By Ginger Broomes

The Orange Leader

 

Dean Crooks, who was recently appointed County Judge to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of Judge Stephen Brint Carlton, had his bond set and executed by the court, making him officially the interim County Judge until December 31, 2018. He officially starts on Wednesday, May 2, 2018.

Addressing the Court, he said, “First all I just wanted to thank you for all the stuff you’ve been doing especially in regards to disaster recovery, and hopefully disaster preparedness is on everybody’s mind. We’re coming up on June 1^st rather quickly.”

He then read a statement that he didn’t want any pay increase for the remainder of the year but would look at it in the next fiscal year.

May was proclaimed as Elder Abuse Prevention Awareness month. Cecilio Lopez, with Orange and South Jefferson Counties’ Adult Protective Services, addressed the Court.

“The vast majority of our referrals have to do with self-neglect,” Lopez said. “Many of our elderly citizens are finding themselves isolated. We are seeing the need to monitor and be aware of these. Where an individual has lost the ability to take care of themselves.”

The number is 800-252-5400 if you or a loved one are struggling.

Jessica Hill with the Orange County Economic Development presented a new marketing video that the organization had put out to help entice outside investment in the community.

“I think that after watching it, most people would want to take a look at Orange County to build or expand their business,” Hill said.

“In terms of projects, we currently have about $3 billion in capital investment in our project pipeline that we are actively pursuing, that results in about 2,500 permanent jobs should all those projects locate, and about 5,000 construction jobs. Are we going to win all of them? No, I wish we would, but if we could just land a few of them, we’d be on the right path,” Hill said.

She did announce about $250 million dollars in current projects for the county, including the Burger King in Orange, Taco Bell in Bridge City, Bridge City Wal-Mart remodel, oil and gas tanks in the area, and a couple new banks under construction.