GEORGETOWN — Williamson County commissioners Tuesday voted to keep doing business without a contract with a firm transporting human remains but could soon open the job to bids.
Commissioners also approved an agreement to send bodies for autopsies or other forensic examinations to a facility three hours away, southwest of Houston.
The county’s four justices of the peace — who oversee death investigations — were not in favor of either measure citing financial reasons.
Meanwhile, county purchasing agent Joy Simonton noted as counties grow, so do expenses, but the annual price tag of more than $250,000 to convey deceased individuals sent up a red flag.
Afterwards, the commissioners approved the “discretionary exemption” for the non-contracted firm.
The approval allows the justices of the peace — Rhonda Redden, KT Musselman, Evelyn McLean and Angela Williams — to continue the non-contracted work with Tranquil Mortuary Service of Hutto.
The JPs argued it could be costly to find another transport service if it’s not local.
“We have one provider in Williamson County. There’s no one else. All roads lead back to Tranquil,” Redden said.
Williams said she asked for the discretionary exemption to be placed on the court’s agenda so the work with Tranquil Mortuary Service could continue.
“(The transportation of the deceased) is a necessary service to preserve and protect the public health and safety of the residents in Williamson County,” Williams said.
She also questioned why the transportation budget was flagged at $250,000, but the postmortem budget, about $2 million, has never produced comments or concerns.
Neither Simonton nor commissioners had a response.
Redden said several years ago the JPs could call any funeral home in the county to transport bodies where they needed to go, whether that was for an autopsy or other postmortem examination or to a funeral home.
“One of the JPs discovered, however, that the funeral home was calling a transport service to pick up that body, take it to its location and then adding an extra 10% to the county’s bill … So the JPs cut out the middleman and went straight to the source,” Redden said.
Precinct 4 Commissioner Russ Boles said he supported entering into a contract with Tranquil, but Precinct 1 Commissioner Terry Cook said she was concerned other companies could sue the county for not having the opportunity to bid.
Earlier in the June 9 court session, commissioners approved the interlocal agreement with Fort Bend County to perform postmortem exams.
The next meeting is 9:30 a.m. June 16 at 710 S. Main St.
Sessions can also be viewed online at wilcotx. gov/331/Commissioners-Court.
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“We have one provider in Williamson County. There’s no one else.”
— Rhonda Redden, Precinct 4 justice of the peace
