The County Commission takes the oath of office and undergoes the swearing-in ceremony as a group prior to its meeting. Photo by Christa Jennings
By Christa Jennings
Senior Staff Writer
Following a swearing-in ceremony held Wednesday morning, the County Commission held its regularly scheduled monthly meeting November 11, officially beginning a new term in office.
Judge of Probate Richard Dean administered the oath of office to the Commission as a group prior to the Commission’s regular 9 a.m. meeting start, with family and friends present for the special moments with commissioners.
With all commissioners present, the Commission began the meeting with procedural business for the start of a new term.
Vice Chair Brandon Davis initially oversaw the meeting and opened the floor for nominations for a new Commission chair. Davis proceeded to nominate District 1 Commissioner John Forbus for the position, and Commissioner Bertha K. McElrath voiced her agreement.
With no other nominations made, the Commission unanimously approved electing Forbus as chair of the Commission.
The floor was then open for nominations for vice chair, with McElrath nominating Davis to remain as vice chair. However, Forbus nominated District 4 Commissioner Matthew Reams, explaining that Reams has a more flexible schedule to allow him to better handle things as needed without worrying about a stricter work schedule.
With nominations closed, Forbus made a motion to elect Reams as vice chair, and Commissioner Dillon Adams seconded the motion. It was approved by a majority vote, and Reams was thus elected to serve as vice chair of the Commission.
The Commission then proceeded to discuss the establishment of a regular meeting date and time.
Davis suggested changing the meetings to be at 4 p.m. on the second Tuesday of each month, with Adams stating that he was “good with that” and Forbus saying he could make that work.
McElrath asked county attorney John K. Johnson if they could change the meeting schedule later if they decided that was not working. Johnson confirmed that the Commission could change it later; however, he went on to add that he thinks the 4 p.m. meeting time would be inconvenient to employees and elected officials.
He mentioned that the Commission would have to then pay overtime for security officers and other employees working late, since the courthouse closes at 4 p.m.
In the past, the Commission has held twice monthly meetings, which included a 9:30 a.m. meeting on the second Tuesday and an evening meeting on the fourth Tuesday of each month. This was originally scheduled with a vote of the Commission in 2005 to add the evening meetings, but was eventually voted to discontinue because of the second monthly meetings being poorly attended.
In July 2021, then District 3 Commissioner Unzell Kelley brought the matter up for discussion again, stating that after having discussions with his constituents he wanted to bring the matter back before the Commission to consider once again trying to have two meetings per month.
At that meeting, after much discussion, the Commission approved by majority vote to add a second monthly meeting at 6:30 p.m. beginning the following month, August of 2021.
However, in November 2022, the Commission changed its meeting schedule. At that time four years ago, Commissioner Davis stated that he wanted to keep the meetings as they currently were, with a morning meeting and an evening meeting each month, because it gave people an opportunity to attend after work.
After discussion at that meeting, the Commission ultimately voted by majority vote to cancel the second monthly meeting, with Davis and McElrath both voicing at the time that they were not in favor of canceling the second meeting. That was also when the Commission changed the morning meeting from 9:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. on the second Tuesday.
During Wednesday’s meeting, Davis did not suggest having two meetings per month or a later evening meeting, but did recommend changing the Commission’s one meeting to a later afternoon time to allow more people the opportunity to attend around their work schedule or after spending most of the day at work.
However, following attorney Johnson’s discussion, Forbus said that he agreed with Johnson because of the county working with a tight budget. He added that it would cost more than what they want to spend to have security and the Commission staff there to attend 4 p.m. meetings once per month.
With no other times discussed or brought up for the scheduled meetings, Reams made a motion to keep the meetings as they currently are, the second Tuesday of each month at 9 a.m. His motion was approved, and the Commission’s meeting schedule remains unchanged.
In other procedural business for the start of a new term, the Commission unanimously approved county engineer Donald “Tad” Eason’s employment contract, which includes an increase in pay from $136,224 to $159,628.
Forbus asked attorney Johnson to help explain about the contract, and Johnson said that the state pays 70% of Eason’s contract with the county paying the remaining 30%, and the state also establishes the pay based on the level of the contract, which is further determined by years of employment.
