TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2005
PRESENT: ROBERT l. BAILEY, PRESIDENT
NANCY CARTMILL, COMMISSIONER
W. SCOTT BIAS, COMMISSIONER
GLENN WHITE, COUNTY MANAGER
SHARON ROSS, ASSISTANT COUNTY
MANAGER
FOR BILLABLES AND PAYABLES
Robert L. Bailey, President, called the Special Meeting of the County Commission to order at 9:00 a.m.
COUNTY OFFICEHOLDERS
Chris Chiles, Prosecuting Attorney, stated he was requesting the same budget as his 2004/2005 budget.
Robert L. Bailey, President, asked Mr. Chiles that if an employee would retire or quit, would Mr. Chiles need to fill that position or could he divide that money for pay increases among his employees.
Mr. Chiles replied that he had thought about that several times and on one occasion had divided the salary between his employees.
President Bailey stated that was one way the Officeholders could give raises, however, the Officeholders must be sure they would not need that position filled because they would not be able to come back to the Commission requesting to fill that position.
Glenn White, County Manager, explained Mr. Chiles’s budget showed a $9,000 increase in the salary line item and he and Mr. Chiles would look over and recalculate that before the budget would be submitted.
President Bailey stated Mr. Chiles was asking for $11,900.00 more then last year’s budget.
W. Scott Bias, Commission, asked about the increase in the capital outlay line item. Mr. Chiles stated there were problems with his zerox machine and that his office manager was looking at purchasing a new machine.
Nancy Cartmill, Commissioner, asked why there was an increase in the travel line item. Mr. Chiles stated that the cost for the conferences his employees needed to attend had increased along with the cost of training.
Mr. Chiles informed the Commission he could live with the amount of the last year’s budget for 2005/2006.
TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2005
Robert L. Bailey, President, asked Mrs. Cole if she should find her office short one employee, could she work without that employee and divide that employee’s salary between the other employees in her office, with the understanding that the Commission would not fund that position again.
Mrs. Cole stated she could not do with one less employee as she was down to the bare essentials, especially with elections and vacations. Mrs. Cole further stated she had previously, when an employee left, divided that employee’s salary among her employees, however, she could not do so again.
Glenn White, County Manager, stated when he ran the base pay work sheet on Mrs. Cole’s proposal, it was exactly as it should have been.
Mr. White went on to say that Mrs. Cole was asking the same in the 2005/2006 budget as was in her 2004/2005 budget, with the exception of an increases in workers’ compensation and longevity.
Mrs. Cole stated that in her cover letter she had listed several items her office needed if money could be found. Mrs. Cole informed the Commission that her office was completely out of space for all the documents that must be kept.
Mr. White stated it was possible that some of the items could be purchased on a lease purchase agreement.
Mrs. Cole stated if the Legislature would change the retention schedule on some of the documents it would help relieve some of the storage problems in her office.
Mrs. Cole informed the Commission they needed to be thinking about the voting system and what the county would need to comply with the HAVA laws. Mrs. Cole said hopefully the Secretary of State would be assisting with some of that cost.
Robert L. Bailey, President recessed the meeting at 9:58 a.m.
Robert L. Bailey, President, reconvened the meeting at 10:03 a.m.
The Commission and Mrs. Cole discussed the line item regarding elections which included the rental of the precincts and the amount of over-time it takes to put on an election.
Robert L. Bailey, President, asked Ms. Chandler if she had an employee quit could she do without that employee and divide the salary between the other employees, knowing that the Commission would not approve hiring another employee.
Adell Chandler, Circuit Clerk, stated she had previously given raises when an employee left because she did not have the space for another employee. Ms. Chandler also said that at that time the judges had informed her they believed her salaries to be low, so she gave the raises. Ms. Chandler stated she believed that the salaries in her office may still be too low and with the problems with the jail it was hard to keep employees.
Ms. Chandler stated that she needed more storage space and was looking into having the Maintenance Department build shelves in her basement, instead of purchasing the shelves, in order to save money.
Ms. Chandler informed the Commission that the Supreme Court would be purchasing a computer system for her office and since she would have money left over from her record books she would like to purchase pc’s for her office.
Nancy Cartmill, Commissioner, asked what the $900.00 increase was in Salaries and Wages and Ms. Chandler replied it was longevity.
Robert L. Bailey, President, asked Mr. Adkins if he would have an employee leave, would Mr. Adkins take that salary and divide it between the other employees with the understanding Commission would not approve hiring an employee to fill that position.
