Sparta
The White County Board of Commissioners held its monthly full court meeting on Monday night with one topic generating a lot of discussion: Commissioner attendance.
Attendance to meetings, both full court and committee, has been less than satisfactory in recent years, and the White County Ethics and Oversight committee sought to hold elected officials accountable. The committee presented a resolution that would incentivize - or punish depending on how you choose to look at the issue – commissioners for attendance.
Currently, county commissioners receive $250, paid monthly, regardless of their attendance at what are assumed to be meetings required to effectively do the job associated with their position. The resolution presented by the ethics committee stated that commissioners would receive 12.5% of their monthly compensation, or $31.25, simply for being a county official. In order to receive the remainder of the money, they would need to have adequate attendance.
The new resolution stated that commissioners would receive an additional 43.75%, or $109.375, for attending their Steering Committee meeting and the same amount for attending the monthly full court meeting.
Commissioner Becky Golden said that she has to leave work early to attend committee meetings that start at 5 p.m. She indicated that this was a problem and might not be feasible all the time.
“It’s not going to solve the problem,” District 4 Commissioner Dakota White said. “I understand the concept, and am fine with putting this in place, but it’s not going to solve it.”
Chairman Derrick Hutchings informed the court, which only had 10 of the 14 elected commissioners in attendance, that the authority to pass the resolution was already included in the county’s bylaws and therefore only needed eight votes to pass.
“It’s in the bylaws that the Ethics and Oversight committee can take action upon commissioners not being present,” County Executive Denny Wayne Robinson clarified when commissioners asked why it needed a vote at all. “It doesn’t say what that action has to be. That’s what you’re doing tonight, deciding what that action is to be.”
A roll call vote was taken. Initially, Golden’s vote was “sure,” however, after both White and Cain Rogers voted against passing the resolution, Golden requested to change her vote. The result was seven votes for and three against, causing the resolution to fail.
Other actions taken by the commission on Monday night include making a pair of budget amendments, reappointing Jason Sparks and Ashley Dicus to the 911 Board for a term of four years, and approving new and renewal applications for notaries.
The final action taken Monday night was to approve moving the commission’s January full court meeting from Jan. 19 to Jan. 20, in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, which falls on the regularly scheduled date.
Members Discussion