In a specially called telephone conference call on Monday, June 29, 2020, the Greene County Commission adopted a resolution requiring people to wear face coverings, when they are in public settings, in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
The resolution is a response to the continuing rise in coronavirus cases in the state and in Greene County. During the month of June, cases in the State of Alabama rose from 18,000 to over 37,000 with deaths increasing from 653 to 986.
In Greene County cases increased from 95 with 4 deaths to 164 with 7 deaths.
The County’s resolution which goes into effect at 5:00 PM on Wednesday, July 1, 2020 and continues indefinitely until changed by the Commission, has some exceptions. You do not need to wear a mask at home, driving in your car, and when you are outdoors, with less than ten people, who are socially distancing, by at least six feet.
The County’s resolution as contrasted with the City of Eutaw’s ordinance, has no enforcement provisions or penalty for non-compliance. The Eutaw ordinance has a warning ticket for the first offense and a $25 fine for each additional violation.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the nation’s Federal health agency strongly encourages the wearing of face coverings – masks, when people are in public settings as a preventive measure to stop the spread the highly contagious novel coronavirus.
The City’s ordinance is printed in full in our Legal Advertisement section.
According to Commissioner Chair, Allen Turner, the County Commission declined to run their full resolution as a Legal Advertisement.
Commission reaches partial agreement with Sheriff Benison on budget shortfall
The Greene County Commission held two recessed meetings in the past two weeks to discuss the budget shortfall in the Sheriff’s account for personnel and operations. These meetings were held in Executive Session, behind closed doors because they involve legal matters and the name and character of individual employees. After the Executive Sessions, Commission Chair Allen Turner informed the public that no formal official votes were taken to resolve the matters under discussion in the private sessions.
The Greene County Democrat was provided with an exchange of letters between the Greene County Commission and Sheriff Joe Benison on the status of the Sheriff’s Department budget. In prior discussions and negotiations, the Sheriff had agreed to pay supplementary funds to support the employment of staff positions for deputies and jailers beyond the amounts contained in the basic Commission budget for 2019-2020 fiscal year, which began on October 1, 2019.
In its June 23, 2020 letter to the Sheriff, the Greene County Commission indicates that the Sheriff has, as of June 2020, spent all but 9% of budgeted funds for personnel and that there are no other funds that can be transferred to this line item. The County has continued to pay all of the Sheriff’s staff under a prior agreement that the Sheriff would reimburse the county, presumably from electronic bingo fees earned by the Sheriff. The Sheriff has not paid the agreed upon amounts.
In the letter, the Commission states for the six months, January to June 2020, the Sheriff has paid $381,264 of $ 759,303 owed for additional staff above the budgeted number. The Commission also requests immediate payment of two pay periods, at $41,473.10 per pay period, for salaries – $82,964.20; and an additional $100,000 to replenish other budget items that have been depleted to pay staff to date. The Commission also requests payment of $163,000 monthly, starting July 1, as provided in its original agreement with the Sheriff. The Commission says in its letter if the required payments are not made, then reductions in staffing will be implemented.
In his letter of June 25, 2020, Sheriff Benison responds to the County Commission by saying that events, more specifically the COVID-19 pandemic, which interrupted electronic bingo from mid-March to mid June, have occurred, which make it impossible for the Sheriff’s Department to meet its commitments under the original September 2019 agreement.
The Sheriff requests that the 2019 contract be declared null and void, canceling his $ 378,039 debt to the county because of the unforeseen circumstances of COVID-19. The Sheriff agrees to pay $41,473.10, for each two week payroll, starting now and each two weeks following. He also agrees to pay the County Commission $104,973 in bingo fees for the month of July and as much as $135,363 in ensuing months. Under the Sheriff’s bingo rules, the Commission is entitled to these funds, when bingo is operational. The Commission has budgeted these funds for a match fund for Federal and State road and bridge projects.The Sheriff seems to be suggesting that the Commission use these funds to make up the deficit in his operational budget. The Sheriff also requests that there be no layoffs in staff for this fiscal year period.
The Sheriff and the County Commission discussed the issues in their respective letters behind closed doors in the Executive Session. They were not able to reach a full resolution of the issues. The County Commission was unwilling to release the Sheriff from his obligations under the original contract and still holds him responsible for the $378,039 debt.
We have learned that the Sheriff gave the Greene County Commission, two checks for $41,473.10 each, to cover the current and next upcoming payroll and promised to bring additional funds in July, towards his share of the Sheriff’s Department budget. This partial solution averted the layoffs of any Sheriff’s Department staff.
In his letter, the Sheriff also indicates that if circumstances force electronic bingo in the county to close again that he would be unable to meet his financial obligations to the county.