Beech Tree News Network

The Butler County Fiscal Court met in regular session Monday night. All members were present.

Debra Hall from the Butler County Boys and Girls Club asked to speak to the court. She was told last year that if her organization wanted to request additional funding she would have to ask before the budget was made for the next fiscal year. Hall spoke on Monday to give the magistrates a breakdown of her budget, where funds go that are given to the Club, and to ask for a $2,000 increase to the Club’s funds for fiscal year 2012-13. No action was taken, but Judge David Fields did thank Hall for the work the Boys and Girls Club does in Butler County.

Judge David Fields recommended to the court that James Runion be added to the Occupational Tax Committee. When the court approved the committee they gave Judge Fields the power to add another member at his discretion and Fields chose to add Runion, the local Farm Bureau agent. The measure passed 5-0.

Next the court approved the nominees to the Tourism Board. The board is a joint venture with the City of Morgantown. The court voted 5-0 to install Roger Southerland, Diane Dyer, Becky Hankins, Terrell House, Doug Odle, Brenda Longhoffer, and Darrell Deweese to the board.

Butler County Sheriff Scottie Ward presented his annual settlement and his budget amendment to the court. Ward reported that his office’s receipts are fine, pending audit, and that the only shortfall is the remainder of the $55,000.00 startup money he borrowed from the state when he took office. He reported that he still owes just over $18,000.00 to the state from that loan. Ward also presented his annual budget amendment to cover his salary increase as mandated by the state. Ward received a raise of $4, 018.50 making his salary $75,743.87.

County Clerk Shirley Givens also presented the court with her updated salary requirements as set by the DLC. Givens’ salary for this year will be $79,531.06. The sheriff and county clerk’s salaries are set each January by the state Department of Local Government based on population data. According to the DLG Butler County had a population of 13,329 in 2009 according to an estimate from the United States Bureau of Census. Jefferson County had the highest population at that time at 721,594 and Robertson County was the least populous county with 2,237 estimated populations. By comparison the Jefferson County Clerk makes $113,615.80 and the Robertson County Clerk makes $68,169.48.

Givens also presented the court with her settlement from the last calendar year. Givens gave the court a check for $164,320.69 representing her excess funds from fees, etc. gathered in 2011. David Fields remarked that the check is the result of hard work from Givens and her staff and praised the Clerks’ office as being one of the best he has heard of.

Road Supervisor Timmy West spoke to the court on a pair of issues. West asked the court to officially adopt new national standards for road signage. The new standards govern the reflectivity of road signs. He also reported that his sign budget will go up because of the need to replace signs throughout the county that do not meet the new standards. Magistrates approved the new standards 5-0.

West also asked that applications be taken for one full-time employee for the Road Department and one summer part-time employee. West reported that his crew is not fully staffed at the present time, and that retirements are coming up. West asked the court to hire Randy Grubb as the summer grader operator. West said that his new grader operator Josh Renfrow would benefit greatly from having an experienced operator help show him what needs to be done for seasonal road maintenance. Judge Fields agreed with West, but Third District Magistrate Chad Tyree was against the hiring. Tyree pointed out that the new Personnel Policy adopted last year requires that all positions be advertised and applications be taken. Fields agreed that they should follow the new policy and said that both positions would be advertised. Magistrates voted 5-0 to take applications.

The court went into closed session to discuss purchasing land from Wayne Hatcher. When they returned they voted 5-0 to authorize Judge Fields to negotiate and buy the land, which is just below the Huff-Ingram Apartments. Fields reported that the land will be used as the site for a new senior citizens center.

The court voted 5-0 to authorize payment to Roger Givens in the amount of $18,000.00 for clean up of a tire dump site. The county will pay 25% of the cost of the clean up with the state paying $14,880.00. Magistrates voted 5-0 to approve the payment once the site is inspected by state solid waste officer Mike Sapp.

The court voted 5-0 to purchase security cameras for the courthouse hallway at the cost of $3,900.00. The move was prompted by an incident in the courthouse in late autumn.

4th District Magistrate David Whittinghill asked that a raise be given to the county secretary and treasurer. Whittinghill said that these two positions are among the lowest paid in the courthouse and he feels they need and deserve the raise based on the work they do and the responsibilities they have. No action was taken and information will be gathered before the next meeting concerning the salaries.

Businessman Barry Embry, of Radio Shack/TLC Sales, spoke to the court concerning a disputed property tax bill. Embry said he purchased a piece of property in 2005, but never received his 2005 tax bill of $333.04 because it was sent to the wrong person. Embry said that the outstanding bill was sold in 2007 to an outside collector for $572.65, and when he finally received the bill it had ballooned to $1,646.00 because of penalties and interest. Embry said he settled the bill for $1,493.00 and now wants the county to pay the difference of $1,190.00 because he maintains it was their oversight that caused the problem.

Because County Attorney Dick Deye wasn’t at the meeting the magistrates took no action, but the issue will be addressed at next month’s meeting.

The meeting was then adjourned.

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Story by Joe Morris, Beech Tree News