Orderly progress appeared to be the theme of the Union County Commission Meeting on September 23. Chairman Jason Bailey and Vice Chairman Gary England were re-elected to their leadership positions by acclimation. Commission approved the minutes and notaries as usual. Grants, building improvements, and finance highlighted the Mayor's Report.
Mayor Bailey reported that the county received a $50,000 Three Star Grant to be used to help the Union County High School purchase vocational equipment. This equipment will be used to offer dual credit classes during the day and possibly add night classes for adults in the fields of auto mechanics and health science. Health science could offer CNA training.
Bryan Shoffner, Career and Technical Director at UCHS, has also acquired a CTE Growth Grant for $30,000 to enhance these efforts. In addition, the county received an ETHRA Grant for $46,077.52 to be used for workforce training.
Mayor Bailey and Director Shoffner will be partnering with Danny Satterfield in the Tennessee Pathways Program to best use these funds. These monies will help ensure that a Tennessee School of Applied Technology (TCAT) will be established in Union County and help to meet one of the Three Star Goals. The other grants, CDBG, Health Grant, and Farmers Market, are in various stages of approval or submission.
County building improvements continue. The courthouse has 30 new vinyl desk chairs to replace the ones in both courtrooms. Pressure washing and caulking at the courthouse is in progress. County maintenance is partnering with the UCHS Building Trades class under the direction of Keith Nease to replace roofs, cabinetry and other fixtures in community buildings.
As the community buildings and other county-owned buildings are upgraded, Mayor Bailey asked the commission to consider formulating policies for long-term use and a change in the fee structure. These items will be discussed at a future meeting.
The Veteran's Place wall will be resurfaced to have a granite appearance in time for the Heritage Festival on October 5. The VFW and Carroll Carmon of Modern Woodmen donated $1240 toward the refurbishment. Donations continue to arrive and are welcomed.
Mayor Bailey noted that Union County has a solid credit rating with very little debt. Other than the last payment on UCHS, the county has a $3.5 million debt that is mostly due to the construction of Paulette Elementary School. He thanked the finance office, Mayor Williams' administration and the commission for their sound financial practices.
The commission approved all committee appointments and established two new committees at the mayor's request. The Construction Committee will be a joint effort by commissioners, school board members, Director Jimmy Carter, and Mayor Bailey to begin discussion and planning for a new middle school. The Ordinance Committee will review all ordinances for possible changes, including the proposed Litter Ordinance, and make recommendations to the commission.
The Sheriff's Report for August 31, 2019, included 793 calls, 15 wrecks with injury, 26 wrecks without injury, 2 residential burglaries, 138 booked into the jail, 134 released from jail, with the current jail population being 96.
Ann Dyer informed the commission that all departments were under budget in the Finance Report from the Trustee. The budget was reviewed and approved by State Comptroller. A Letter of Commendation was emailed from Ronald Queen in state Finance Department to the county Finance Department for submitting the FY 2020 Budget by June 30, 2019.
Commission approved the new position of Purchasing Agent under Budget Amendments. The Purchasing Agent's salary is $34,500 including benefits. The cost will be shared by four departments with 70% paid by the school system and $6,522 to come from the county general fund. Without this new position, the bid limit would drop to $10,000 from $25,000 and triple the workload of the finance department. The position was recommended from the Financial Management Committee. Commissioner Brantley of Sharps Chapel was the only negative vote.
Other budget amendments were approved, including grants for highway bridges and an amendment to allow Union County to be the fiscal agent for a KUB Grant to Grid Corporation. Surplus items were also approved.
Father Steve Pawelk, Chairman of Union County Library Board, referenced a letter to commissioners and invited them to visit the libraries and see the myriad of duties that librarians and staff perform that far exceed the checking out of books. He noted that our librarians do presentations for state training sessions, coordinate the Imagination Library, assist citizens in writing resumes, host electronic and in-person story times, administer the author rally, direct the small business forum, host Healthy Kids Day, and implement the Summer Reading program, to name a few. Father Steve also informed the commission that he was being reassigned to Cincinnati, Ohio, to help train young men for the ministry and will be leaving in January 2020.
With no drama or dissension, the commission elected Charles Holloway to be the Third District Constable. Holloway was nominated by Commissioner Billy Cox (3rd) and elected by acclimation.
Commission approved a contract to address mental health evaluations and treatment services for criminal defendants. The cost would be a flat fee of $450 for each basic evaluation. The Electronic Monitoring Resolution was postponed at Sheriff Breeding's request until Judge Edmondson can review the resolution.
Two citizens addressed the commission under public comments. David Keith West of the 7th District cited several court cases, explained that Commissioner Brantley had violated his First Amendment rights by using Facebook as a public forum, but then deleting West's question and comment regarding the duties of a county commissioner. West had to stop mid-sentence in his presentation due to the two-minute time limit.
Another citizen, Chris Anderson, commented regarding posting of county jobs such as the purchasing agent. Anderson requested that the commission give consideration to experience in lieu of education and to explain what experience might meet the qualifications. He stated that the process needed to include, not exclude, applicants and that all applicants deserved to be interviewed.
The next County Commission Meeting will be on Monday, October, 28, at 7 p.m.