[3:06] Good morning and welcome to the Russell County Commission meeting for Wednesday,

[3:10] April 22nd, 2020. Thank everyone for being here. We're

[3:14] going to call this meeting to order. We're going to start off with an

[3:16] invocation led by Reverend Brady Barrett of the

[3:19] Seal United Methodist Church followed by the Pledge of Allegiance

[3:23] led by Glenwood student Finley Witcher. If you will please rise for the

[3:27] invocation and remain standing for the pledge.

[3:33] » Let us pray. Almighty and gracious God, we give you

[3:35] thanks for this place, this place we call Russell County. Give you thanks for

[3:40] all those who live and work here. Father, but today we especially give

[3:44] thanks for our children and for those who are rising in their education,

[3:48] preparing to graduate. Lord, we are so grateful for the many ways you have

[3:52] blessed us far beyond what we deserve. We ask now in this space that you would

[3:56] guide our hearts and our minds that we make would make [snorts] decisions that

[3:59] are in accordance with your work and will.

[4:02] And that Father, you would bind us together with your love. We ask all this

[4:06] in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.

[4:15] » Hello, my name is Finley Richard and I'm a senior at Glenwood High School.

[4:19] I'm here today with my government class. After high school, I plan to go to the

[4:22] University of West Georgia to study biology. Everyone please stand and face

[4:26] the flag. Attention, salute.

[4:29] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the

[4:34] republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

[4:41] justice for all.

[4:49] » All right, thank you Brady for being here today with us and uh Finley for

[4:52] doing the pledge. We really appreciate you uh taking the time to do that.

[4:56] Um I will say as we get started, I want to go ahead and recognize the crowd we

[5:00] have today. We have a large crowd. Um we have the senior class at Glenwood School

[5:04] here with Miss Griner. We really appreciate you being here and um coming

[5:07] to participate in the county's business this morning.

[5:10] Um hopefully you'll uh

[5:13] learn something, maybe want to be a commissioner one day or maybe be a

[5:16] senator or president or something else. So, uh we appreciate you having taken

[5:19] the time to be here. All right, um first up we have public

[5:23] comments. I do not believe anyone signed in for public comments. Did anyone miss

[5:26] the sign-in sheet and are wishing to speak today?

[5:31] All right, we'll move forward. Thank you.

[5:33] Reminder, please silence your phones and and be courteous to those that will be

[5:36] speaking in in the meeting today. Want to thank everyone for being here,

[5:38] especially those that made the meeting happen, especially our IT department and

[5:42] those that are um following us on Facebook and Facebook Live and other

[5:46] means as well and obviously Citizen and being for following our meetings. Um,

[5:51] welcome to all the elected officials, department heads, and especially our

[5:53] guests that are here today again. Um, we're going to establish a quorum

[5:56] this morning. We'll do that by calling the roll. Ms. Wright?

[5:59] » District [clears throat and snorts] 5, Daughtry.

[6:00] » Present. >> District 4, Reed.

[6:02] » Here. >> District 3, Costello.

[6:04] » Here. >> District 1, Lee.

[6:05] » Present. >> District 2, Chambers.

[6:07] » Here. >> District 7, Scruggs.

[6:09] » Here. >> District 6, Corbett.

[6:11] » Here. >> We have a quorum.

[6:12] » All right, we have established a quorum and our attorney, Hope Hicks, is with us

[6:15] today as well. Thank you, Hope. Uh, commissioners, the first as a

[6:18] reminder, our agenda that we're working off of today was approved at the work

[6:22] session on Monday night, April 19th. Um, if uh, that will be the agenda that we

[6:29] work off today. Uh, first off, um, we'll start with this agenda. We'll

[6:33] start off with the approval of the minutes for the April 8th,

[6:36] [clears throat] 2026 commission meeting.

[6:39] » Motion to approve. >> Motion by Commissioner Chambers.

[6:42] Is there a second? >> Second.

[6:43] » Seconded by Commissioner Reed. Any other discussion or comments?

[6:47] All those in favor signify by saying aye.

[6:48] » Aye. >> All opposed? All right, the minutes are

[6:51] approved. Thank you. Next up, we have uh,

[6:53] a proclamation approval for the Russell County High School track record for Ms.

[6:58] Camera Tony. Commissioner Scruggs. >> Uh, yes, sir. I would like to do a

[7:04] proclamation for Ms. Tony uh, at the next meeting uh, to

[7:10] uh, show where well, to kind of tell her that we appreciate the things that she

[7:16] did with uh, track.

[7:20] » All right. >> a form of a form of a motion?

[7:23] » I second the motion. >> All right, I have a motion by

[7:25] Commissioner Scruggs to approve a proclamation, seconded by Commissioner

[7:27] Costello. Any other comments or discussion?

