I read what Polk County actually decided.
Agendas, minutes, and the scanned attachments nobody opens. If you need to know what a public body did — and when, and what it cost — I'll find the documents and send you the links.
Page 320 of 376
Polk County Commissioners Court, the City of Livingston, the Livingston Main Street Advisory Board and the City of Onalaska. Records published September 2003 to October 2026, all file types. Counts as of September 2026.
Polk County publishes its records. That isn't the same as them being findable.
A Commissioners Court packet runs to three or four hundred pages. Most of it is scanned, so the county's own search can't read it. The minutes sheet on the front tells you an item passed. What it was actually about is ninety pages deeper, in an image.
So the record is public and almost nobody has read it.
What that looks like in practice
I've read the published record of four local bodies end to end — the county, two city councils, and an advisory board. 714 documents, 15,340 pages, going back to 2003. Thirty-six percent of those pages had no searchable text at all and had to be read as images.
Where that unreadable share sits is the whole problem:
| Body | Docs | Pages | No text layer | Years covered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polk County Commissioners Court | 275 | 9,749 | 2,158 (22%) | Oct 2006 – Oct 2026 |
| City of Livingston — City Council | 176 | 4,870 | 2,690 (55%) | Sep 2003 – Sep 2026 |
| Livingston Main Street Advisory Board | 52 | 52 | 0 | Jan 2022 – Aug 2026 |
| City of Onalaska — City Council | 211 | 669 | 669 (100%) | Oct 2018 – Sep 2026 |
Onalaska's council record is a scan from end to end. Not one page of it can be found by searching, which means the only way to know what that council has decided since 2018 is for somebody to open all 211 documents and read them.
Here's one thing that was in there.
On 25 November 2025 the Court approved change order 011 on the courthouse restoration. The agenda item described the work — beam wrapping, generator, mill work, exterior concrete, the Tax Assessor's new location — and named the fund it came out of. The motion in the minutes reads, in full: “Motioned by Milt Purvis, seconded by Guylene Robertson, approval of change order.” Five votes yes.
The amount is not in the agenda item, not in the motion, and not spoken at the meeting. It's $471,251.03 — about forty-five percent of the change orders approved on that project so far — and the only place it appears is page 320 of the 376-page minutes file, on a scanned copy of the signed change order form.
The Court does put amounts in the record when the amount is part of the decision. At that same meeting, item 30 carried its cost in the agenda item itself — a jail feasibility study, not to exceed $20,000 — and the motion on item 27 awarded bid packages “in the amount of $1,031,509.00 to the low bidder”. On item 29 it wasn't, so the figure only exists in the scan.
I'm not telling you that to make a point about the county. I'm telling you because that's the kind of thing that's sitting in the record, and finding it took reading the whole thing.
Four questions that come up, and where the answer lives.
Is this road county-maintained?
Commissioners Court accepts roads one at a time, by order, and the order names the street and the subdivision. I can tell you when Stonebrook Drive was accepted, or Easy Street in Paradise Acres, and show you the record.
What has the county paid this company?
The schedule of bills is in the minutes of every regular meeting — date, amount, fund, check numbers. Four hundred and sixteen million dollars of approved payments are in what I've already read.
What happened with this parcel?
Plat approvals, replats, variances, street closures. The record gives the subdivision, the block, the lots, and the hearing date.
What's coming that affects my property?
There's a TXDOT bridge project on Business 59 right now with an access denial line on it. The city tabled its own land sale over it in August. If you own frontage on that stretch, that's a thing to know.
Three steps, and you know the cost before the second one ends.
Send the question
A parcel, a company, a road, a project, or a public body. Whatever you already know is enough to start — a street name and a rough date is plenty.
Get the scope and the quote
I'll tell you where the answer is likely to live, roughly what it'll take to get to it, and the number. If I think you don't need me, you'll hear that instead.
Receive findings and sources
Written findings, the document names, the page numbers, and a direct link to each original so you can read it yourself.
What you get
A written summary of what I found, with the source documents and a direct link to each one.
Findings and citations. That's the whole deliverable.
Agenda packet, 408 pages — item 29 scope and fund.
Both at the Polk County CivicClerk portal, event 1869.
If it isn't in the published record, I'll tell you that, tell you which body holds it, and draft the open records request for you to send. Sending it is yours — the response goes to whoever asks, so you want it landing in your inbox, not mine. That also puts it on the county's clock rather than mine: ten business days for them to respond, longer if they contest it.
How long it takes
For the fixed reports, the turnaround is in the table above and I hold to it. A Flag Check is back inside 24 hours, or the next business day with Rush.
Custom research is the one that varies. One parcel, one company, one road — usually quick. Ten years of a road's history across the county and the city, or tracing what a contractor has been paid over several budget cycles, is not. Thirty-six percent of the pages I'm reading are scanned images, and those take as long as they take.
I'll tell you which yours looks like when I quote it, and I'll tell you before it goes over, not after.
What you don't get
- An opinion. I'll tell you what the document says. I won't tell you what it means for your case, your deal, or your dispute. That's your lawyer's job, or your judgment.
- A certification. A keyword search of available records is not proof that no other record exists. If you need a complete, certified search — for a filing, a title matter, or anything you intend to rely on — that's the County Clerk, and I'll tell you so rather than take the work.
- Legal advice. I'm not a lawyer and this isn't it.
What it costs
Most questions fit one of these. You'll know the price before I start, and the fixed ones are fixed — not an estimate that moves once I'm into it.
| What you're buying | Price | Turnaround | Who it's for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flag Check Is anything there, and how much |
$75 | 24 hours | Tax-sale bidders; landowners who just want yes or no |
| Parcel Record Report Everything three bodies said about one parcel, 2003–2026, cited |
$250 | 3–5 days | Real estate attorneys, surveyors, developers, title companies |
| Bid History Report What this body paid, who won, what the change orders added |
$350 | 5 days | Contractors bidding county or city work |
| Standing Watch Tell me when a term appears |
$75/month | Ongoing | Contractors, developers, pipeline and utility — anyone with a live interest |
| Rush Add to a Flag Check or a Parcel Record Report |
+$100 | Next business day | Tax-sale bidders working to an auction date |
| Custom research Anything that isn't a parcel or a bid |
$150/hour, 1 hr min | Quoted | Attorneys, reporters, one-off questions |
If I look at what you're asking and think you don't need me, I'll say so. That happens, and it's a better outcome than billing you for it.
Records are as published by Polk County, the City of Livingston and the City of Onalaska. Scanned pages are read by OCR and can contain transcription errors. Every finding comes with a link to the original so you can check it yourself.
Getting an answer
Tell me the parcel, the company, the road, or the question. I'll tell you whether it's in the record and roughly what it'll take.
Call or text (936) 324-1137