The Marion County Board of Supervisors covered several topics during its meetings last week, including road and bridge repairs, the Columbia Water Park, the Marion County jail, finances and more.
Two bids were opened for the Pine Burr Road Bridge project that each were more than $150,000 over the initial estimate. Because of the vast discrepancy, the board decided to accept a bid from Precision Construction, LLC for just one of the two bridges to be repaired at this time.
The Johnson Road and Black Creek projects have been held up on environmental issues. The Department of Archives and History must conduct a cultural resource survey on a grid prior to a permit being issued. It will look for any artifacts that need to be salvaged before digging in an area. County Engineer Jeff Dungan reported they now have clearance on Black Creek.
The county is waiting on an automatic gate for the entrance of the Columbia Water Park, but the materials are not currently available and most likely will not be obtained soon. The board decided that repairs on two bridges at the park will be done by the county, and they opted not to apply for an 80/20 matching grant due to the excess of red tape and regulations outweighing the benefit. They are looking at a cost of between $10,000 and $15,000 for decks on the bridges. The board will look into whether wood or metal would be most cost efficient over time. A current federal grant only funds trails.
The county is waiting on materials for the Justice Court building and will open bids next month for the supervisor's building, Hammond Hall, and the health department building. It is working to fund improvements to the courthouse square.
Joey Alford, E911 Coordinator, reported that her office is understaffed and overworked. She said that, with the annexation, the city is ready to start collecting for tags, but she can’t do all the extra work herself while taking care of old fines as well.
"I just don't want y’all to think it's business as usual here,” she said. “When people can't get tags, they'll be calling you all.”
Alford’s department has just one part-time staff member who can work only a limited number of hours.
District 1 Supervisor Blue Green said part of that responsibility falls on the board.
“We took in over $305,000 last year, and we came out in the red,” he said. “There's waste somewhere. We're going to have to figure out where the money's going."
Members of the board assured Alford that she can only do what she can do, and they understand that.
CPA Charlie Prince informed the board that that "all funds have good numbers at the end of January."
A motion was approved with some hesitancy to transfer $120,000 from the jail's $240,000 in funds. Half of the $120,000 was transferred to the excess revenue funds, and the other half went to the depreciation fund.
Warden Derek Mingo expressed concern that the excess in the jail's fund may end up being less due to late entries, which have falsely caused them to fall into a deficit in the past. Mingo said he feels confident that there is an understanding this year that will prevent that from occurring.
Mingo reported the only problem the jail is having right now is with employees, as is the situation with most places these days.
Circuit Clerk Janette Nolan said she anticipates primary and general elections this year, and she noted that the county is now in the 3rd Congressional District instead of the 4th Congressional District. Nolan said she is trying to see that the city pays for how the annexation changes affect the cost of redistricting. The biggest impact of the annexation is the split on the voter lists and how they fall on various lists per election type.
The contract to pay Nolan as county registrar must be redone each year, and the board approved paying Nolan $18,000 annually, which is derived from the population of the county. Due to the purchase of new voting machines, Nolan's election programming contract must be rewritten. It will now be more cost efficient to pay Nolan per election rather than per voting machine programmed. The new fee will be $4,600 per election with the amount prorated for smaller elections based on the number of precincts involved.
Nolan submitted a proposal, which was approved by the board, to rename the Jefferson Middle School Precinct to the MLK St. Precinct because the voting location has been moved to Owen's Chapel Baptist Church on Martin Luther King Street.
On Feb. 9, Ethan Lambert met with the board to introduce them to a new non-profit animal rescue located in the county. Ethan and his wife, Amanda, started Hopeful Hearts Animal Rescue, which focuses on animal cruelty and the abandonment of animals.
Ethan said this is a "human problem we've created over time." He wanted the board to see that animal overpopulation and other issues are a growing problem for the county. He said right now they do not have a physical shelter but work with fosters to care for the animals.