[7:31] All those in favor signify by saying aye.

[7:33] » Aye. >> All opposed? Um, Commissioner Costello

[7:36] leaned in and said I had the date wrong on the agenda. Um, we approved it on the

[7:39] 20th. I think I think I don't know what I said, but

[7:41] » [clears throat] >> we'll go with the 20th.

[7:43] All right. Um nothing under discussion items this morning. We handled all that

[7:46] on Monday night. Uh we'll move on to the business items.

[7:51] The first one is the maximum meal reimbursement policy. This will be a

[7:54] second reading and will require action. Miss Wright?

[7:58] » Commissioners, effective May 1st, 2026, this policy established guidelines and

[8:03] county official employees for meal reimbursements incurred during approved

[8:07] business travel or work-related activities.

[8:10] Its goal is to ensure consistency, cost-effectiveness, and responsible use

[8:15] of the county commission funds. Employees may request meal reimbursement

[8:20] when traveling for approved business purposes if traveling more than 50 miles

[8:25] from home and being gone for more than 6 hours.

[8:28] Attending required off-site meetings, conferences, and training sessions. The

[8:33] following limits will be reviewed annually. For in-state travel, $75, tips

[8:38] included. For out-of-state travel, $100, tips included. Unused funds will not be

[8:44] transferred to the next day. A receipt for all food and beverage expenses must

[8:49] be submitted upon return from travel. The receipt must show the date along

[8:53] with the detailed purchases of the meal items and not just a total summary for

[8:57] the credit card or a cash receipt. If a county employee is traveling out of

[9:01] state for business and they believe the max the maximum daily meal reimbursement

[9:06] is not enough to cover the cost of food in the location where they're traveling

[9:09] to, the employee may request an exception to the daily maximum in

[9:14] writing to the department head prior to the travel and approved by the

[9:17] department head. It must be approved by the administrator.

[9:20] If a county official is traveling out of state for business and they believe the

[9:24] maximum daily reimbursement is not enough to cover the cost of food in the

[9:28] in the location they are traveling to, the official may request an exception to

[9:32] the daily maximum from the commission. This concludes the second reading.

[9:37] » Commissioners, you have heard the second reading. Is there a motion to approve?

[9:40] » A motion to approve. >> Second the motion.

[9:42] » Motion by Commissioner Reed, seconded by Commissioner Daughtry. Commissioner

[9:44] Reed. >> Mr. Chairman, call for a poll on this.

[9:47] » All right. Any other comments or discussion?

[9:49] Ms. Wright, will you please poll the commission?

[9:51] » District 5, Daughtry. >> Yes.

[9:53] » District 4, Reed. >> Yes.

[9:55] » District 3, Castello. >> Yes.

[9:57] » District 1, Lee. >> Yes.

[9:58] » District 2, Chambers. >> Yes.

[10:00] » District 7, Screws. >> Yes.

[10:01] » District 6, Corbett. >> Yes.

[10:03] » The vote passes. >> All right. That was unanimous.

[10:06] » All right. We'll move on to the next one, the request to take bids for roof

[10:09] replacement of the old post office old library located on 14th Street.

[10:15] Mr. Watson. >> Good morning, commissioners, chairman,

[10:18] uh vice chair. Uh maintenance is requesting the

[10:22] commission to uh accept bids to for the roof replacement at the old library post

[10:27] office that we own. Uh if so approved today, we'll run an ad

[10:31] in the local newspaper uh starting on 4:30 2026 until

[10:38] uh 5:14 2026. That's uh three consecutive weeks.

[10:43] Uh we're going to request a pre-bid meeting on 5:11 2026

[10:48] at 514 Street. Um and then we'll end all bids on 10:00

[10:55] a.m. 5:22 2026. Um

[10:59] and then we open bids at 11:00 a.m. on 22nd.

[11:03] Uh Being that this will be under

[11:05] construction, I'm going to request that we have it in the uh conference room

[11:10] upstairs open the bids. Uh

[11:13] tentatively award uh the

[11:16] uh the roof bid on 5:00 at the 5:27 meeting.

[11:20] That will be held in I guess sealed.

[11:24] » All right. Commissioners, [clears throat] you have the

[11:25] recommendation of the uh maintenance director. Is there a

[11:28] motion to approve? >> Motion to approve.

[11:30] » Second the motion. >> Stand by. Make motion by Commissioner

[11:32] Costello um Commissioner Chambers seconded by Commissioner Doughty. Mr.

[11:36] Costello. >> Did we

[11:38] uh cancel that meeting? >> The 27th.

