Tag Archives: Brenda Burke

Greene County Commission holds organizational meeting

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Corey Cockrell

Garria Spencer

The newly elected Greene County Commission met on November 16, 2022, at the William M. Branch Courthouse for its organizational meeting.
All commissioners were present, including Garria Spencer-District 1, Tennyson Smith-District 2, Corey Cockrell – District 3, Allen Turner – District 4 and Roshanda Summerville – District 5.

Allen Turner, the current Commission Chair turned over the meeting to the attorney to conduct the election for officers. Spencer nominated Tennyson Smith and Summerville nominated Corey Cockrell for Chairperson of the Commission. Corey Cockrell was selected Chair by three votes (Summerville, Cockrell and Turner) to two votes for Smith.

For Vice Chair, Spencer and Summerville were nominated. Garria Spencer received three votes (Smith, Spencer, and Turner) to two votes for Summerville, and was elected Vice Chair. Committees will remain the same, although Turner and Cockrell will switch out their committee assignments.

The Commission agreed to meet on the second Monday of each month at 5:00PM and to hold a work session to hear reports and develop the Commission meeting agenda on the Wednesday, before the second Monday at 5:00 PM. The group agreed to use Robert’s Rules of Order to conduct business.

The Commission will maintain bank accounts with Citizens Trust Bank and Merchants and Farmers Bank, with the Chair, Vice-Chair, CFO-Mac Underwood and County Administrator, Brenda Burke as signatories.

Mac Underwood gave a financial report for the Commission as of October 31, 2022, the first month of the fiscal year, 2022-23. The report showed $6.9 million in Citizens Trust Bank and $3.9 million in Merchants and Farmers, and $872,063 in Bond Sinking Funds. Commissioner Turner asked the CFO to distinguish between restricted and unrestricted funds so that the Commissioners and the public will know that all these funds are not available for discretionary expenditure and only a small amount of funds are not budgeted or required to be spent for specific purposes.

The report also showed that the County Commission spent $1,241,663 for operations during October including $703,850 for Rebuild Alabama road and bridges expenses paid by the State of Alabama. The expenditure report showed the county general fund and agencies had remaining funds in their budget within the range of 90 to 96%, which means that their spending was in conformity with the budget, that allows for 92% of funds to remain for use later in the fiscal year.

In the Public Comments section of the meeting, Mrs. Marilyn Gibson, the Chief Librarian, requested assistance from the Commission to fix a leaking roof, which was endangering the books in the library. “The Commission covers the expenses of the library, including insurance. We had the insurance adjusters to come and look at the damages, but we have not received the report, and we need to fix the roof,” said Ms. Gibson.

Carrie Logan, representing the Eutaw Chamber of Commerce said that the Chamber had secured the Stillman College Band for the Eutaw Christmas parade, however $1,600 was needed to pay for three buses to transport the band members to march and play in the parade. Logan asked for assistance from the Commission toward this expense.

Joe Powell, Chair of the Greene County EMS Board, thanked the Commission for helping the ambulance service meet its financial obligations, including payroll, for the past three months. Powell asked the Commission to attend a meeting with the municipalities and other agencies seeking the long-term viability of the ambulance service for Greene County.

Greene County Commission and affiliated county agencies declare Coronavirus Emergency

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Shown L to R: Commissioner Tennyson Smith, Iris Sermon of E911, Commissioner Lester Brown, Lorenzo French of Eutaw Housing Authority, Commissioner Allen Turner, Superintendent Dr. Corey Jones, Dr. Marcia Pugh of Greene County Health Services, Commissioner Roshanda Summerville, Eutaw Mayor Raymond Steele, LaTasha Johnson and Joe Lee Powell of the Eutaw City Council, Commissioner Corey Cockrell and Anita Lewis of the Housing Authority of Greene County.

The Greene County Commission held an emergency meeting last night at the William M. Branch Courthouse to discuss the impact of the coronavirus pandemic in Greene County. The Commission was concerned to bring its response to the virus in compliance with Federal and state directives to manage the crisis.
The Commission heard reports from county agencies and related county services on their responses to the pandemic.
At the end of the meeting, the County Commission approved a resolution giving Allen Turner, Chairperson of the Commission, discretionary authority to close or reduce the services and hours of service of County facilities and staff for the period from March 19 to April 19, 2020.
Brenda Burke, County Administrator, announced that the Greene County Courthouse would be closed this week on Thursday and Friday (March 19 and 20, 2020) for deep cleaning. She also said all court activities, license tag renewals; driver’s license tests would be suspended until April 16, 2020, with no late fees or penalties.
She indicated that the Greene County Courthouse would reopen next week for critical business but urged residents to postpone routine business until the emergency subsidizes and conduct business by phone or email in the interim period.
“We may have to open only for limited hours and stop people at the front door to be sure that they need to come through the building,” said Commissioner Turner.
They indicated that the offices in the Courthouse would be open and have staff to respond to problems and concerns. Prior to this morning’s announcement that the Republican Primary Runoff is postponed from March 31 to July 14, Turner said the Circuit Clerk would check the mail daily for absentee ballots and other correspondence relative to the election.
Superintendent Corey Jones of the Greene County Board of Education said the schools were out this week for Spring Break and that the Governor had closed the schools through April 6. “There is a strong possibility that the schools may be closed for the rest of the semester,” said Jones.
The Superintendent indicated that the teachers were preparing lessons and educational materials for the students to work on while they were at home. He also said that the Board of Education had received a waiver from the Federal government to continue to provide school breakfasts and lunches to the students. “We are working on a plan to provide nutritious food for our children, starting next week. This will include delivery of meals to selected sites around the county where it will be easier to distribute the food or have families to pick up the food from community centers, fire stations and other locations,” said Jones.
Dr. Marcia Pugh, Administrator of the Greene County Health System said the county’s critical health facilities would remain open. “We are restricting entrance to the facility to the front door, where we have a temperature check and a short survey of health symptoms to make sure that people who may have the coronavirus are not allowed access to our other patients and nursing home residents. We are not allowing visitors into the Nursing Home as a protection for the residents, however we have cell phones available for virtual ‘face-time’ visits, said Dr. Pugh.
Dr. Pugh also indicated that if you have ‘flu-like symptoms’ call ahead to make an appointment at the Greene County Physicians Clinic. “We can refer you for testing to the drive through testing at DCH in Tuscaloosa or Bryan-Whitfield Hospital in Demopolis, to help you,” she said.
Mayor Raymond Steele said the City Hall would be open to provide essential services to the city residents. “We closed the Carver School Gym and programs, use of the National Guard Armory but City Hall will be open and our staff will be ready to main the water, sewer and other essential services,” said Steele.
Iris Sermon with Greene County 911 urged people not to panic and work on maintaining social distance of at least 6 feet from other people to prevent spreading the virus. She also gave a toll free phone number: 1-888-264-2256, to get information on testing and testing sites.
Anita Lewis, Director of the Greene County Housing Authority, said she was keeping her office open to serve the residents of Branch Heights and King Village. “My greatest concern is for the welfare of the 344 children who live in these housing developments, making sure they are safe, getting nutritious food and engaging in meaningful learning activities, without congregating in large groups to fuel spreading the virus.
Lorenzo French, Chair of the Board of the City of Eutaw Housing Authority asked for help in securing hand sanitizer, wipes and other necessary supplies for residents.
Attending this meeting it was clear that although there are currently no confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Greene County and 39 confirmed cases statewide that this is a growing problem that Greene County residents must be aware of and make plans to combat.