Commission spends more on audit, less on garbage

By Lisa Majors-Duff

Meeting in regular session March 18, Jackson County commissioners approved the following appointments:

Board of Equalization and Review - Chairman Arlie Moss, Vice Chairman Richard Wilson, Gail Cooper, Roger Shelton and Richard Robson.

Public Library Board of Trustees - Gene Couch.

Region A Aging Advisory Council - Jan Brown, the Rev. Ron Allen and Davia Allen.

Board of Health - Kim Cowan.

Economic Development Commission - Marty Jones.

Jackson County Travel and Tourism Authority - Mike Williams, Lumpy Lambert, Mary Beth Druzbick and Betty Westmoreland.

Cashiers TTA - Linda Rogers and Judy Gray.

Cashiers Commercial District Task Force - Lester Freeman.

County Employees Benefit Committee - Patsy Lovedahl, Randall Turpin, Janice Short, Margaret Wallace, Marc Hawk, Kathy Buchanan, Brian McMahan, Roberta Crawford and David Nolan.

Smart Growth Task Force - Mark Jamison, Gary Buchanan, Rob Shelton, Richard Wilson, Mickey Henson, Jay Spiro and Jim Dukes.

For a scheduled of meetings for each of these boards, call county Manager Ken Westmoreland's office at 586-7580.

In other action Tuesday, commissioners switched auditing firms by approving a contract with Hughes and Hughes and Co., the same firm that performs audits for the Jackson County Board of Education and one other North Carolina county. The cost of next year's audit, $42,500, will be higher than what current auditors Crisp, Hughes and Evans had proposed by some $4,500.

After spending more for an audit, commissioners approved a contract with R&B Landfill in Homer, Ga., that will save the county approximately $20,000 in disposal fees next year.

Also approved, though not unanimously, was a request from Sheriff Jimmy Ashe to reorganize the personnel in his office. Commissioners Roberta Crawford and Brian McMahan voted "no" to the sheriff's plan.

"If we do this and honor the sheriff's request, we might as well throw our personnel policy out the window," Crawford said.

"His pay increases and decreases don't follow our policy as far as grade and step are concerned," McMahan said.

"I don't want to get into the habit of micromanaging (the sheriff's) department," said Commissioner Eddie Madden, who voted in favor of the sheriff's request along with Chairman Stacy Buchanan and Commissioner Joe Cowan. "He is an elected official, as am I, and the voters will be the ones who ultimately decide if he's running his office right."

The sheriff's request for salary adjustments did not cause an increase in his budget, Buchanan pointed out.

Also approved Tuesday were resolutions concerning road maintenance requests for McCall and Lloyd Hooper roads. These resolutions will be forwarded to the Department of Transportation for further action.

The next regular meeting of the Jackson County Board of Commissioners will be 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 8. Members will meet tonight (Thursday) to continue budget discussions and again next Thursday, March 27, to discuss Smart Growth issues.

Back to Archive: 03/20/03.