The Greene County Commission held its regular meeting on Monday July 8, 2019 at 6:00 PM at the William B. Branch Courthouse. Four of the five commissioners were present, Ms. Roshonda Summerville was absent.
The Commission voted to approve sale of the Forkland Park to the Town of Forkland for fair market value. In the public comments section, Joe Tuck, Forkland City Council member said, “ On behalf of the Town of Forkland, we want to thank the Commissioners for agreeing to sell us the Forkland Park. We intend to do a good job in fixing up and running the park for the people in and around Forkland.”
Mayor Charlie McAlpine of Forkland, who also attended the Commission meeting, said to this reporter at the end of the meeting, “We will work with the Commission, to get an appraisal of the park, so we can establish the fair market value and complete the purchase for the residents.”
The Commission received a financial report for the month of June 2019, from CFO Paula Bird, which showed bank deposits of $5,734,247 in local banks and $933,776 in sinking funds for bond payment and $955,253 in other bond funds in the Bank of New York. Bond funds were used to build the Courthouse and jail.
Ms. Bird also explained that we were at the 75% point in the Commission’s fiscal year and most agencies spending were within this range. Those agencies with spending more than 75% of their budgets had clear explanations for the over spending. Commissioner Brown warned that if the Sheriff’s Department had overtime exceeding its budget then other budgetary adjustments would need to be made within the limits of the total budget.
Ms. Bird reported that $566,992 in claims had been paid for the month of June and an additional $76,466 had been paid in electronic payments on obligations.
The Commission allowed the County Engineer to solicit bids for temperature control at the Courthouse; advertise and hire a driver for the solid waste department; and approved travel for the Engineer and Assistant Engineer to attend conferences and training.In other business, the Commission approved:
• re-appointment of Reginald Spencer to the E-911 Board;

• tabled appointment to the Hospital Board for District 2;

• request from the
Society of Folk Arts and Culture for use of the
Courthouse bathrooms for the Black Belt Folk
Roots Festival on August 24 and 25, 2019; and

• report from the Revenue Commissioner correcting the 2018 tax collection data.

The Greene County Commission recessed the meeting until July 17, 2019 at 3:45 PM. Several items discussed in the July 3, 2019 Commission Work Session were not discussed and may be the subject of the continuation meeting.
These items included an issue with the Sheriff saying he was not fully reimbursed by funds provided by the Board of Education for the cost of safety officers assigned to the schools and issues concerning the future of the Greene County Ambulance Service. The two main employees of the Ambulance Service announced to the Commission that they planned to retire on July 31 and arrangements will need to be made to keep the ambulance service in operation.