[11:41] » Yes, sir. >> Yes, yeah. That 27th meeting that's

[11:43] actually in the announcements. But I >> Yeah, but that's when he said that he

[11:46] was going to >> He said tentatively. So we'll move it to

[11:49] the next one. That'll be fine. >> Yeah. Yep.

[11:52] » All right. All right. Good catch. All right, you're

[11:55] good. Uh we have a motion in a second. All in

[11:58] favor signify by saying aye. >> Aye.

[12:00] » All opposed? All right, that is approved.

[12:03] Next up we have a request to take bids for Stand by, Commissioner Lee.

[12:07] » Yeah, we we uh seem like we're replacing a lot of

[12:11] roofs. Will this go over the public works thing where we have to run it in a

[12:16] state newspaper?

[12:19] » I can look into that and and get an answer for you.

[12:21] » I know is it a hundred thousand that's the limit?

[12:23] » It's a hundred thousand. Yes, sir. >> So I mean we're doing a roof here and a

[12:27] roof there and a roof here all on them. Maybe five different roofs.

[12:30] » They're different projects and I don't believe that will take the place for for

[12:34] purposes we will make sure. >> Well, I know we've been written up

[12:36] before. >> Yeah, we we

[12:38] we've checked several times on these with different projects. We're typically

[12:41] different projects, but we can definitely make sure on that.

[12:45] » [clears throat] >> All right.

[12:48] Next up we have a request to take bids for carpet. Um Commissioner I'm sorry.

[12:52] Uh Mr. Watson. >> Um

[12:55] we're actually um maintenance has requested to take bids

[12:59] with all the uh uh updates that we're doing here at the courthouse.

[13:03] Um so we're requesting that the commission approve to take bids for the

[13:07] carpet uh replacement here at the courthouse. We have some actually at the

[13:12] judicial that has to be changed. Uh so we're mirror the dates

[13:16] um uh the ad running in our local

[13:18] newspaper. Uh so it'll start on 4/30 approved and

[13:23] run to 5 14 2026.

[13:27] We also going uh require mandatory pre-bid meeting for that uh

[13:33] carpet as well here on 5 12 2026. And then we'll end all bids on 5 22

[13:40] 2026. And then we open bids in the commission

[13:43] chambers up sta- or the commission conference room upstairs

[13:48] uh on the 22nd at 10:30. And tentatively award at the 5 27

[13:53] meeting that was canceled. So >> It'll be the next meeting.

[13:56] » Be at the next meeting. Thank you. >> All right, you have the recommendation

[13:59] by the maintenance director. Is there a motion to approve?

[14:01] » Motion to approve. >> Motion by Commissioner Daugherty.

[14:03] » Seconded by Commissioner Daugherty. Any other discussion or comments?

[14:07] Okay, all those in favor signify by saying aye.

[14:09] » Aye. >> All opposed?

[14:11] All right, thank you, Mr. Watson. Next up we have the revenue commission

[14:16] office temporary position request, Ms. Wright.

[14:18] » Yes, sir. Good morning, commissioners. I have met with the revenue commissioner

[14:21] and have consulted with the county attorney about open temporary position

[14:25] in the in the revenue's office. Ms. Kirkland has a need to fill the position

[14:30] in order to catch up on a backlog and additional work that a new system has

[14:34] added. And I know, Mr. Chairman, you have also spoken to Ms. Kirkland, and

[14:38] how would you like to proceed? >> All right, Ms. Wright Ms. Wright's

[14:42] recommendation on Monday night was to fill this position at

[14:46] $7,200. I have spoken with Ms. Natalie, and

[14:51] her concern is that the first off, the money would have been in her budget.

[14:55] There was a There was an accounting error that we had early on. We

[14:57] recognized that. And she would have had 12,000 in her budget. She's asked for

[15:01] the entire 12 to make sure she doesn't have to come back to the commission

[15:05] again before the end of the fiscal year, which will be September 30th.

[15:10] Um I would entertain a motion to allow us to approve the $12,000

[15:16] for Ms. Kirkland's budget to get her through the end of the fiscal year.

[15:19] » So moved. >> Motion by Commissioner Screws.

[15:21] » Second. >> Seconded by Commissioner Daughtry. Any

[15:23] discussion or comments? >> Mr. Chairman.

[15:25] » Commissioner Reed. >> I also call for a poll on this since

[15:28] it's another department head. >> All right, thank you. Any other comments

[15:31] or discussion?

[15:33] » I just have one question. >> Yeah, I have one question and I agree

[15:37] with what we're doing, but I just want to make sure as far as accounting-wise,

[15:41] that employee had taken a break for a month and part of

[15:46] the money that she's already made this calendar I mean this fiscal year is

[15:51] money that has came came out of the budget. So, is it an additional

[15:55] money to that 12,000 or is it going to total the 12,000?

