County Commissioners urge support of Constitutional Amendment 14
By Lauren Thornton Tobin|Hartselle Enquirer
Morgan County Commissioners today adopted a resolution, and urges all county voters, to support the proposed Constitutional Amendment 14 at the polls in November.
Apparently a technical issue related to a routine vote in the House of Representatives may have passed statewide and local bills even though there weren’t enough votes.
Chariman Ray Long said after the meeting that out of those 600, bills, Morgan County has around 10 that could be challenged in court.
“(Amendment 14) makes it where it ratifies all the bills that were passed whether they passed the House or not,” he said, adding that county residents have no real need to be concerned right now because none of the bills are being challenged.
“We’re not affected at all but there’s a bill right now in Jefferson County being challenged and that brought light to this for us,” Long said. “Right now we don’t expect anyone to challenge any of ours, but it’s always good to solve a problem before it gets to be a problem.”
Commissioners also urged support of Constitutional Amendments 3 and 4.
According to a paper explanation at the meeting, Amendment 3 will makes “it harder for voters outside of the county to undermine the voice of the local citizens on local issues.”
Amendment 4 gives Commissioners limited management and administrative activities in certain county personnel and community programs, “ensuring that county commissions across the state can take management and administrative action on those specified critical issues that impact the day-to-day quality of life for the residents.”
In other business, Commissioners:
- Approved the elimination of the Mapper II position for Morgan County.
- Authorized the refund of $547.57 sales tax to Citizen Asset Finance Inc. due to overpayment.
- Authorized Chairman to execute an agreement for Mitnick Wilderness Program.
- Authorized the refund of $45.50 for Deed Tax, recorded in error by the Morgan County Probate Office, to Kimberly J. Bates.
- Authorized Chairman to execute an agreement with the North Alabama Highway Safety Office and Morgan County for 100 percent funded salary plus allowable fringe overtime funds to be expended from Oct. 1, 2016 to Sept. 3, 2017. Funding is made available under an approved grant and between NAHSO and the State of Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs — Law Enforcement Traffic Safety Section.
- Authorized $23,169.52 to pay West Morgan East Lawrence Water and Sewer Authority for Utility Relocate on Vaughn Bridge Road for a bridge replacement project.
- Authorized the appropriate elected official/department head to fill the positions of Animal Control Officer and Equipment Operator II.
- Verified that the Morgan County Commission has fully complied with all 10 requirements of the Association of Count Commission of Alabama Self-Insurance Insurance Funds Safety Incentive Discount Program.
- Approved a certificate to subdivide properties located within Morgan County for Donnie Max and JoAnn Wright.
- Authorized Chairman to execute the following contracts representing the promotion of Morgan County, Brewer Fishing Team $500, Priceville High School $300 and Hartselle High School Basketball $100, which are payable out of the Tourism, Recreation and Convention Fund.
- Approved a motion appointing Wayne Reed to the State Products Mart Authority for a six-year term beginning on Oct. 12.
- Approved $5,997,828.39 disbursements to Accounts Payable, Payroll and Accounts Payable ACH.
- Approved budget amendments for various departments for Sept. 2016.
- Approved $567,805.87 for Morgan County.