Johnson added that the state also pays a portion of the assistant engineer’s salary, as well.
The Commission also unanimously approved awarding Gary Ingram Grading and Paving Inc. a paving project bid of $279,530. Eason explained that this is for the County Road 48 project, which would be paved with plant mix.
In discussion at Wednesday’s meeting, he said that the project is a little more than 2 miles of road and that the Gary Ingram bid does not include striping of the newly paved road. However, in discussion it was also stated that the Commission had previously approved up to $325,000 for the project work.
Eason said striping would add on approximately $30,000 to $40,000 to the cost, which he said would still fall within the previously approved amount. However, he said they would bid out the striping work later for that road project and further mentioned that the county would be responsible for maintaining the striping once it’s done.
In other business, the Commission:
- Unanimously approved the Rules of Procedure for Coosa County Commission, which was reportedly updated to reflect that the Commission can discuss and debate agenda items prior to making a motion.
- Unanimously approved adopting the state’s holiday schedule for 2027.
- Unanimously approved posting a job opening for a public transportation driver to fill a vacancy created by a retirement.
- Unanimously approved closing the County Courthouse from 12 to 1 p.m. on Friday, November 20, for the county Thanksgiving lunch.
- Unanimously approved a contract with Neumo, formerly Avenu.
- Unanimously approved posting a 35 MPH and a No Through Trucks sign on County Road 28, a 35 MPH sign on County Road 130 and a 25 MPH sign on McClellan Road by Kellyton Dollar General.
- Unanimously approved Sheriff Michael Howell giving deputies a $600 clothing allowance for the year, which Howell said is already in his budget, but that he wanted to bring before the Commission as a formality.
- Unanimously approved posting to hire for temporary help at the Rockford Senior Center.
- Unanimously approved Allen Oil issuing gas cards for county employees.
- Unanimously approved a policy requiring the chair or vice chair to sign off on and finalize any and all purchase orders concerning Enoch’s Hardware, with Reams saying the Commission needed to shift that responsibility from the county administrator, since she is married to the business owner.
- Discussed a 2019 Ford E350 transportation van that was made available to the county for free, with EMA Director Sheldon Hutcherson reviewing details.
- Unanimously approved the county accepting the free 2019 E350 transportation van.
- Discussed sending a vehicle donated to the Commission by the West Coosa Senior Center to surplus.
- Discussed appropriations for the Alabama Forestry Commission and the Alabama Department of Public Health.
- Unanimously approved a $5,000 appropriation to the Alabama Forestry Commission.
Braxton Lashley and Ryan Dunham with the AFC were present for Wednesday’s meeting and presented the Commission with details pertaining to the agency’s appropriations request prior to the Commission adding the matter to the agenda and voting on it.
The Alabama Department of Public Health had requested a $10,000 appropriation, but no representative was present at the meeting to explain what the requested funds would be used for.
In other business, EMS Director Hollie Osbourn reported that the county ambulance had 72 calls for service last month and made 43 transports. She said they have an overall transport rate of 58% for the year, which she said is really good for 911 calls.
Regarding the county’s Information Technology department, which is included under staff reports on the monthly agenda, Forbus said they need the IT representative to come to meetings and keep the Commission informed since the county has a contract with the IT company. He added that the Commission needs to know where its money is going.
Following a request, copies of the Rules of Procedure for the Commission, the engineer’s contract, the Neumo contract, Gary Ingram’s submitted paving bid, and the AFC handout of information regarding its $5,000 appropriations request were not made available as of press time.
The next regularly scheduled monthly meeting of the County Commission will be held at 9 a.m. December 8.
The audio recording of Wednesday’s County Commission meeting is available here.
New District 4 County Commissioner Matthew Reams with wife, Dani, as he takes his oath of office. Photo by Christa Jennings
New District 5 County Commissioner Dillon Adams with wife, Jamie. Photo by Christa Jennings
Newly sworn in, the County Commission gets down to business with its first meeting of the new term. Photo by Christa Jennings
