, management, and depreciation shall be included.
(d) Before any work or services are performed on private property or material is sold to churches, schools, individuals, or nonprofit associations or corporations, a written contract shall be signed by the party for whom the work or services are to be performed, or to whom the material is to be sold, stating the work to be done or material sold, the amount to be paid for such work or services or materials, or the rate by which the amount to be paid for such work, services, or materials will be computed. The work or services performed shall be paid for at the time it is completed and any material delivered shall be paid for at the time the material is delivered. The name of each church, school, individual, or nonprofit association or corporation for whom work or services are performed or to whom material is delivered shall be entered upon the permanent minutes of the Lamar County Commission at its next regular meeting following the completion of the work or the delivery of the material, along with a description of the work performed or material delivered and a statement of the price paid to the county for the work performed or material sold.
Last modified: May 3, 2021