Lavaca County Courthouse Disaster Preparedness Project

FAIN: PG-51381-11

Lavaca County (Hallettsville, TX 77964-0283)
Elizabeth A. Kouba (Project Director: May 2010 to December 2012)

On-site staff training in disaster planning and the purchase of emergency preparedness supplies. The courthouse records include over 7,300 ledger books containing property deeds; probate documents; oil and gas industry contracts; birth, death, and marriage certificates; court case files; county commission meeting minutes; naturalization papers; tax rolls; voter registration lists; and other local government transactions documenting the social and economic history of southeastern Texas from the 1840s to the present.

Lavaca County is seeking funding in the form of a $6000 grant for a consultant to deliver a course in Preservation and Disaster Recovery of County records and for supplies to be used for training and preservation. County Officials, Staff and Volunteers will attend the workshops provided by the consultant on Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery, and Archival Housing and Repairs. Our courthouse has survived two floods (1940 & 1981) and hurricane Carla (1961). Due to these catastrophes, county records were lost. Lavaca County does not have a Disaster Plan for the recovery of records. The product of this grant will educate and provide tools to prepare and implement a written Disaster Plan.