[15:59] » The additional was $12,000. If she brings back the same employee,

[16:04] she will make sure we follow the HR rules and our policy and and consult

[16:08] with the attorney as well. So, and she doesn't have to bring back the same

[16:11] employee. It could be a different seasonal temporary employee, but if she

[16:15] brings it back, she will make sure she stays in line with our with our rules.

[16:19] All right. All right, we have a motion and a

[16:21] second. I have a request for a poll to poll the commission. Miss Wright, would

[16:24] you please call the roll? >> District 5, Daughtry.

[16:27] » Yes. >> District 4, Reed.

[16:28] » Yes. >> District 3, Costello.

[16:30] » Yes. >> District 1, Lee.

[16:32] » No. >> District 2, Chambers.

[16:38] » Is he still there? >> District 7, Screws.

[16:41] » Yes. >> District 6, Corbett.

[16:42] » Yes. >> Vote passes.

[16:44] » All right, that does pass. Thank you. >> My my no was for the 12,000. I probably

[16:48] would have voted yes, but the other >> Got you.

[16:51] All right, thank you, Commissioner. Next up, we have the approval

[16:54] [clears throat] of the transfer station manager job description, Miss Wright.

[16:58] » Yes, sir. Commissioners, you have a copy of the new job description for the

[17:01] transfer station manager for Mr. Randy Smith. I'm at requesting that the

[17:06] commission approves this job description as is.

[17:10] » All right, you have a recommendation to the administrator. Is there a motion to

[17:12] approve? >> Motion to approve.

[17:15] » Motion by Commissioner Chambers. Seconded by Commissioner Daughtry. Any

[17:18] other discussion or comments? All those in favor signify by saying

[17:21] "Aye". >> Aye.

[17:22] » All opposed? All right, that is approved. Thank you.

[17:25] » Thank you. >> Next is approval to spend the remaining

[17:28] bond money for the old post office, Ms. Wright.

[17:31] » Yes, sir. Commissioners, we are moving forward as you as you've heard with the

[17:34] renovation of the old post office. There is $450,000 available in a fund that can

[17:39] be used for this renovation. I would like to recommend that the commissioner

[17:42] approves for the chair, the vice chair, and myself to be authorized signers for

[17:47] this bond. >> Motion to approve.

[17:50] » Second the motion. >> Commissioner Screws, seconded by

[17:53] Commissioner Daughtry. Any other discussion or comments?

[17:56] All those in favor signify by saying "Aye".

[17:58] » Aye. >> All opposed? All right, that is

[18:00] approved. Thank you. >> Next is the payroll salary adjustments

[18:05] due to retirement, Ms. Bowman. >> Yes, good morning. I had a girl retire

[18:11] in my office, and so I am promoting within, and I had some salary

[18:18] adjustments I wanted to make. It will not affect my budget.

[18:22] I just want to sit adjust some salaries cuz I'm going to

[18:26] adjust job duties. And y'all have that in your package.

[18:32] » All right, Commissioners, I know Ms. Ms. Bowman spoke to this on Monday night.

[18:36] Any other questions of her before we proceed on?

[18:39] All right, I'll entertain a motion to approve.

[18:41] » Motion to approve. >> Second the motion.

[18:43] » I have no idea. I'm going to go with Commissioner Chambers, motion seconded

[18:47] by Commissioner Daughtry. Any other discussion or comments?

[18:49] All those in favor signify by saying "Aye".

[18:51] » Aye. >> All opposed? [clears throat]

[18:52] » Thank you. >> Thank you, ma'am.

[18:56] Next up, we have the project money donation, Commissioner Daughtry.

[19:00] » Yeah. Good morning to everyone. At this time, I'll be requesting $650 of my

[19:05] project money to be donated to the Uplift Foundation, which is part of the

[19:09] Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated Lambda Mu Nu chapter in Phenix City,

[19:13] Alabama. It will be going towards scholarship and their STEMS program

[19:17] towards the Russell County high school students. The definition of STEMS is

[19:21] science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

[19:25] » All right. We have a a motion by Commissioner Daughtry. Is there a

[19:28] second? >> Second.

[19:29] » Seconded by Commissioner Rainey. Any other discussion or comments?

[19:32] All those in favor signify by saying aye.

[19:34] » Aye. >> All opposed?

[19:36] All right, Commissioner, that is approved.

[19:39] Next up, we have um employee leave of absence and we're going to refer to our

[19:43] human resources manager, Ms. Shawn Hollis.

