County Commission Agendas - Regular Meeting

We'll do that next meeting. All right. Ready? At this time, I'd like to call to order the February 9th, 2026 Johnson County Commission meeting. Say thanks for everybody here. Um tonight we have um just a couple items on our new business portion and uh several items on the work session and we're also pleased to have Miss Angie Bailey here, president of Islands Medical Center to uh give us an update on the hospital. So thank you very much. Uh with that, I'd like to ask Mr. Hamri, our county administrator, to please call the role to establish a qual.

Commissioner present. Commissioner Kmer, present. Commissioner present. Commissioner present. We do have a quorum and if we will all stand please.

God our father in heaven as we experience today's weather we we are reminded of of your omnipotence and in your control of all things. God thankful for the warm weather we've had today and of days to come. We're thankful for the spring. We're thankful for the summer and the fall and the winter and all of your majesty. So God, we're thankful for these things. We're thankful for the place we get to live to experience all of this weather and and the change of seasons. Thank you for all the blessings you give us. Thank you for those men and women who serve us on a daily basis in a public way. We're thankful for them and their families. We pray you'll watch over us and guide us every day in Christ's name. Amen. Amen.

Attention. Salute. Pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Have the agenda in front of you tonight. One note for item B. We going to take a motion to modify that to the motions to budget amendment.

So with that, do I have a motion to approve the February 9th, 2026 agenda? I'll make that motion. We have a motion. Have a second. Second. We have a second. All in favor say I. I.

Motion carries. Thank you very much. I don't think we have any awards or presentations tonight. and no public comment tonight. So, we will move directly into the new business portion of our meeting. We do have three items on the agenda. First is a motion to drop the minutes of our January 28th meeting. Uh the minutes are in your packet. Give you a minute to take a look at those. Do I have a motion to adopt the minutes for the January 28 26 meeting and for exception? I'll make a motion.

We have a motion to have a second. Second. We have a second. Any questions, comment? If not, all in favor say I.

Motion carries. Thank you. The next item on the agenda is regarding an item that we discussed at our last meeting and work session. It is to replace the code red system with a a new mass notification system managed by our EMA uh department. Uh in your packet you have several items. You have two contracts. one for a system that replaces gold head without sirens. One type that is for a displacement uh with sirens included part of the notification. We do have a summary of the uh contracts and the key points of those contracts in your package key points on the first page on the back page. They have a breakdown of the price without sirens and with sirens. uh first year of total for funding is 23,5992 with sirens. The first year is $37,52,14. You then have the yearly maintenance fee for years 2 through 5. But let me open it up for some discussion with our EMA director, Mr. Josh Wickham. Josh, you thought you got one of the things we discussed in the last meeting was uh the delay with setting off the sirens. Now, if we had to ask the sheriff's department to come down, I did want to point out that this is a web- based cloud-based system. So

they would be able to have access at their dispatch stations to found the iron that would greatly reduce the delay. Okay, any questions of part of this discussion is uh the with sirens or without siren approach and so let me open up for that discussion. Uh so so for the for the sirens, how many current sirens do we have and what is the coverage about?

We have 18 current sirens. Um Scott section, Pisga, Woodville, Paint Rock, and Stevens and Bridgeport operate their sirens independently as Hollywood. Will they will they stay independently with this for the initial part of this? Yes. That they haven't given any indication that they want to go on board with the system, but that's something we can look at later on. And Josh, you do not situation they do not work.

Whenever we have a war come out, we call Bridgeport and Stevens independently as long as they're polygon. Can you comment about uh the preference? is the money available and the budget basically a little under $14,000 difference per lead first year and then on the next year's so it's basically $14,000 difference first year but the sub uh years after that it goes to where it's flat so the only difference is one for one $14,000 fee correct

yes sir basically so the money is not an EMA budget. Uh so we would have to amend the budget and the transfer into EMA comes out of the general fund. We do have a margin in general fund if we go either either solution. Well, I think $14,000 is a small price to pay for our citizen safety uh and the delay in a weather emergency. So I'll make a motion to go with the uh with siring at the building.

Okay. So what we need, this is the one item that I mentioned that we need to amend the motion and I think John we have to have a motion to do that if I'm right and that would be to amend the motion to u and you correct me if I'm wrong uh Matthew uh to add and amend the general fund budget transfer out for the amount of $37,122 $2.14 and amend the EMA budget to transfer in 37,14. So that is the motion before the commission. Do I have a motion?

That is my motion. Have a motion to have a second. Second. All in favor say I. I. Motion. Okay. Thanks very much Josh. Appreciate all the work that you've done to reach out to these folks and uh certainly do a survey of what best solution. We appreciate that. Be beneficial for them.

Okay. Next item on the agenda we also talked about in my last meeting and that has to do with right markers on county road 17. That is about Jonathan. I think that's what we're looking at here. It's a total of uh let's see I've got it here somewhere roughly 9.2 2 miles for the total length zone and that's from State Road 35 to Straight Road 79 and so the price of that is 7,926. So do I have a motion to approve payment markers for County Road 17? How much? We have a motion to have a second.

