Commission approves repairs at Chilton-Clanton library (updated)

Published 4:26 pm Tuesday, June 25, 2013

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Mims said his reasoning was largely due to not knowing how much the total cost of the projects would be.

Caton said the committee wanted to meet with all of the department heads and judges.

Caton told commissioners on Monday the committee met and came up with a list of five items deemed a priority.

“We decided these were the five things that we need to start working on,” Caton said. “We met with one person who came by and looked at our camera systems and he gave us an estimate of how much it would cost to fix those.”

Caton said the estimate the committee received included 20 cameras at $300 per camera.

Caton said the committee also discussed removing the garbage cans and ashtrays from around the courthouse, placing buzzers on some of the doors and trimming and removing shrubbery around the courthouse.

Another item discussed included the parking spaces in the back portion of the courthouse.

Caton said the committee discussed the option to assign certain parking spots to courthouse department heads or judges with a number and vehicle assigned to the parking spot number.

“This would allow us to keep up with who is parking in the parking lot,” Caton said. “If someone parks there that isn’t one of the people designated to park then we will be able to know.”

Headley said he would not like to see extra private parking spaces made due to limited parking space currently surrounding the courthouse.

Caton said the commission would approve who would park in the parking lot.

Agee said he would like to see the front access to the courthouse secured further including the scanning machine at the front entrance.

Caton said he thought it would be best to get the camera system in place before moving the scanning machine from the third floor to the main entrance.

Although no vote was taken during the meeting, Caton said the committee would report back to the commission with prices of things found regarding the security issues at the courthouse.

In other news, the commission:

• Presented a contract between the Chilton County Humane Society and commission to board members of the humane society. In March, the commission voted to enter into a contract with the humane society with the advisement from the county’s legal attorney. The contract would ultimately have the commission and humane society work together to take care of the animals for the county. Both the commission and humane society will review the contract and vote on the contract at a future commission meeting.

• Heard from the Chilton County Humane Society regarding their new director Jessica Terry.

• Voted to allow Gene Walker to advertise for a public hearing regarding the closure of part of County Road 217. Walker requested for the commission to maintain a portion of his road so he could have easy access to his property and close the section of 217 that goes through his property. The commission unanimously voted to allow Walker to advertise for a public hearing.

• Voted to allow July 5 to be a holiday for county employees with compensation. County administrator Connie Powell told commissioners several department heads were already allowing their employees a holiday on July 5. Powell told commissioners the state would not announce their plans to close until next week. Everyone except Caton voted in favor to allow July 5 to be a holiday for county employees.

• Convened into executive session at the request of Jackson to discuss a pending legal matter.