[19:47] » Good morning, Commissioners. Um we discussed briefly about um the need

[19:53] and the request uh for a recommendation that the commission would approve

[19:58] additional leave uh without pay for an employee who is undergoing a serious

[20:03] medical event. Um and we requested [clears throat]

[20:07] uh this because her absence her leave would end under FMLA. So, we're

[20:11] requesting that you all approve an additional up to 80 hours

[20:16] um in time for us to review before you guys meet back again in May.

[20:21] » All right, Commissioners, I believe this was went over uh gone over pretty good

[20:24] on Monday night. Is there a motion to approve?

[20:27] » Motion to approve. >> Motion by Commissioner Costello. Is

[20:29] there a second? I'm sorry, Chambers. Is there a second?

[20:31] » Second. >> Seconded by Commissioner Daughtry.

[20:33] Commissioner Costello. >> And it's uh you just didn't say it, but

[20:36] it's leave without up to 80 hours of leave without pay.

[20:39] » Yes, sir. >> Okay.

[20:40] » Yes, sir. Thank you. >> And I spoke with them. She goes to the

[20:44] doctor today >> Mhm.

[20:45] » and she's supposed to let me know her return date.

[20:48] » All right. >> Hopefully today.

[20:49] » This should take care of that. If it doesn't, you'll just have to bring it

[20:52] back to the commission. >> Okay, thank you.

[20:53] » All right, we have a motion and a second. All those in favor signify by

[20:55] saying aye. >> Aye.

[20:57] » All opposed? All right, Commissioners, I I skipped right through the timeline,

[21:00] the item above that. I I guess I checked it off and moved past it. Um timeline of

[21:05] renovations and relocation of commission meeting. Commissioners, we had a pretty

[21:08] good discussion on Monday night about this. There has been discussion because

[21:12] of the renovations to the atrium and the commission chambers that we were going

[21:16] to need to either cancel or move commission meetings to a different

[21:20] location in this county. On Monday night I went over the two

[21:24] different options. One was judicial center and one was the old sale

[21:27] courthouse. I would like to request that you consider moving the

[21:33] next two meetings which would be May 13th and 6 10 or or June 10th because of

[21:39] the May 27th meeting we will not have. We've canceled it already.

[21:43] I would like to entertain a motion that we move those meetings to the old

[21:47] Russell County Courthouse in Seale, Alabama.

[21:49] Is there a motion to approve? >> Motion to approve.

[21:52] » Second the motion. Mr. Reed second by Commissioner Gardner. Any discussion or

[21:54] comments? >> What is the timeline on the completion?

[21:58] » Mr. Watson, do you have the timeline right now? Can you put your microphone

[22:01] up? >> to be completed?

[22:03] » Um I'm estimating June 1st. >> Okay. So

[22:07] » Well, we we need to advertise it so we're pushing out that far.

[22:11] » Well, if we advertise it we got to hold it no matter what.

[22:13] » Well, I I think we you know with do you do you really believe it will be done

[22:17] then, Leon? Or is there a possibility of >> Well, of course the first meeting I I

[22:23] don't know what I don't have the date in front of me for the first meeting in

[22:26] June. So >> It's it's June 10th.

[22:29] » 10th. >> I would say we would have it done by

[22:31] June the 10th. >> Do you think we'll be back in here on

[22:33] June 10th? >> I think so.

[22:35] » Okay. So I was under the understanding we

[22:38] needed to have two meetings that pushed. Is that right?

[22:40] » I will feel comfortable if we could push the June meeting to a different

[22:44] location. >> Okay.

[22:45] » Especially with the carpet being opening and the AV and all of that. Yes, sir.

[22:49] » All right. So

[22:51] » Just go ahead and do both >> I knew we had two meetings on there for

[22:53] some reason and and I I realize it may be nine days after the projected time

[22:57] but it may be a safer bet just to go ahead and push both of them.

[23:00] » All right. Commissioner Crews

[23:02] » How much is it to take to to move a meeting to

[23:05] » Yes, we have. Um we've had Yeah, absolutely. And so for your for so

[23:10] because you weren't here Monday night, we've talked about the ability for our

[23:13] Parks and Rec teams to be able to um put the chairs and tables up. Um our IT

[23:18] department will be able to [cough and clears throat] move um what

[23:20] they need to for Facebook live down there. We actually have Wi-Fi there now.

[23:24] Um and we've already been talking with um Beam and other AV companies with

[23:30] options to be able to set up the microphones. Anywhere we move, we're

[23:34] going to have the same challenges because no other facility is set up with

[23:37] microphones and things like that for us just to walk into. So yeah, we we had a

[23:41] pretty good discussion about that. All right, we have a motion and a

[23:45] second. If there's no other discussion, all those in favor signify by saying I.

