At its regular meeting on May 14, 2012, the Greene County Commission handled routine business. The Commission dealt with finances, leases, purchasing needed equipment and appointed two boards to deal with emergency planning and ambulance services for county residents.

Paula Byrd, County Financial Officer, reported on county finances. She reported that the County had $1,344,824 on deposit with Citizens Trust Bank, $631,174 at Merchants and Farmers Bank, and $118, 790 on deposit with the Bank of New York, in relation to county bond issues. The total of funds is a little more than $2 million.

She also reported that $462,442.88 was needed to pay claims for April, including $149,999 for the General Fund. Approval to pay current claims was granted by the Commission. She also indicated that $500,000 from bingo proceeds was being set aside to match Federal funds for road and infrastructure projects which would extend and leverage these funds.

The Commission approved a letter to the Greene County Industrial Development Authority writing off 17 years of health insurance changes for employees to offset a $143,000 loan from the GCIDA which the Authority will remove from their balance sheet upon receipt of the letter. The GCIDA has been reimbursing the County Commission for insurance charges since October 2011.

The Commission reviewed and approved a lease between the Commission and Rock-Tenn Converting Company for the old Elocin Apparel Building. Rock-Tenn will pay $1.25 per square foot, for 3,125 square feet of space, for a total annual lease payment of $37,500. The company has the right to renew the lease three times based on a negotiation on the lease rate at each renewal. The company is also responsible for repairs, improvements and maintenance.A request by Two Rivers Subdivision residents for the County to maintain their roads was rejected by a three to two vote, with Commissioners Tennyson Smith, Allen Turner Jr. and Elzora Fluker voting against; while Marvin Childs and William “Nick” Underwood voted for this motion. Turner said, “We have too many roads in this county to maintain already and we don’t want to open Pandora’s box by agreeing to fix this one until we can fix them all.”

The Commission approved purchasing two medium duty bush-hogs, from the state bid list, for the mowing season and a cooling fan for the Highway Repair Shop from the Capital Improvement Fund. These items were requested by Arzo Abrams, County Engineer. 

The Commission appointed members of a Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC), whose job will be to prepare a plan for responding to hazardous materials being used or passing through the county. The members appointed are: James E. Morrow, Boligee City Council member; Ms. Willie E. Austin, volunteer fire fighter,  Derick Coleman, Eutaw Chief of Police; Mark Chustz, Hospital Administrator; Arzo Abrams, County Engineer; Sheriff Jonathan Bennison or his designee; and community representatives: George Hall, Ms. Mary Kline including  and Corey Cockrell.

The Commission has two more positions available on the LEPC board which should be appointed from industries within the county.

The EMS Board which oversees the operation of the county ambulance service was also appointed. The members selected are: Walter Staples of Boligee, Alma Turner of Eutaw, Dora Armstead of Forkland, and Ardelia Colvin of Union, who will join Roy Jines and Mark Chustz,  who are already serving.

At the end of the meeting, Commissioner Marvin Childs voiced concern about the 3 mill tax, proposed for a vote in November, to build a new high school. Childs said, “My daughter came from school with a torn up textbook; and I am wondering what good it will be to vote for a tax for a new school when the books our children are getting are insufficient for learning.”

Several Commissioners responded to Childs saying that the Commission had already voted to have our legislative delegation push for local legislation to place this issue on the ballot for voters to decide in November 2012.

School Board member, Lester Brown, who was in the audience, said the tax was needed to build a new school and that textbooks came from a different fund. “If we pull together in Greene County, we will have the best schools,” said Brown in response to Childs.