Commissioner Questions Welcome Center
HUNTSVILLE - A somewhat emotional statement by a second district county commissioner on why he was opposed to awarding the contract on a county welcome center may well lead to improvements to county school buildings.
Commissioner Leonard Bertram told his fellow commissioners Monday night that he had a Òbig, big problemÓ with approving the $343,000 contract for a Scott County Welcome Center, which was $109,189 over budgeted grant funds, when no steps had been taken to fix the problem of an aging portion of Robbins Elementary School.
And although the vote to award the contract on the Welcome Center was ultimately adopted, BertramÕs comments about priorities and the burden on local taxpayers paid off when the commission approved a motion by Commissioner Jeff Watson to have commissioners meet with school board members prior to the next commission meeting to come up with Òa wish listÓ for each of the countyÕs schools.
BertramÕs reaction to WatsonÕs motion was to say, in effect, that there is a difference between what the ÒneedsÓ of a school are as compared to the Òwishes,Ó but he and the 13 other commissioners voted in favor of the proposal.
The regular monthly meeting of the commission was a long one (two and a half hours), and scores of resolutions were adopted, as the full board followed up on measures which had been adopted by standing committees two weeks earlier.
Highlights of the meeting included approval of:
¥ Allowing County Mayor Dwight Murphy to contract with Upland Design for architectural services for an addition to the Scott County Office Building;
¥ County Clerk Pat Phillips working toward incorporating drivers license renewal services in her office;
¥ Awarding a $279,990.35 contract to Wright Construction to replace the Mill Creek Bridge at Brimstone;
¥ An ÒInterlocal AgreementÓ to establish a Joint Economic and Community Development Board comprised of the County Mayor and the mayors of the three municipalities;
¥ A resolution requesting proposals from nonprofit organizations to manage the county-owned Emergency Shelter at the old Capitol Hill School building;
¥ Campbell and Associates to prepare a preliminary design for an alternative road to the Scott County Airport to replace the dangerous bridge crossing at High Point;
¥ A resolution granting Scott County the authority to regulate nuisances and other practices determined to be detrimental to the countyÕs residents;
¥ An annual contract with the East Tennessee Human Resources Agency for administering the WIA Program;
¥ A plan by the Ambulance Service to sell two additional surplus heart monitors to Roane State Community College at a price of $1,000 each;
¥ Naming interim Ambulance Service Director Jim Reed as the full-time director;
¥ A four-member committee to be in charge of accounts to be written-off by the Ambulance Service as a means of protecting the confidentiality of patients who have received services but are unable to pay;
¥ Naming Cory Long as the director of the countyÕs Occupational Health & Safety Programs, and setting up a Safety Committee composed of County Mayor Murphy, Commissioners Hertis Phillips, Mike Slaven, Jeff Watson and Daniel Murley, along with Sheriff Jim Carson, Finance Director Keith Jeffers and County Attorney John Beaty;
¥ A low bid of $6,500 submitted by ThompsonÕs Yamaha for the purchase of an all terrain vehicle for the Scott County SheriffÕs Department; and,
¥ A plan to hold committee meetings at Huntsville Middle School on Monday, September 8, and tour the new gym.
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