I second that. We have a second. Any questions? If not, all in favor say I. And we will hear the budget in our next meeting since we have the time. Uh that's the last item we have in the new business portion of the meeting. This time we'll move into the work session. And first would like to invite Miss Bailey the president medical center and uh and uh Miss Bailey I want to say thank you for your willingness to take your time to come here on a quarter basis and give us an update of what's going on with our hospital. So let me turn the floor over you.

Yeah, I always love to talk about hospitals online. I have quite a bit of an update tonight so please bear with me. Um, lots of things happening at the hospital. The first thing is our pension update. The Jackson County Healthcare Authority is the leader and helping us make decisions on the pension. Um, you all may or may not know, but it was frozen in 2010. So, the the employees um that were in the pension at that time, that's the last time that it was um offered. And at the time that Huntsville Hospital leased the hospital, they added $5 million to fully fund the pension. it was um less that amount and in August of 2025 we moved over to regions um as the trustee where previously we had been with John Hancock um prior to 2000 well from 2016 to 2025 when we moved to regions it was um 60 to 67% funded um since 2016 and now it's funded at 89% through regions um the discount rate is also at 5% now so we feel much more secure and the stability is there that we need to make sure that the pension funds are available to those employees. The previous monthly amount used to fund the account was $76,000. Going with regions, it's now $26,000 a month. So, a big improvement there. Um the unfunded liability will be paid off in 12 years. We also hired a company that we had around about 170 employees that um had retired or or were deceased that we could not locate for various reasons whether their address changed or their phone number changed. So, we hired a company that helped us to locate um either the retired employees or next of kin. Um they have been able to locate all of those um prior employees and to correct those um addresses and phone

numbers so that we can release checks to pay um to pay those out. Um the one I guess last piece of it is that the next of can process is more of a legal um aspect that we have to make sure that they are the um receivers of the estate funds. So we're working through that as well with legal um the pensioners you all may be asked they will get two 1099s this year. One from John Hancock and one from regions. So if you're asked about that or some that we've had a lot of calls so if you're asked that that's the reason why this will be the only year they receive two 1099s. Any questions on that? So, moving on to the central business uh central business office. You all may have received emails um because the system is planning to centralize all of the business offices on this side of the the region. So, US DAB and Marshall North and South um to a building um in Arab. And so when this was I I'll say that it was it came up on a call that wasn't a part of our um the the seauite's knowledge and so it was um brought up in a different meeting and some of our employees heard about it um were obviously very upset as were we because we didn't we didn't know ahead of time. Um and Jeff Sams was at our board meeting this week or last week and he apologized um profusely that that that happened because this is still in the planning phases. It's not anything that's set in stone. There's a lot of logistics, a lot of infrastructure, it all of those things that would have to be done prior to a move like that. So for us at Highlands and it it impacts all of the hospitals in this region, but for us at Highlands, it's six employees um that would be affected. And the plan now is that if they want to stay in that current job role, then Huntsville will increase their hourly rate so that they

can drive and be fairly compensated. If they don't want to do that, they can stay at the hospital um and with their same rate of pay in a like position, which Chris, our CFO, he's working on that as well. U my regret is that it they learned about it the way that they did. Um I think that it was right around the holidays and of course that's you know terrifying and so um Chris and I have really tried to be well we are transparent with them and tell them what we know which wasn't very much at all. Um but I think now there's a better understanding that you know my my desire has always been to keep our jobs in Jackson County. Um so just so you know because you may get questions out in the community. We don't know everything about it, but what I do know is that we'll take care of our employees. Any questions on that? Okay. Um, Crestwood purchase. I think that's been a lot of topic. I know absolutely nothing about it. It's been very secretive because of course, um, Crestwood is a part of CHS. They're publicly traded. So, um, the information that can be released is essentially none until the closing, which is April 1st. Um, what I do know is that they're an 180 bed facility. Um, we do have a lot of difficulty, all of the regional hospitals, in getting patients placed at Huntsville, Mine because they are always full with 60 or more patients waiting in the ER um to be placed in bed. So having those beds available at Crestwood because they offer all the specialties um not trauma obviously but they have cardiologists and um cardiothoracic surgeons and neurologists and all these things that we need access to. This will help us have access to that for our residents. We want to keep as much as we can here obviously um but there are times we need to send patients to a higher level of care that perhaps not really need to go to Huntsville Maine but could definitely benefit um from

