Kleberg County Judge Pete De La Garza reminded everyone at a Monday afternoon meeting of the Kleberg County Commissioners Court at the Courthouse Annex that he had the power to hold anyone in contempt of court, charge then a fine, put them in jail, eject any individual from the meeting and end the session.

“I’m not going to let this meeting turn into another circus,” De La Garza said in regards to a special session June 25 that turned into a verbal free-for-all.

The whole fracas on June 25 revolved around the county’s rescission of a previous decision made during a meeting on June 14 to hire Green Wire Inc. of San Antonio as a consultant for telecommunications and data needs at the old Exxon building, now undergoing a $2 million make-over, and the new human services building.

The county was, instead, looking to hire a company to actually handle the telephone, technical and data systems for both locations, and Greenwire was tapped for the telephone portion of the project. The commissioners court approved authorizing the judge to advertise for proposals from any interested party for the work needed.

In the meantime, Precinct 4 Commissioner Romeo Lomas expressed his concern for 4-1 decision by the commissioners court to implement a proposed project using federal and state funds through the Texas Department of Transportation for improvements to the Kleberg County Airport under a capital program that would require a $500,000- plus contribution from the county.

Judge De La Garza was authorized to sign the necessary documents to get the grant process going, and a five-member consultant selection committee was appointed for a TxDOT aviation improvement grant.

Lomas pointed out that state law requires that capital expenses must include funding sources. He said after the meeting the correct way to initiate the funding was to go to the voters for a bond approval or authorize the issuance of certificates of obligation.

“I am not against the project, but the commissioners who voted for the project violated state law,” he said.