White County Board Meeting; Tame
There have been some tense White County Board meetings this year. The July meeting was far more tame. Board members Jake Carter and Cassie Pigg were both absent. Kayci Heil sat in for the vacationing County Clerk Beth Sell.
Among the action taken Tuesday night at the courthouse, present board members including chairperson Ron McAnulty, Ken Usery, and Clint Spence approved the resignations of Wes Trout and Tina Wells from the Housing Authority, which was the subject of one of those aforementioned tense meetings. Only one replacement was named last night. Maryanne Salvato will officially take one of those spots following her appointment. Also in resignations and appointments, Norris City Mayor Charles “Skip” Land will take over former mayor Roy Kissel’s seat on the Greater Wabash Regional Planning Commission.
The White County Board is moving forward officially after offering to purchase the now non-operational Carmi Times building from Gatehouse Media. The sale price agreed to will make the county owners of the building for $50,000 though it’s generally agreed the county will have to sink significantly more into the building before making use of it.
In county officer reports, Ambulance Director Adam Allen says his department came up just slightly in the red for June, though the books show the WCAS is in the black by more than $83,000 year to date. Heil gave a report on behalf of the County Clerk’s office saying the new election equipment was in. It’s expected the cost of that equipment can be paid for through ARPA (American Rescue Plan) funds. McAnulty says the county has received more than a million ARPA dollars already.
County Treasurer Pam Armstrong was absent as was Circuit Clerk Kelly Fulkerson, Supervisor of Assessments Terri Abell, and EMA Director Patrick Scates. Sheriff Randy Graves reported the air conditioner was in a bad way at the jail with a coil broken. The board signed off for the county’s top law enforcement official to move forward with purchasing a new unit from Seiler. It’s expected that purchase will run between $9,300 and $10,100.
The County Board did hold an executive session to deal with personnel. Mum was the word following however and no action followed prior to adjournment. The county board will gather again on August 10th at 7pm, once again in Courtroom A of the White County Courthouse.
