The Lampasas County Commissioners Court on Monday unanimously approved the sale of $300,000 in tax notes to pay for the county's share of building and operating an animal control facility.

The county and the city of Lampasas are constructing and operating the facility jointly.

The tax notes will be paid within three years at a 4.33 percent interest rate.

In another item, the Commissioners Court voted unanimously to spend $48,000 for new computer software for the district clerk's office. The county will pay $25,000 this fiscal year and include the remaining payments in the 2008-09 budget.

Commissioners tabled a request to forgive approximately $2,200 in unpaid county taxes on a house across from the Lometa School.

Lometa Independent School District trustee Steve Stone told the Commissioners Court that Tommy Adams would like to take possession of the house that belonged to his grandfather, the late Mart Adams, demolish the building and donate the property to Lometa ISD.

The two-story house, valued at $71,000, has not been occupied for about five years, Stone said. Several windows in the house are broken, and school officials believe some teenagers have gone inside the building, he added.

"We need that issue to go away," Stone said. "It's a terrible eyesore to look out at from the front steps of the school. It's a big liability.

"We've got a lot of [students], and we don't need them hanging around there," the trustee said.

Forgiving the unpaid taxes -- which total about $7,300 -- will allow Adams to foreclose on the property and donate it to Lometa ISD, which Stone said would be a simpler process than the school district foreclosing on the property.

The Lometa school board has agreed to forgive $3,600 in taxes owed on the property, and board members have asked the city of Lometa to forgive about $1,500 in unpaid taxes as well.

The Commissioners Court tabled the proposal to seek advice on the matter from County Attorney Larry Allison.

In other business, the court unanimously approved several ad- ditions, which took effect Monday, to the county's personnel policy. The policy now states that county cell phone and e-mail use during work hours must be for county business. County officials reserve the right to monitor employees' Internet and e-mail activities at work.

In addition, the policy now allows employees three days of funeral leave in the case of an immediate relative's death.

Employees may take the leave for no more than two deaths, a total of six days.

One employee has taken leave for six funerals this fiscal year, a total of 18 days, County Treasurer Nelda Deriso told the Commissioners Court in her report about proposed policy changes.

Commissioners also approved a requirement that employees receive payment for compensation time only at the end of each fiscal year. Employees cannot carry compensation time over into the next fiscal year.

"It has always been our policy to pay comp time at the end of the fiscal year," County Auditor Jack Clark said. "We never roll over comp time, even for law enforcement."

Returning to a previously tabled item, commissioners discussed and then retabled a request for approval of a replat of two lots in Lampasas River Place, Phase One.

Subdivision resident Ute Wallace presented a petition with 58 homeowners' signatures against the replat. Ms. Wallace said Tad Davis, who owns the property, promised prospective Lampasas River Place tract buyers that he would preserve the area as a common-use park for subdivision residents.

A representative for Davis, however, said the owner never promised in writing to preserve the area perpetually for common use. Davis is not trying to sell the lots immediately, the representative added, even if the Commissioners Court approves a replat.

Precinct 2 Commissioner Alex Wittenburg said because the lots are under private ownership, the court likely could not require Davis to preserve any property for a park area.

"This may be a private property rights issue," he said.

Commissioners tabled the matter and will ask Allison for a legal re- view.

In addition, commissioners voted unanimously to set a 30- mile-per-hour speed limit on County Road 4366.

The court also voted 4-0 to reappoint Wittenburg to the Lampasas Economic Development Corp. board.

And the court voted unanimously to conduct a surplus sale Aug. 23 on the lots behind the Lampasas County Office Building.