Commissioners huddle around table for meeting

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Last Tuesday night’s County Commission meeting was held in one of the courtrooms because the commission meeting room had been readied for early voting for the Nov. 8 General Election. And the commissioners huddled around the small defense attorney desk making it difficult — and at times impossible — for the public to hear the discussions. Because of that, and because the minutes of the meeting are not shared with the public until they are approved at the next month’s meeting, we are not comfortable with the accuracy of this story.]
The Jeff Davis County Board of Commissioners held their October meeting in Courtroom 2 at the courthouse.
At the meeting, the commissioners ….
…. heard a presentation from County Attorney Andy Ramay on an item included in the commissioners’ meeting packets and agreed to accept his recommendation provided the company gives the county a bond or insurance policy on all the property they have built in the county.
…. agreed to buy a new dump truck for the road department and sell the old one.
…. approved a motion to have two bays in the new emergency services building rather than have one bay in which all emergency vehicles are housed.
…. discussed damage caused to county-maintained roads by logging trucks and agreed to revise and enforce an existing ordinance on logging trucks, heavy equipment, etc.
…. agreed to purchase trucks for the County Agent and the recreation department and sell the county’s surplus trucks.
…. discussed the new jail project with Commissioner Brad Crews explaining that problems have arisen with the State Department of Transportation (DOT). The project called for trenching across the state right-of-way to access utilities for the site but the DOT would not approve the trenching so a line will have to be bored under the highway at an additional cost of $23,000. The commissioners approved the change order.
…. accepted a bid on fencing around the Baxley Highway recreation site.
…. met in closed session but gave no reason for closing the session.