The Greene County Commission met for its regular second Monday of the month meeting. All members of the Commission were present. The meeting was opened by Garria Spencer, Chairperson, a prayer was given, the previous minutes and agenda were approved as submitted.
The Commission voted to approve documents concerning the Purdue Pharmacy and Sacker Family Bankruptcy for a payment in litigation over opioid abuse by the company. The Commission voted to authorize the Chairperson to sign the documents.
The Commission approved a recommendation from the County Engineer to zip up County Road 136, a short road south of Boligee, which is no longer in use. The paved road will be made into a gravel road to save on maintenance costs.
The Commission agreed that its current lease agreement with Mr. Gomez of Iron Wolf Media LLC, for repairs and use of the former Greenetrack facility will stand as submitted to the company. The Commission owns the facility. They have held several meetings with Gomez, mostly in Executive Session, concerning amendments and changes to the 15-year lease, with 5-year renewals. Commission Chair Spencer said, ”We have negotiated a solid agreement with Iron Wolf. We and our attorney reached agreement with the company on certain changes, which they now want to revise again. Our position now is they accept the lease as negotiated or move on to another location.”
The Commission appointed three of the five members of the “Greenethumb Farmers’ Initiative Improvement District Board, to help secure additional financing for a medical marijuana raising project, licensed to George Poindexter, a Black entrepreneur, who has begun operations in the northern part of the county. Sandra Walker was appointed for District 1, McDaniel Garner for District 4 and Kashaya Cockrell for District 5. The Commissioners for Districts 2 and 3 were not ready yet to make appointments. The new board will be installed and instructed by County Attorney, Mike Parnell, as to their duties and responsibilities in the near future.
A financial report was submitted by Brenda Burke, which shows a total of $ 10,208,675 in funds in banks. In Citizens Trust Bank has $4,608,845 in restricted funds and $1,204,745 in unrestricted funds in the county’s General Fund. Merchants and Farmers Bank, has $2,726,113 in restricted funds and $1,768,971 in unrestricted funds, which are Bingo funds in a General Fund account. The County also has $1,901,066 in Certificates of Deposit in several banks as an investment reserve.
During the month of August 2025, the County paid out $1,346,098 in claims plus $191,254 in electronic claims for a total of $1,537,352 for payroll, materials, ongoing road projects and a contract with Rebasco Decorators to repairs the flooring in the William M. Branch County Courthouse.