The Decatur County Council met on Tuesday.
Adina Roberts came to the board asking permission to have a study committee for vote centers. Switching to vote centers would save the county a lot of money and would allow residents to vote where they choose. The board approved a study committee.
Erika Free came to the board requesting to raise part time pay rate to be at $14/hr. They are currently training a position for part time, but later this year they will be put into a full time position. This was approved.
Judge Bailey made a request for additional appropriation. Everything in the courtroom is recorded and last week their equipment stopped working. They have had the same equipment since 2008 and works with Windows 7- currently they have Windows 10. This would be for $8,308 and they would like it to be advertised and then be brought back to the next meeting for approval. The board agreed on this. Judge Day, Sheriff Durant, and Nate Harter came to the board to discuss the cost of juvenile holdings. They currently have 3 minors being tried as adults residing in the jail, being kept separate from the adult inmates. The sheriff has some concerns regarding liability and the separation from the adults, however believes that they are perfectly capable of keeping them safe in the jail. The trial is in July, however if it were to be pushed back to next year they would not be able to keep them in the jail due to a new law being put into place that does not allow for minors to be in an adult facility at all. They are considering sending them to a juvenile detention center if need be, but it will be over $100,000 to board them there for a year.
The board approved the resolution for the purchase of land. This is for the commissioners to build a new highway department. The old property will eventually be auctioned off or sold. Mark Mohr requested to pay his mechanic 60 cents more on the dollar. This was approved.
The board reviewed the additionals. The request for $400,000 for the construction on bridge 239 was approved. The request for $1,313.24 for bridge 4090 was approved. The request for $394,000 out of CARES Act funds was tabled. They have no funds left for this request unless they were to put county general into the red. The transfer of $2,000 from the preparedness grant fund for the health department was approved.
Decatur County was awarded $250,000 for small businesses.
Morgan Schofield
WTRE News
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