[23:49] » I. >> All opposed.

[23:51] All right, that is approved. Thank you. We'll start advertising that and make

[23:55] sure everyone is aware of that. Um just as a side note, I think this I don't

[23:59] know the last time the County Commission met in the in the old Russell County

[24:02] Courthouse, but I would imagine it's been 100 years. So it's going to be a

[24:06] historic thing for us to be doing it there again. So at least for two

[24:09] meetings. All right, um

[24:12] since we've already done the next one, we'll move on to request to purchase

[24:15] dumpsters. Uh Shawn Clayton. >> Uh good morning, Mr. Chair

[24:19] Commissioners. Yes, I'll be I'm requesting to purchase uh dumpsters from

[24:22] Ingram Equipment Company in the amount of $17,650.

[24:27] This is four 4-yd dumpsters, two 6-yd dumpsters, and eight 4-yd or eight

[24:32] eight-yard dumpsters plus freight that will be delivered to the shop.

[24:37] » All right, you have the uh request of the

[24:40] interim Sanitation Director. Is there a motion to approve?

[24:43] » Motion to approve. >> Second the motion.

[24:44] » Motion by Commissioner Chambers, second by Commissioner Daughtry. I will note in

[24:47] this that the the board has approved this as well unanimously.

[24:51] All right, there's any other discussion? >> Yes, can we going to the numbers that

[24:56] you're reading off in the in the on the agenda next time.

[25:00] » Yes, sir. >> Okay.

[25:03] » All right. So, we have a motion and a second. If there's no other discussion,

[25:06] all in favor signify by saying "I". All opposed? All right, that is

[25:10] approved. Next is a request to suspend the

[25:13] dumpster increases, Sean. >> Yes, sir. After reviewing the dumpster

[25:17] increases that were proposed, I have some concerns about them, so I'll be

[25:21] requesting to suspend them rates until at least October the 1st until I can

[25:26] have time to review it thoroughly and and then I can come back then and

[25:29] propose an increase at new budget time or just leave them the same.

[25:34] » All right, commissioners, you know that as the reason he's saying suspend, we

[25:37] approved this at a previous meeting. This motion will be to suspend that and

[25:42] move forward with the the rates that were currently in place.

[25:45] Is there a motion to approve? >> Motion to approve.

[25:48] » Second. >> moved. Motion by Commissioner Costello,

[25:50] seconded by Commissioner Doughty. Any other discussion?

[25:53] All those in favor signify by saying "I".

[25:55] » I. >> All opposed?

[25:57] All right, thank you. [snorts] We'll move on to the attorney section of the

[26:00] agenda. The first one is the amendment to policies on policy.

[26:04] » Policy on policies. >> Yes. Good morning, commissioners.

[26:07] As you know, back in 2023, you passed a policy

[26:11] that required there to be two readings before a new

[26:15] policy could be put in place. As we've gone through for a couple of

[26:18] years now, we've seen that that it's been effective, but sometimes it ties

[26:22] your hands. And so, this would be to amend that policy.

[26:27] It would allow for um policies to be reviewed approved after

[26:32] one reading instead of having two readings. The amended portion of the

[26:36] policy would say that once step three, that's getting with the county

[26:40] administrator, county attorneys, and all that, once that's been completed and the

[26:44] proposed policy is placed on the county commission meeting agenda under business

[26:48] for first reading, the proposed policy may be approved with unanimous consent

[26:53] of all seven commissioners. If the policy is unanimously approved by all

[26:57] seven commissioners, the policy will not require a second reading.

[27:01] If the policy does not receive unanimous consent of all seven commissioners upon

[27:06] the first reading, the county administrator shall place the proposed

[27:09] policy on the agenda for the next county commission work session or county

[27:13] commission meeting if no work session is held.

[27:16] Then upon approval of a proposed policy as set out in steps above, the approved

[27:21] policy shall become effective on the date included in the approved policy or

[27:25] 30 days after approval. >> Question.

[27:29] » Yes, sir. >> Actually, if this if one commissioner uh

[27:34] say we got a commissioner missing, so then it would automatically go to the

[27:38] » [cough] >> after we voted [clears throat] on so it

[27:39] has to be all seven of them. >> Right, and that's why I didn't put

[27:41] unanimous in the revision. I put unanimous by all seven so that that way

[27:45] you you couldn't approve a policy without a commissioner being present

[27:50] without at least a second reading. >> Right. Right, got you. Just wanted to

[27:53] make that clear. >> Very good.

[27:55] » So that because the policy right now requires two readings, you can't vote on

[28:00] this today. So we'll read it again at the next meeting and then if you so

[28:04] choose, you could approve to amend the policy.

