By Gary Lee Stuber
All three county commissioners: David Schoolcraft, Duane Legg, and President Joyce Johnson were present for the final commission meeting for the month of April. By all measures it should have been a short and eventless meeting as the agenda appeared to have only a half-dozen items on it, and of these, most were routine business.
The meeting started out with a joint statement from Sheriff Alan King and his tax collections department. The Sheriff’s department will be $1,100 under budget for the publication of delinquent taxes published in the paper of record as required by law. Further, they will need an additional $1,300 to print tax statements for mailing. He asked the commission to please meet this need. They told him that presently, like most counties where coal severance income has dried up, they are struggling to meet present needs, including keeping utilities paid on the county courthouse, but they would try to see what they can do.
The Sheriff also told them he was concerned about deputy pay. None had received pay increases in years, and they are losing many deputies to other counties who pay better. He said Clay was at least $4 an hour under the lowest paying of these counties, he stated that, “And the first of the year, Calhoun will give their deputies another dollar an hour.” He added that Clay has lost their last grant for a new sheriff’s deputy vehicle because they did not have the funds to meet the ten percent matching fee. They were applying for a new grant for a vehicle of $150,000 and would need $15,000 as a matching fee. “I guess I was frustrated when the opioid money came in and I wasn’t even asked. You put it all on the jail bill. And that is like putting a drop of water in a bucket.”
“You are right,” Commission Joyce Johnson agreed, “It is a drop in the bucket. But without putting a dent, even a drop, in that huge debt, it is so high and we have to make some kind of effort, or we will be in trouble and they will pull the plug on it.”
All three commissioners expressed regret and frustration that they could not help him at this time.
The commission then took care of routine business: bills, purchase orders, budget revisions, erroneous assessments, and fiduciary appointments as presented by the County Clerk, who was represented at this meeting by Deputy Clerk Judy Scott.
The commission took up a change order for the Judicial Annex, presented by Terry Martin, who was not present, as they wanted to address changes in both plans and costs as they arise during this, the interior construction phase. They hope to have the judicial annex completed and operational by the end of the year.
Two weeks after pulling the Special Emergency Ambulance Service Fee off the agenda to give more time and consideration to it, the Fee was back on the agenda at this very next meeting. This time no representatives from the tourist industry were present. All three commissioners voted to approve the fee. Commissioner David Schoolcraft, after having conversations with a number of people affected by it, offered a compromise. He suggested they make the fee effective in July of 2026, as opposed to this July. Commissioner Duane Legg agreed and the item was amended before being approved.
The final item on the agenda was to create a public transportation board, a committee to explore the implementation of public transportation in the county. Tim Thomas of the Mountain Transit Authority was introduced and spoke briefly on the public transportation proposal.
“We are proposing to come into Clay County and provide public transportation for all. This includes for medical appointments, shopping and more. It would be five days a week. Public transportation is a need, regardless of whether you have a vehicle or not, you can ride public transportation, it is not dedicated to one individual group. It came up in the meeting a few weeks back that there is a number of people in the county that need transportation. It is going to be a demand response system, and we will provide matched funding. It is also an economic boost to your county. For every dollar that goes in to public transportation through the American Public Transit Association, a study shows over these past few years, five dollars is returned. We will hire people within the community, house their vehicles here, and we will provide the service. I want to thank the commission for allowing us to come in and speak and get the ball rolling. The state was at the meeting and they are going to provide federal funds so that it is not the burden of the county or the individuals. We are looking at two routes, and we are looking at $80 to $100,000 per year, per route and that should be covered by federal monies. The county would need to come up with $200,000, an investment, really, in your own county,” said Thomas.
The committee will begin the task of making it all feasible. There is optimism that Clay County will have an opportunity for economic growth.
The first commission meeting next month is scheduled June 9 at 9 a.m.
