By Zach Hester, Reporter

FORT PAYNE, Ala. — (Full Video Below) At today’s regularly scheduled meeting of the DeKalb County Commission, reports on the road department, sheriff’s office and community organizations were heard.

The first item of business was a maintenance report update from DeKalb County Road Department Superintendent Tom Broyles in regards to new projects and progress on existing projects. Due to drier weather, work began on a new bridge on County Road 212.

“We’ve been able to get quite a bit of work done,” said Broyles. “It’s still two or three weeks away from putting traffic on it, but hopefully the weather will hold up.” Several roads in both Commission Districts 1 and 3 are being retreated as well.

The need for bids were discussed for a liquid asphalt storage tank just north of Henagar. While the tank is still fourteen weeks out (looking at August for potential groundbreaking), Commission President Ricky Harcrow motioned on Broyles’ recommendation for the Commission to be empowered to begin bids for that project.

Chief Deputy Michael Edmondson reported that two Sheriff’s Office employees, Sebastian Gomez and Will Fraiser, resigned. Both are headed for new jobs.

President Harcrow went on to announce that a new cemetery has been inducted in Alabama’s Historic Cemetery Register. In DeKalb County, we have 52 cemeteries that sit on the state’s Historic Cemetery List. Now Robertson’s Chapel in Rainsville has been added to that list, bringing the county to 53 cemeteries on the historical registry.

The next item was Teacher Appreciation Week. This year, the week falls on May 7-11 as schoolteachers around the nation are celebrated for their contributions to not only education, but society as a whole.

“I can’t emphasize enough how much we are indebted to our school system and our teachers, who are ordinary people who perform an extraordinary task. That makes them extraordinary people,” said Harcrow. “I don’t even have the vocabulary to describe what our teachers do for our young people today.”

Harcrow went on to encourage voters to approve the renewal of the education taxes on this June’s ballot because of how important it is for the community. “I hope that the general public will understand how important a ‘Yes’ vote is on these important taxes. It’s not a new tax… it’s all the educational taxes that go to our county and city schools.”

District 2 Commissioner and DeKalb County Board of Education member Matt Sharp followed with, “I firmly endorse [the tax] and appreciate Mr. Harcrow and the Commission for pushing for the authorization of that tax.”

Full remarks from each Commissioner can be found in the video below.

In total, the Commission took the following actions:

• Followed the recommendation of Superintendent Broyles to seek authorization for the purchase of a trailer and approved Broyles to begin looking at prices for a new service truck
• Approved Broyles’ request for a flatbed to be built onto an existing Road Department truck through Childersburg Truck Service
• Approved President Harcrow to continue serving on the ACCA Legislative Committee

The next meeting of the DeKalb County Commission will be held on May 22, 2018.