The Lampasas County Commissioners Court voted 5-0 Monday to reestablish a lease agreement with the city of Lampasas for jointly owned Lampasas Municipal Airport property.

A previous lease agreement for the 182-acre airport property — in which the city and county each own half of an undivided interest — expired in 2006.

County Attorney Larry Allison will contact Lampasas City Manager Michael Stoldt with suggested changes to the earlier lease document. Once the city’s legal counsel drafts a suggested new policy, the Commissioners Court and Lampasas City Council will vote on the proposed lease.

County resident Richard Williams encouraged commissioners to approve a new airport lease agreement with the city.

“The airport is a valuable county asset,” Williams said.

Allison agreed that the county should not relinquish its ownership of half the airport property.

“I see no compelling reason to do anything that would undermine our undivided interest,” the county attorney said. “I agree that it’s an asset to both the city and the county to have property out there.”

As a “silent partner,” the county should not share airport expenses or profits with the city, Allison said. Future agricultural leases of portions of the airport land should be made with the city, he added.

In other business, the Commissioners Court took no action on a request by county residents Carl and Inge Criss for the regulation of shooting on properties smaller than five acres. Mrs. Criss said she feels unsafe when a neighbor discharges firearms on land near their home in Cheyenne Mountain Estates, a development in the east end of the county.

“We are in a subdivision, and I do think there should be different rules in a subdivision than for way out in the county,” Mrs. Criss said.

A county regulation about gun use on properties smaller than five acres, she said, would give the Lampasas Sheriff’s Office enforcement powers when responding to residents’ complaints.

Precinct 2 Commissioner Alex Wittenburg, who said he has received complaints about shooting on small tracts just west of Lampasas in his precinct, said the Commissioners Court needs to consider how to protect residents from unsafe shots. Wittenburg and other commissioners declined to propose specific restrictions on gun use, however.

“I think most people know not to hunt with a high-powered rifle on five acres,” Wittenburg said. “Unfortunately, we can’t regulate common sense.”

When residents feel unsafe because of one shooter’s actions, Precinct 1 Commissioner Robert Vincent said, they should form a group to approve subdivision rules, which the commissioner said would be enforced through civil court action. County-wide restrictions, Vincent said, would limit the freedom of all county residents, particularly gun safety instructors and landowners whose properties are subdivided into small tracts.

“To pass a law or ordinance that affects everybody for [the sake of one person] is unfair,” he said.

County Judge Wayne Boultinghouse said he understands the concerns raised by the Crisses and their neighbors, but passing an ordinance to limit shooting on small properties throughout the county may not be the right approach.

“I think we’re going to run into a lot of opposition to regulating something for the whole county,” Boultinghouse said.

In another matter, the court voted 5-0 to appropriate $20,000 toward the purchase of a 2010 Ford F-150 XL brush truck. The truck, to be purchased from Chastang Ford in Houston via a state buy board, will be used as a command vehicle for fire officials in responding to grass fires.

Rather than adding to fire department reserves — as it does each year — the county will contribute toward the vehicle purchase with a $20,000 budget item this fiscal year.

Near the end of Monday’s meeting, the Commissioners Court adjourned into a brief executive session to discuss real estate matters. Once the open session resumed, commissioners voted unanimously to place county properties at 412 S. Live Oak and 412-A S. Live Oak on the Multiple Listing Service to sell the two buildings. Offices in those locations will move across the downtown square into the new county annex on Pecan Street.

Also at the recent meeting, commissioners awarded a non-spec flexible road base bid of $4.25 per ton to L.A. Porter Construction, and reappointed Boultinghouse to the Hill Country Transit District Executive Board of Directors.