The Adair County Fiscal Court will begin meeting twice a month effective Jan. 1 after concerns about late fees on bill payments.
County staff cannot make payments on most bills until they are approved by the court. While a few bills, such as utility payments, are allowed to be paid through standing orders, others require a court vote.
This has led to late payments since the court reduced the number of monthly meetings from two to one several years ago.
Fiscal court meetings have lasted well beyond two hours many nights, and it became clear that few were interested in doing that twice a month.
After discussion with magistrates often talking over each other, County Attorney Jennifer Hutchison Corbin vocalized the concerns, first saying meetings should be set earlier if the court was going to have two meetings, noting that she has court the following day.
“A lot of times we don’t get out until nine or 10 oclock, and I don’t want to do that two times a month,” she said. “Before, when we had two meetings, we talked about the same things, we talked about them twice, we talked about them on the second Tuesday and we talked about them on the fourth Tuesday.”
Ultimately the court agreed to have a special called meeting on the second Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. to only address paying bills. A regular called meeting would be held the fourth Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Also during the meeting, County Clerk Lisa Greer told the court that a building formerly used for elections in the Gradyville community needs to be removed. Greer said the owner of the property has plans for the property.
Greer said the election board wanted permission to have the building moved to the Jim Blair center.
There was some discussion and confusion from the court about the condition of the building and potential use for it. Deputy Judge Bridget Compton said the building would be suitable for storing commodities at the Blair Center. The court voted to move the building and left the details up to Judge Executive Larry Russell Bryant.
The court discussed whether to close offices an extra day following Christmas and give staff an extra paid day off. No action was taken but the court agreed if staff wanted to use a day off they could, even if it means closing an office.
At the request of EMS Director Chad Wheet, the court voted to receive $10,000 for the Adair County Ambulance Service. The funds, often called Senate Bill 66 money, is annually provided to ambulance services but must run through the county government.
The court approved moving E911 employee Skyler Coomer to full time.
All magistrates were present for the meeting. They are Chris Reeder, Sammy Baker, Todd Davenport, Tony Denton, Billy Coffey, Mark Humphress and Terry Hadley.
By Sharon Burton
snburton@adairvoice.com
