Public Comments
Opening up the first meeting of the new decade, three residents came to speak to the Commission about the roads they live on. One individual from Green Pond said that his road had been graded off and he was told there were no plans to repave it, but it would be left as dirt. Currently the dirt has deteriorated because of the rain, he said, creating a dangerous condition for the school bus and others.
Two other residents came to speak about their roads in Brent, both of which had serious pothole problems, they said.
Commission Chairman Rodney Stabler informed the residents that because of addressing the Commission in the Public Comment forum instead of being placed on the agenda, the Commissioners were not allowed to reply to them. He did, however, request that County Commissioner Jeff McKinney speak with the residents after the meeting to determine what could be done about their issues.
Formalities
Commissioners – less Keefe Burt, who was absent – approved the minutes of the previous meeting on December 9, 2019. They also approved a reimbursement for registrar health insurance, and approved an Alabama County Commission Association Self Insurance Liability Fund Resolution, which is a program the Commission already participates in and they simply needed to renew.
Also voted on was the approval for the Chairman to approve expenditures, which must be renewed annually as well.
EMS, Asbestos, and More
The Commission approved distribution of funds in the amount of $10,801.95 to EMS and Ambulance services for the month of November, 2019. Commissioner Holdsambeck asked if this would be partially distributed to Green Pond F&R EMS, to which the answer was no, only AmServ.
Mak Environmental has submitted an invoice of $11,700 regarding asbestos services in the old probate annex building. Having already been a part of the budget for the project, Commissioners approved this to be paid.
Year end financials for the County were prepared by Rutledge & Associates C.P.A. firm, which submitted an invoice for $4,200, approved by the Commission.
Educating our County administration employees with annual seminars brings a bill of $185 plus travel expense for each of three employees that will attend a program in Prattville in a few months.
County Engineer Jeff McKinney asked the Commission to approve payment of approximately $3,200 for a power pole by Hebron Baptist Church that was recently accidentally destroyed by a piece of road equipment.
Additionally, the road department requested payment of the second invoice to BKI for work on Coldwater Road. This invoice of almost $19,000 is still part of the $50,000 estimate to be paid to BKI.
McKinney also asked that the Commission approve roughly $5,000 in repairs to the GradeAll machine that sees regular and important usage by the county road department. Commissioner James Kelly asked for a figure on how much we had spent repairing the GradeAll, and wondered if it would be more efficient to purchase a smaller machine to take care of smaller tasks, so as not to overuse the expensive GradeAll. McKinney said he was open to the idea, and with some equipment due to be paid off this year, funds would be freed up to look into that possibility.
Emergency Management after the Storm
County EMA Director Kirk Smith said that Saturday’s storm left 33+ trees downed around the county, and expressed his appreciation to all first responders who helped to clear roads and debris, including County Commissioners Rodney Stabler and Charles Caddell who operated chainsaws themselves Saturday afternoon.
Smith mentioned that an inspector who had given the County Jail low marks and a list of issues to address previously had recently returned and found himself impressed by the improvements made by the Chief Jailer and others. According to Smith, the inspector requested that he be allowed to bring other Chief Jailers there to see how Bibb County is operating now, as a good example.
Smith requested that the Commission allow him to attend a CEU seminar in Prattville at the end of this month called Disaster 101. He also requested they allow him to travel to Pickens County this Thursday to help their County EMA Director (a single person operation as ours is) to handle the buildup of paperwork and anything else needed. Pickens which took the brunt of Saturday’s storm with tornado damage.
Special Program Announcements
A Hazard Mitigation Planning Committee will meet January 23rd at 1:30pm at the Bibb County Commission Building to update the plans for our region. The public is invited to attend and participate in the discussion.
An Active Shooter Training program by Chance Corbett from Auburn University will take place at the Bibb County Board of Education on February 6th from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. All schools and office personnel as well as churches are invited to attend. The training is free of charge.
Any questions regarding these programs can be addressed to EMA Director Kirk Smith.