[28:06] » All right, commissioners. As stated, this was the first reading on that

[28:09] change, so we will have it on the next agenda for the second reading and

[28:13] approval or possible approval. All right, next up you have executive

[28:16] session. >> Actually, I have two other ones that I

[28:19] need to add. I apologize. Um the first one is simply just to notify you that

[28:24] the um Mr. Jerome Brown has filed a formal

[28:27] notice of claim. As you may recall, Mr. Brown was here at the last meeting

[28:30] complaining about his road situation. Um there's no action needed to be taken on

[28:34] by the commission, but letting you know that the claim has been filed.

[28:37] » Thank you. >> The um other issue is that we received

[28:41] notification from the Beasley Allen Law Firm in Montgomery.

[28:46] The commission in the past has voted to participate in some class action

[28:49] lawsuits dealing with the opioid funds. And we've we've checked the minutes. The

[28:54] approval that the commission first did was for specific lawsuits. This is a new

[28:59] class action lawsuit for you to become part of.

[29:02] Um [snorts] the defendants they they're named the remnant defendants and this

[29:06] includes Associated Pharmacies Inc., J & M Smith Corporation, Morris & Dickson

[29:12] Company, Louisiana Wholesale Drug Company, North Carolina Mutual Wholesale

[29:16] Drug Company, and United Natural Foods, also known as Supervalu.

[29:21] So, if the commission would like to take part in these class actions where you

[29:24] will recover more money from the opioid funds if Beasley Allen is able to

[29:28] recover those for the state and the subdivisions of the state, we would need

[29:33] the commission to vote to approve joining in this.

[29:36] » All right, is there a motion to approve joining those lawsuits?

[29:38] » And also ask for approval for the chair to sign the agreement.

[29:41] » All right, thank you. >> Can we discuss something first?

[29:44] » Yeah. >> Go ahead, sir.

[29:46] » Can't can't Can we do the motion to where in any future class actions

[29:51] dealing with opioid that we could go ahead and do it without having to come

[29:55] before? >> If that's If that's what you all want to

[29:58] do, that's a perfectly good motion. >> All right.

[30:00] You want to make that motion? >> Yes, I'd like to amend amend her

[30:03] recommendation to any and all future opioid um

[30:09] class actions. >> And allow the chair to sign the

[30:11] document. >> And allow the chair.

[30:12] » All right, we have a motion by Commissioner Costello. Is there a

[30:14] second? >> Second. [snorts]

[30:15] » Seconded by Commissioner Reed. Any other discussion or comments? All those in

[30:19] favor signify by saying aye. >> Aye.

[30:21] » All opposed? All right, that is approved. Anything

[30:23] else? Executive session? >> Executive session. Yes, sir. Mr.

[30:26] Chairman, following the commission meeting, I would request that the

[30:30] commission adjourn into executive session to discuss with your attorney

[30:34] the legal ramifications of and legal options for pending litigation,

[30:38] controversies not yet being litigated, but eminently likely to be litigated or

[30:43] eminently likely to be litigated if the governmental body pursues a proposed

[30:47] course of action. As an attorney licensed to practice law in the state of

[30:50] Alabama, I will say that this exception is applicable to the plan discussion. No

[30:55] action will need to be taken by the commission. So you will not need to come

[30:58] back into this meeting. >> All right. Thank you, ma'am.

[31:03] Um you've heard the recommendation of the attorney at following the um

[31:07] commissioner's discussion and department head discussion and announcements, we'll

[31:11] go into executive session if it is approved. Is there a motion for

[31:14] executive >> Motion to approve.

[31:15] » Second the motion. >> Wow. Motion by Commissioner Reed,

[31:18] seconded by Commissioner Daughtry. Any other discussion or comments? All those

[31:21] in favor signify by saying "Aye." Aye. All opposed? All right. We'll move into

[31:26] the uh commissioner's discussion. Commissioners, does anybody have

[31:28] anything to talk about today that's not on the agenda?

[31:30] » I just wanted to comment on the moving of the meeting. If

[31:37] the work is done and we can meet back in here in June, when we meet, come back in

[31:41] here. >> Okay.

[31:45] But so we can change that at the next meeting, I guess, um before if we did

[31:49] that. So very good. All right. Um I have a couple things I

[31:52] want to mention. Um one, the Crawford Market Days on this past Saturday.

[31:57] Um we started back up for 2026. Uh that was the largest one we've ever seen. We

[32:02] had We usually the the most vendors we ever had were 67. On Saturday, we had

[32:06] 101. We had the largest crowd we've ever seen.