Mr. Adkins stated he understood and he was very lucky in the fact his office did not have employee turnover.
Mr. Adkins stated his budget was almost the same except for two items. Mr. Adkins said the first item was an increase in his gasoline line and the second item, due to deadlines set by the state on certifications, there was an increase in the over-time. Mr. Adkins stated he gave accumulative time when possible.
President Bailey stated the Commission was asking all the departments, who provide cars for their employees to check to see if these expenses could be lowered.
Robert L. Bailey, President, recessed the meeting at 10:35 a.m.
Robert L. Bailey, President, reconvened the meeting at 10:55 a.m.
Robert L. Bailey, President, asked Sheriff Wolfe if he understood that if he had a vacancy in one of his departments, he could take that money and give raises to the other employees, with the understanding that he could not come back to the Commission for approval in hiring another employee for that position.
Sheriff Wolfe replied stated he understood.
Glenn White, County Manager, informed the Commission he had not been able to go over the budgets of the Sheriff as well as he would have liked, due to having received the budgets after the statutory deadline.
Sheriff Wolfe stated he had basically asked for what he had operated on last year, however, he had requested the standard raises as he does every year.
President Bailey asked Sheriff Wolfe to explain the $16,730.00 increase in the salary line item and Sheriff Wolfe said he thought it was for longevity, Chief Tax Deputy, Tom Bell, stated it was for a 7% salary increase and Deputy George Kaiser stated it was for a new employee in the Tax Department to help with the Committee Accounts.
Mr. Bell stated the Tax Department was requesting that contractual services, in the amount of $50,000.00, be budgeted under the Tax Department instead of the Commission’s budget. Mr. Bell went on to say this was for the attorney who collected the delinquent accounts, worked on the bankruptcies and prepared the documents on the deceased estates for the Tax Department.
President Bailey stated the Sheriff had requested $1,500 more in personal services and contractual services and $20,000 in capital outlay equipment. Mr. Bell said that was for upgrading equipment in the department.
President Bailey stated there was an overall increase of $97,653 in the 2005/2006 budget for the Tax Department.
George Kaiser, Deputy Sheriff, spoke with the Commission on the Law Enforcement Budget.
Deputy Kaiser stated that in the new budget there was an increase in personal services for training and education and an increase in contractual services for gasoline, due to the increase of mental orders.
The Commission and the Sheriff discussed several issues regarding the retirement of Deputies, which would require revising in the uniform line. They also discussed a modem for the Field Office, county cars that were being taken home and an increase for NCIC and the FCC License.
TUESDAY, MARCH 8, 2005
PAGE FIVE
President Bailey stated the overall increase for the Law Enforcement budget was $271,575.00.
Wolfe and Mr. White discussed the Process Server’s budget, which would need a revision if more revenue actually came in then had been placed in the budget.
Sheriff Wolfe stated that the $16,000 increase in Courthouse Security would be a salary increase of a $1.00 per hour for the security guards bringing their salaries to $11.00 per hour and a 5% salary increase for the Director.
There was a discussion on the reduction of personal services regarding workers’ compensation and Mr. White replied that would need to be reviewed.
President Bailey asked why the increase in training and education and Frank Simpson, Courthouse Security Director, replied that it would be for training in firearms and the operation of equipment.
President Bailey stated that the overall increase in the Courthouse Security budget would be $18,686, excluding the workers’ compensation increase.
Sheriff Wolfe stated that the Home Confinement budget was hard to do because they did not know how many people the courts would have on home confinement for the future.
Oscar Adkins, Home Confinement Director, stated that in the total capital outlay line item there would be an increase of $35,818 to purchase 100 monitoring units.
Mr. Adkins went on to say that an increase in the telephone line item of $14,216 was due to calls out of state.
Mr. Adkins stated there were no increases requested in printing or maintenance and due to the training being done locally there was a decrease in the training line item. Mr. Adkins further stated there was also a decrease in contractual services by $747.
Mr. Adkins stated that there was an increase in the gasoline line item of $5,400.
Tom Bell, Chief Tax Deputy, informed the Commission that the cost of certified mail and the cost of legal advertisements in the newspaper were very hard on the Sheriff’s Department.
President Bailey recessed the meeting at 12:20 p.m.
President Bailey reconvened the meeting at 12:25 p.m.
Nancy Cartmill, Commissioner, moved to adjourn the meeting. Robert L. Bailey, President, seconded the motion and the vote was unanimous.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:26 p.m.
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PRESIDENT, COUNTY COMMISSION
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