EDGAR CO. (ECWd) –

Study Session video below…

Board member Voigt talked about the budget and stated the County Sheriff was around $51,000 over budget and the Sheriff would assist in attempting to reduce and limit spending. Voigt stated this had nothing to do with the recent lawsuits and settlements. It was mainly do to retirements, overtime, and training. Voigt acknowledging that the board (on Mike Heltsley’s motion several months ago) took $116,000 from his budget during this year (without that removal, he would be under budget by $49,000). He stated the Airport Committee met and recommends Jerry Griffin as the new Airport Manager. The board is considering reconstituting the Airport Advisory Board and appointing members to it (Joe Scheiner, Dale Barkley, Jake Barrett, and Jerry Kesler).

The board is notifying the farm leaseholders about the ground around the runways and a change in what is allowable in the area.

Farnham suggested addressing eliminating the Sheriff’s Merit Commission due to it being redundant with the union. I’m not sure how that would benefit the county considering the commission is who determines qualifications, maintains the list of applicants, and “authorizes” membership in the union based on qualifications and employment position.

Farnham also suggested the ETSB (911) Director needs to be back at the jail building (if you remember back a few years it was her decision to move to the courthouse) and to have some supervision of the dispatchers. The ETSB did use ETS funds to build the addition to the jail and still hold claim to part of that space. He stated the City of Paris was still interested in discussing some type of joint dispatching arrangement.

A new animal shelter employee was hired. Concern was voiced over lack of dog tag collections recently, leading to people not having current tags.

Video from the July 21, 2014 Edgar County Board study session is below:

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