[32:10] Um the Dollar General was complaining about too much business, if that helps

[32:13] anything. So I don't think I've ever heard that one before. So

[32:17] um I did want to share an email that I received. I shared it with the

[32:19] commission this morning by email, but I I did I think this was important. This

[32:23] was an unsolicited email by a visitor from out of state who sent the email. Uh

[32:29] I'm not sure. I guess they looked on the website, found my email address.

[32:33] But the email stated uh a note of appreciation.

[32:37] As an out of state traveler Crawford Alabama on

[32:40] March 2026 I sincerely sincerely want to share my gratitude

[32:45] for your participation with the grounds care at Crawford Square. This was my

[32:48] first destination visit to Alabama. I must say the area and the weather were

[32:53] equally beautiful. Attending the Crawford Square event in Alabama

[32:58] definitely presented a great first impression to me. Thank you kind regards

[33:02] Angela. So I wanted to share that with you for so many reasons. One to show you

[33:07] that our tourism efforts are really working.

[33:10] This is someone from out of state that has come into our county and recognize

[33:14] what we have to offer. Our committee in Crawford are doing a

[33:20] great job along with all of our employees especially our parks and recs

[33:23] department for keeping the grounds and everything looking the way it does. It

[33:28] is it is great to get that kind of feedback. Typically people give it to us

[33:32] when they walk by. I don't share that every time obviously but when you get

[33:36] someone that actually takes the time out of their day to send an email I wanted

[33:39] to make sure that was shared with everybody involved. I actually shared it

[33:42] with our legislative delegation as well. I think that's important for them to see

[33:46] that. The other thing I wanted to mention to

[33:49] you a couple more things real [snorts] quick. We as you know we've approved the

[33:53] lease of the the building in Crawford. We are now moving forward. I have met

[33:58] with the sheriff out there yesterday to do a visitor center pop up and sheriff

[34:03] substation in that building. I think we're both excited about what that's

[34:06] going to look like in Crawford and and for the north part of our county. So

[34:10] we're very looking forward to that happening. You're going to see some

[34:12] signs popping up here pretty soon saying that what's coming soon and get with the

[34:17] sheriff about some time that we can actually make a formal announcement

[34:20] about that. >> [clears throat]

[34:21] » The last thing I wanted to mention we did receive an email this past week

[34:25] myself and I know the administrator did about one of the deputy corners in the

[34:29] corners office for a a good job that they did. I think other commissioners

[34:33] may receive that as well. I I think we're going to uh I didn't want to thank

[34:36] anyone think that we had forgotten that. We will have that on a future meeting to

[34:40] actually recognize that person as well. We want to say thank you to her as well.

[34:44] All right. There's no other discussion. I'll move

[34:47] into announcements. Commissioner Costello.

[34:48] » I just like to thank Glenwood for their >> Definitely.

[34:51] » Um yearly uh trip here and and the students uh like the chair said earlier,

[34:56] this is something that you may be interested in the future.

[35:00] Uh you guys are young, but uh we need young leadership stepping up as

[35:07] we uh all get older up here, so Um thank y'all for your interest in uh government

[35:13] affairs and the government class. Thank y'all for being here.

[35:16] » Absolutely. I can't tell you how many times I'm on a committee and people say

[35:19] we need younger people. They're always They're always talking Look at me and

[35:22] I'm like I'm not younger anymore, but I'm not as old as him, but I'm I'm

[35:25] getting there. I'm going to get there one day, so but we really do appreciate

[35:28] you being here today. So All right, moving into announcements.

[35:33] First up is a holiday closure notification on Monday, April 27th, all

[35:38] county buildings will be closed in observance of the holiday.

[35:41] Uh sanitation trash pickup schedule for uh that holiday, all of the garbage that

[35:46] on the Monday routes will be picked up on Tuesday. So

[35:49] um if you have Monday route, just know that make sure you leave it out for

[35:52] Tuesday. Crawford Market Days again Saturday, May

[35:55] 16th at the Crawford Walk Patrol. Please come out there. If you haven't been,

[35:58] please come enjoy that and and see what I'm talking about.

[36:01] Holiday closure um notification for the um Memorial Day

[36:06] holiday, which will be Monday, May 25th, all buildings will be closed.

[36:12] And um Sean, do you know what the truck the trash schedule on that? Will that be

[36:16] the same? They move it to Tuesday as well. That one also be moved to Tuesday

[36:19] for sanitation. And the last one is the uh notification.

[36:23] We mentioned it earlier. The commission meeting was canceled for Wednesday, May

[36:27] 27th. All right. Those are your announcements.

[36:32] We are now in executive session. Thank you.

[36:37] » Chandra Are you going to give them

[36:40] a report on where they're going?

Commission Meeting April 22, 2026

Transcript