County, Cities Discuss 911 Board
The Jasper County Commission met with representatives from the cities of Monticello and Shady Dale Monday evening to discuss changing the bylaws for the 911 Authority.
Currently the board has 11 members, and sometimes it is difficult to get a quorum with that many people on the board. So the commissioners wanted to lower the number of board members, but as the Authority was created by all three entities, all three must agree to changes.
Commission Chairman Bruce Henry said it’s not working well, and thought that a five or seven member board would be better. However with a seven member board, four would constitute a quorum, and votes could result in a tie.
When the authority was originally formed, all three entities helped fund the service. After Service Delivery negotiations a couple years later, it fell on the county to do all the funding.
Commissioner Asher Gray commented on the cities not paying for the service. Monticello Mayor Pro-tem Doug Currie was quick to point out that city residents pay county taxes too.
He also commented he was shocked to see (on his tax bill) that the schools get more money than the county. Then Mr. Gray and Mr. Currie went back and forth on city and county obligations before returning to the matter at hand.
Currently the board consists of the Sheriff, Fire/Rescue Chief, five members named by the county, three by Monticello, and one by Shady Dale. Commissioner Steven Ledford suggested making the sheriff and fire chief advisory, and leaving five community members on the board. Chairman Henry who had met previously with a Shady Dale representative, Monticello City Councilman Tim Womack, and the sheriff, said the sheriff said they need to be voting members.
Commissioner Don Jernigan expressed his desire for a five member board. After more discussion, the group tacitly agreed to a five member board. The meeting was considered a work session, and all members of the city councils were not present, so no action could be taken. Currently, there are several vacant positions on the board, so only seven members are serving. The group agreed to keep it seven until two members terms are up next March 1, and when their terms are up they will drop off, making it a five member board.
In discussing when the votes would be complete, Chairman Henry said that the action doesn’t require a public hearing, but he thinks one should be held.
After that issue was resolved, Commissioner Gray asked the Monticello representatives if anything had been done about traffic on the Square. Councilman Womack assured Commissioner Gray that the Department of Transportation is ready and willing to help and is currently trying different things, such as the timing of the stop lights.
