Commission to meet twice monthly
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Commission to meet twice monthly
By Christa Jennings
Following action taken at last Tuesday’s County Commission meeting, the commission will once again be meeting twice each month.
Commissioner Unzell Kelley brought the matter before the commission. He explained that in 2005 the commission had voted to start having evening meetings the fourth Tuesday of each month.
However, the meetings were poorly attended, and the commission eventually voted to discontinue the second monthly meeting.
Having discussions with constituents, Kelley said he wanted to bring the matter back before the commission for consideration to once again try having two meetings per month.
During discussion, Commissioner Randall Dunham voiced that he thinks it will ultimately be end in the same situation as before, but that he would still support it despite that.
After much discussion, the commission approved by a majority vote to add a meeting for 6:30 p.m. the fourth Tuesday of each month beginning in August. The motion passed 4-1, with Commissioner Ronnie Joiner opposing the motion.
This means the commission will now have two meetings per month beginning next month, with the first being at 9:30 a.m. on the second Tuesday and the second meeting being at 6:30 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday.
Regarding other commission matters, commissioners also nominated and voted on the chairman position, which was vacated by former Chair Todd Adams’ retirement.
When the floor was opened for nominations, Joiner made a motion to nominate Dunham for commission chair, and the motion was seconded by Commissioner Lamar Daugherty. No other nominations were made.
Dunham was approved and voted in as new chair of the commission by a vote of 3-2. Kelley and Vice Chair Bertha K. McElrath opposed the motion.
Also during the meeting, it was determined that the county will not be getting official storm shelters after all.
The commission had previously applied for and been approved for getting a grant to help offset the costs of storm shelters for the county. However, as the grant process went further and the county was approved to start the bid process for the shelters, EMA Director Sheldon Hutcherson said that he was informed of specific requirements for the grant.
Among those requirements was that the proposed sites for any storm shelters must be on property owned by the county, a municipality, or a volunteer fire department. Additionally, it is required that the county have a structural engineer involved in the process.
Hutcherson explained to the commission that, with this new information in mind, he needed to know if the county wanted to move forward with the bid process or wait until another time when the county is better able to afford it.
During discussion, commissioners mentioned the added expense of having to pay a structural engineer and voiced waiting until another time when the county is more able to afford it before pursuing grants for storm shelters again.
After discussion, with the item already on the agenda, McElrath called for a motion to approve bidding the storm shelter process. However, the matter died for lack of a motion, meaning that the commission will not further pursue the storm shelter grant at this time.
Commissioners also heard from Ean Adamson with safety concerns regarding County Road 12 in District 3. After discussion, it was determined that Engineer Tad Eason and the Highway Department would help make the road safe and passable to the best of its ability until the road can be added to the county’s list to be resurfaced.
In other business, the commission:
- Unanimously approved reallocating funds in the reappraisal budget by $4,250 to the line item for miscellaneous, at no cost to the county, to allow temporary assistance from Flagship GIS during the weeks of FMLA for the mapper/appraiser.
- Unanimously approved removing a non-working stove from the Rockford Nutrition inventory at the Rockford Senior Center and declaring it surplus.
- Unanimously approved reallocating $61,816.94 from the general fund (EMA disaster relief federal funds) to the 7 Cent Highway Department’s equipment line item for reimbursement of the April 19, 2020, projects.
- Unanimously approved donated leave for a Highway Department employee.
- Unanimously approved a revised comp time policy for county employees, which will be presented at the August 10 meeting. Other county policies are also being reviewed.
- Unanimously approved removing items from the Sheriff’s Office inventory.
- Unanimously approved the Sheriff’s Office donating about 50 analog handheld radios to the Coosa County Association of Volunteer Fire Departments.
- Discussed and tabled possibly hiring part-time employees for the Highway Department to mow roadsides.
- Discussed and tabled potentially applying for a grant for new body cameras for the Sheriff’s Office.
- Discussed and tabled proceeding with the bid of the roof for the Department of Human Resources/Board of Education facility.
Additionally, Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s field representative Cindy Mulvaney Pate was in attendance for the meeting and was introduced to the commission by Commissioner Daugherty.
The next regularly scheduled meeting of the County Commission will be held at 9:30 a.m. August 10.