The Limestone County Commission approved a $600,000 allocation from the county’s ARPA funds for mental health services. The commission voted unanimously to provide financial assistance to the Mental Health Center of North Central Alabama (MHCNCA) for the construction of a new mental health facility for children.
According to County Administrator Ellen Morell, the facility will be located on “the existing MHCNCA property in Athens.” The plan is for a one-story facility with a professional office type occupancy with 3,500 to 4,500 square feet.
Look for a full story in The News Courier in next Wednesday’s edition.
The commission also made budget revisions due to rising fuel costs. “As you all know, fuel costs and energy costs have skyrocketed. If we’re going to provide a service, the cost of fuel is one of those things. We can’t help but control this,” President Collin Daly said.
The adjustments total $109,000 and include the following departments.
• Commission: $8,000
• Sheriff’s Office – $75,000
• Jail – $8,000
• Coroner – $2,000
• Animal Control – $4,800
• Advice on aging – $8,500
• Trash Patrol – $1,500
• District 1 – $22,000
• District 2 – $10,000
• Borough 3 – $20,000
• District 4 – $57,000
During the committee’s working session, the subject of recycling caused moments of tension. The commission discussed adding a recycling department and then hiring a recycling specialist at pay grade 17. The recent closure of the Limestone County Recycling Center drew cries from some members of the community to solve the problem.
“We don’t need to get into the details too quickly,” District 3 Commissioner Jason Black said. “Let’s make sure we have all our ducks in a row or all our squirrels in a cage, or whatever you might want to put it; don’t bite off more than we can chew because we don’t know what’s next.
Black pointed out that his opposition to the creation of a new department has nothing to do with his feelings on recycling. “It’s nothing personal and has nothing to do with recycling. I’m all for recycling, but it’s just something I think we need to chew on a bit. … We haven’t gotten the calls yet from people who think it’s a bad idea.
“The only plan I can see us moving forward with is with the same amount of money we’ve already allocated. We own the trailers and the vehicles on them,” Daly said. is, let’s start small and if it gets bigger, it gets bigger. If not. … that’s (the) best option I can offer today.
To give time to collect more figures and information, the commission agreed to table the subject and discuss it further at the next meeting.
The committee also approved the following business items.
Contracts, agreements and grants
• Enter into a service agreement with TriHaz Solutions to ensure disposal of regulated medical waste.
Personnel, Policy and Staffing Actions
• Hire Mason Billions and Wayne Adomyetz as temporary part-time facility and grounds workers, effective July 5, 2022, pending drug testing.
• Transfer Erin Tyler from Revenue Clerk to Assessment Clerk in the Revenue Committee office.
• Hire Elijah Walley as an assistant patrol officer, effective July 5, 2022, pending a drug test.
• Promote Rachel Hale from administrative clerk, 9th year, to title clerk, 10th year, in the office of the Licensing Commission.
• Promote Audrey Kilpatrick from Tag and Tile Clerk, Grade 10, to Senior Tag and Title Clerk, Grade 11, in the Licensing Board office.
• Amend the staffing plan to remove an Administrative Clerk, Grade 9, and add a Help Desk Clerk, Grade 9, reporting to the Licensing Commissioner.
• Approved job description for Help Desk Clerk for the Licensing Board office.
• Transfer Shelly Posey from correctional officer to correctional corporal, effective July 5, 2022.
• Transfer Jimmy Flynt from part-time School Resource Officer to part-time Courthouse Security, effective July 5, 2022.
• Transfer Christian Frasier from Assistant assigned to Investigations to Investigator, effective July 5, 2022.
• Hire Onus Gunes as a correctional officer effective July 5, 2022, pending drug screening.
Engineer’s report
• Final approval for Phase 2 of the Jones Spring Subdivision, a major subdivision consisting of 32 lots in District 2 located north of Pepper Road on the west side of Jones Road.
• Preliminary approval for Southern Gayles Estates, a large subdivision consisting of 33 lots in District 1 located on the south side of Bain Road, approximately ½ mile west of Mooresville Road.
other business
• Remove 2006 District 3 Freightliner MZ 112 Low Bed Tractor from inventory.
After concluding the agenda business, the committee met in an executive action to discuss a personnel matter with no subsequent action taken. The next meeting of the Limestone County Commission on Monday, July 18 at 9 a.m.