At the regular meeting of the Greene County Commission, various roads and  what to do with  them was the main topic of discussion.

At the beginning of the meeting,  CFO Paula Bird advised the commissioners that as of the end of July,  the county had $2,184,000 in various banks. Some of this money was  restricted to specific  projects.

The expenditures for July amounted to $955,432. Payroll for the  month was $292,173, which included three payrolls.

The County received $69,741 from bingo distribution in July.

“We do have enough funding to end  the  year in the black,” said  Bird.

In other business, the commission:

*Heard a report from County Engineer  Arzo Abrams.  He told them  that  Hwy. 20 will be fixed  with ATRIP funding and that Hwys. 141 and 50 will be paved with federal matching  funds;

*Approved  repairing the air conditioning unit at the county jail;

*Approved  a discount dental plan for employees;

*Approved for Commissioners, the County Engineer and Asst.  Engineer  to attend the ACCA Conference in Perdido Beach August 21-23.

*Approved  an application for  ATRIP funding for County Roads 208  and 72  and the bridge on County Road 120;

*Considered how to handle County Roads 86, 148, 138, 78 and 120. According to Abrams, they cannot completely  abandon the roads, and will continue maintaining  them to a certain status to retain their federal funding.

Commissioner Elzora Fluker said  that CR 148 had not been worked on in 15 years and there are houses  on the lower part of the road. “School  buses  have  to use this  road,” she said.

Abrams said that all of the roads he previously mentioned were what is called “minor collector roads”  and that  is  an  “argument  point” with ATRIP.

Commissioner Nick Underwood said that the rural counties were outnumbered by one vote on the commission that votes on road funding.

However, Abrams said the  roads in discussion were  actually constructed using federal funds and that was a point in the  county’s favor.  It was finally decided that  the commission would have a work session soon about the roads.

*County  Road 20 from CR 131 to  CR 117 will be resurfaced, but Abrams  said the Department of Transportation (DOT) wanted  it done in two parts.

*Budget amendments in the Gasoline Fund and the Nutrition Fund were approved.

*Rhonda  French was hired  as Accounts Payable Clerk.

In the  public comment segment of the meeting, citizens  brought up several concerns, including:

*One man asked why the  tree  limbing machine only cut one mile  in two months.  According to  policy, the commissioners cannot answer any question brought out in the  public comment section of a regular or called meeting. Chairman  Underwood asked that this policy be abandoned in the next  public meeting and treat it more like a  town hall meeting where there  can be interaction  between the  elected officials and  the public.

County Attorney Hank Sanders said he knew  of  no reason this could not be done.

It was finally decided that  this could be  done after the regular meeting is  adjourned.

*Shirley Winn asked why ATRIP funds could not be used to fix the  roads in Branch Heights.