Jackson County Commission Meeting

Commission Chairperson Ms. Sadie Bias makes awards presentation to Ms. Sierra Lewis of Scottsboro, next to Ms. Bias, and Ms. Karrington Aericko of Woodville on the right. The 2 young ladies distinguished themselves at a statewide bowling tournament.

Jackson County Commissioners, left to right, Mr. Clemmons, Mr. Stone, Ms. Bias-Chairperson, Mr. Allen, Mr. Smith and Ms. Kirkland our County Administrator.

There were 2 meetings held today at the Courthouse for the Jackson County Commission. The first being a work session and the second was the regular commission meeting. There was also a public hearing concerning the Jackson County Park which involved the swimming pool and moving of the play ground several years ago. Apparently there was supposed to be a public hearing held which was not performed until today, after the fact.

Prior to my outline of the Regular Commission Meeting I will highlight the important points of the work session.

Work Session Highlights: 1) The FY2010 Budget stands at 1.5 to 2 million dollars over budget. There has been a request to all department heads to decrease their budget by 5% to prevent layoffs from occurring. 2) Lack of financial controls was stated as the reason for budget overage. Many purchase orders were submitted and approved without any scrutiny or approval authority. ( Comment: Apparently the County does not have a comprehensive financial management policy. A financial management policy is desperately needed to insure efficient financial management within the County Commission.) Currently, due to a lack of control, all reserve funds have been completely exhausted, Jackson County has a current budget shortage of $946,613.34. Ms. Kirkland, the new County Administrator, indicated procedures have been adopted to insure all purchase orders, P.O's, must be scrutinized and approved. She stated individual department accounts will be closely scrutinized to insure the departments have money within their budgets. It was also recommended that a hiring freeze be implemented. 3) Jackson County Solid Waste Authority. Apparently the Jackson County Solid Waste Authority has problems. These problems are not something that has just recently occurred, the specific issues outlined as follows: (a) It was discussed that either rates must be increased or the waste service must be contracted out. Ms Bias stated she did not think rates should be increased. (b) Part of the financial problems were due to non-payment of services and some of those not paying arbitrarily had their accounts adjusted. (c) Aging fleet of vehicles with no replacement plan or money to replace the fleet. ( Comment: The Jackson County Waste Management System is poised for a complete financial meltdown. This system is required by law to be self supporting.) 4) The telephone audit was presented. The auditors of the Jackson County Courthouse Phone system displayed a savings due to the audit and recouping of excessive charges of $2400. per month. The auditors recommended that long distance service should be switched to Quest Communications which would result in a significant cost savings.

Regular Commission Meeting: 1) Mr. Jack Allen made award presentation to members of the Commission who attended the County Commissioners Training and Workshop. 2) Award presentation was made to Sierra Lewis of Scottsboro and Karrington Aericko of Woodville for outstanding performance in a statewide bowling tournament (picture above). 3) 9 items on the consent agenda were approved. 4) Resolution approved for T.I.G.E.R grant from Association of County Commissions of Alabama. 5) Special Election approved for the continuation of City of Scottsboro Schools Property Tax. Election will be Oct. 20, 2009. This is an election for the City of Scottsboro only. 6) Third party transportation services approved for The Council on Aging. 7) Change approved to the Sheriffs Department pay period and hours of work. Pay period will be based on an 84 hour 2 week pay period. 8) Approval to fill vacancy on Jackson County Health Care Authority, District 2, Mr. Kendall Story was approved. 9) Motion to approve hiring freeze was not approved and withdrawn. (Comment: There were several inconsistencies which occurred concerning points of order at the Commission Meeting. Motion was made, there was never a second, meeting control was lost by the Chairperson. Mr. Allen intentionally interjected his opinion to prevent a motion being seconded. Ms. Bias, Chairwoman, did not maintain order resulting in the issue not being carried forth. Mr. Allen interjected his issue into the malay which successfully defeated the motion on the floor. Mr Allen was out of order, however a point of order was never called by any member of the Commission nor did the Chairperson maintain order nor Commission decorum. Unfortunately this is not the first time this intentional disruption has occurred. The interjection by Mr. Allen was intentional and resulted in a complete failure of the meeting's integrity assisted by the failed leadership of the Chairperson. If Ms Bias is not going to display the proper leadership necessary to manage the meetings decorum maybe she should go ahead and turn the meeting over to Mr. Allen. To complement the festivities and obvious plans of the Courthouse White Rooster Democrats, also known as Floydz Boyz, Probate Judge Hambrick was seen and heard at Ruby Tuesday's telling all about how terrible the situation concerning budget and the county commission's problems. Such treacherous plans some lay! Wake up Ms. Bias and show the leadership you were elected by the citizens to perform! Maintain Commission order and decorum at all times, it is your responsibility, the citizens deserve professional leadership.) 10) Motion to approve waiting until January to fill the County Engineer position. I believe this issue was tabled. However, due to the lack of order and decorum who knows. 11) Mr. Porter reminded the chair there were 2 additional issues remaining, a) County Park resolution concerning public hearing issue, swimming pool being filled and playground being moved 9 years ago., it is now approved. b) approval of telephone auditors recommendation to switch long distance service. Article from the Huntsville Times on issues: http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/local.ssf?/base/news/1251191718326600.xml&coll=1