Citizen asks about funds
By Melinda L. Lucas
A local citizen asked for a special session of the Shackelford County commissioners during Monday’s meeting, and another point of discussion was repair or replacement of the Courthouse’s “chiller,” as the air conditioning of offices had not been working correctly for several days.
Following the regular agenda items, the court spent about 30 minutes in an initial budget workshop. They plan to continue budget talks after the next session on July 25.
Citizen Request
Clara Miller asked the commissioners several questions about the funds received by the county from the Federal American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act, and urged the elected officials to be “transparent” about how those funds are being used.
She also requested a special meeting to address the issue, commenting that essential workers who “kept the county functioning and running during the pandemic” should receive premium pay from the funds.
Although commissioners did not respond to Miller’s comments directly, county judge Robert Skelton said later that premium pay is not “off the table” and will be discussed during budget workshops, along with other “legitimate” ways to spend the ARP funds that have been mentioned in previous meetings, such as “revision” of the Courthouse parking lot and repair of the Rock Hill voting site.
The county received the first half of the funding, $317,094, last summer, as reported in the July 22, 2021 Albany News, and the second half is expected soon.
“We have been discussing ARP funds ever since we got them, and we have been open and above-board in every aspect,” said Skelton. “We know our employees do a wonderful job, and we will certainly consider premium pay for essential workers. We’re just being cautious to make sure we spend the money properly.”
Courthouse A/C
Cary Services representatives, who had in the half hour before Monday’s meeting gotten the Courthouse A/C running again, gave an update, reporting that there are “issues” with the 22-year-old chiller, which uses outdated R22 freon.
They planned to report repair and replacement options later in the week.
