By Marla Jones, Managing Editor • marla@southerntorch.com
FORT PAYNE, Ala. — (Full video on our Facebook) The DeKalb County Commission met for a Special Called Meeting on April 7. This meeting will replace the 2nd and 4th Tuesday regular meeting in April.
Due to recent proclamations by Governor Kay Ivey regarding only ten attendees in the meeting, Commission President Ricky Harcrow, District 1 Commissioner Shane Wooten and District 3 Commissioner Chris Kuykendall were the only commissioners in attendance.
The commissioners were joined by County Administrator Matt Sharp, County Attorney Jeff McCurdy and Assistant Emergency Management Agency Director Michael Posey.
District 2 and District 4 Commissioners Scot Westbrook and Lester Black, along with Director of Emergency Management Agency Anthony Clifton joined via the internet.
The main purpose of the meeting was to extend the Emergency Management Agency Disaster Declaration that was put in place in early March to run concurrently with the State of Alabama Disaster Declaration issued by Governor Kay Ivey.
County Administrator Matt Sharp addressed the Commission on behalf of County Engineer Ben Luther regarding the ATRIP Supplemental Agreement. In 2015 the County used the ATRIP Supplemental Program for over 14 million dollars in projects. The County ran out of ATRIP funds and had to use several hundred thousand dollars in federal aid money.
Some counties did not use all of the supplemental funds. Recently, nearly $800,00 dollars has been allocated back into the ATRIP Supplemental Agreement. Sharp advised that if the Commission would agree to a new ATRIP agreement, it would free up the federal aid money that had been previously used for projects. The Commission passed the new agreement.
Sharp presented the Traffic Striping Quote for District 4 County Roads 121, 85, and 114 in the amount of $3600 which was accepted.
Sharp addressed the Commission on behalf of the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office for personnel changes.
The DeKalb County Sherrif’s Office had three resignations in the County Jail: Tiffany Edwards, Zach Bell, and Lee Hitchcock. The office terminated John Brown and Adam Jackson. The office requested the hire of Tim Smith to replace Adam Jackson and promoted Sara Slaton to Sergeant to replace John Brown. That will leave four vacancies within the office, to hire at a later date.
In other business, the DeKalb County Commission:
- Appointed Thomas Ridgeway to the 911 Board
- Appointed Board Members to the Peek’s Corner VFD- Robert Harris, James Mathis, and Cary Turner
- Hired Sebastin Costen to replace Stanley Shores at the Dekalb County Animal Shelter. Shores retired at the end of March.
Assistant DeKalb County Emergency Management Director (EMA), Michael Posey updated the Commission regarding the COVID-19 virus in DeKalb County. There are currently 16 cases within the county. Posey advised that there are still a couple of weeks before we hit the peak in the County. The EMA is looking ahead to services that might be needed for DeKalb County.
The next meeting of the DeKalb County Commission will be held on May 12, 2020, beginning at 10 a.m. on the second floor Commission Chambers of the DeKalb County Activities Building.