being at Crestwood and being closer than if they had to go to UAB or somewhere Vanderbilt. So um I think we've got a lot to look forward to. There's so much growth in North Alabama. We can't keep up with it as I know y'all y'all are well aware but this will be a big help to us especially in our PR. Um there is another um RN market adjustment on its way um June or July. There will be another phase given to um RNs. I don't know the amount yet. They'll release that a little closer to time, but I do think it's good for us to be able to provide um better ways to be able to keep people from migrating to Pir. So excited about that. Um recruitment wise, we are recruiting for OBGYn. Um, if two, we would be happy to get two, but right now we're we're really um hoping for one. We have a a great recruitment firm that we use that's very robust and has I think I've interviewed three so far and um we really need that. Dr. Strad's here, Dr. Pierce is going to retire very soon. Dr. Vargas, she's telling me she's telling me she'll hang around. We'll see. She'll get tired too one day, but we want to backfill that. Um, ortho, we don't have an orthopedic surgeon full-time right now. We do share with DAB with Dr. Bright and Hester. Um TOC is recruiting a full-time orthopedic doctor for us and we're also recruiting an ENT. Dr. Marshall covers Decap and and Highlands and uh he is overrun. Business is very good for ENT. So we're recruiting someone to help him. Our WIM clinic will be uh closing or actually moving to the fifth floor. So that building we're going to expand where they are now to accommodate Dr. Clayton's practice. They're one of our busiest practices in the physician network. Um so we'll be building that out for them and moving clinic up to the fifth floor which is where we've moved Highland Surgical

Services. So Dr. Holtz and Ally are now on the fifth floor. They have a lot more space. Went up there today and Dr. Ally was running up and down the halls. He was so happy he had room. So, um that will be moving and we're going to do our very best to get the word out, do some really good marketing so that people know that that's where it's moved. So, on our capital improvements, um for this fiscal year, Huntsville has contributed 1.2 million. Um we will complete our security camera install by the end of this fiscal year. It includes facial recognition so that if we have um anybody that we feel has been a threat or has been a threat in the past, we can load their photograph into our system and they'll recognize them before they're in the hospital or recognize them in the parking lot. Um these cameras also will detect if somebody's laying down. So if somebody falls um in the parking lot or if you know, heaven forbid, somebody was hiding from someone else, we'll always know when somebody's on the grounds and our security guards can go out and check check on them. So a very high-tech um security system. Um so I'm I'm really excited about it being in place. We've also purchased new urology equipment for Dr. Simmons. Um it's working very well. The new generator project, which I've been talking about every time I come, I think the $1.67 six7 million dollar project. Um it has started a little bit. We did have Scottsbury Utilities help us out with some transformer um connectivity that we've got to do with preparation and they've been they've been wonderful. Um they've also money has moved into a pain procedure area. The CT equipment room needed a UHVAC. We've replaced the sprinkler heads at Cumberland Care Center. We bought new pediatric um physical therapy equipment. Our nurse call system which is phase two has will be completed by the end of this fiscal year and if you recall um prior to the new nurse system when a patient would call for health there was a five minute delay so about what Josh was talking

about you know those delays are costly um so we want to make sure that we don't have a patient in distress and not know for five minutes so those all systems are in place um it fiber installed that's been about $50,000 so and then a blood bank refrigerator replacement So, our volunteers, our little pink ladies, um they has contributed about $60,000 and they do this through the gift shop and bake sales. It's amazing to me how they how they uh generate all of this money. But they provided Riverbin Family Medicine with an exam chair, EMS with a blood warmer, an Olympus vacuum system for the OAG, fetal monitor carts, and newborn sensory hearing screening screening equipment. And that is required by the state of Alabama. And our foundation also has contributed about 60,000 um so far this fiscal year and for hearing tests for aiograms for occupational medicine. Um Ryan Traml has come on board with us in the physician network and he has really um developed a program for occup occupational medicine. So for Lucier, West Rock, all of these industries that we have in the community, um he is going out and providing those. He and the nurse practitioner are going out and providing um the services that we can provide to them on site so they don't have to come into the hospital. Um so he's also bought an EKG machine for that. Um they've bought tourniquets for EMS, blood batteries, ventilators, just so many needs that we have. Uh lastly, the rural hospital investment program. um it closed for donations this past week. Um you all may remember there's a $20 million cap um for this year. The most that a hospital can receive is $750,000 this year. Well, actually 2027. 2028 is a million. 2029 is 1.2 million. So we'll receive $634,000 next year, which we'll be able to use for capital purchases. And that's thanks to the the community u businesses here

in Jackson County that were willing to offset their tax payments to the to the fund to support rural hospitals. So we'll we'll talk with them more about releasing information marketing when we make sure they want to be recognized and then we'll make sure that we bring that out to the community as well. Any questions? I know that was a lot talking about capital purchases. Yes, sir. Can you name some of those type of things? uh which when they when you make a capital purchase, what are you talking about?

But that's money that's separate from operations. So Huntsville gives us a set amount of money every year um to use. So we have our contingency which this year was 500,000. So some of what we purchased was with that, but then they have their own um amount. We call it Jeff's money that he's able to do. So a lot So what do you buy all that though? Um, so we bought that was when I was talking about the security cameras, urology equipment, O equipment. Um, some things that are below the capital threshold that we do that really won't come out in these companies or all the facility upgrades. I try to put most of that into um just operations money because the building, you know, is so old. So we do

have a personal interest in that June and July raise because my daughters are in there. So does that cover all aspects of an AR? I mean, there's different leveling in RN. Yes, all RNs will get a raise. Yes, a letter went out to them letting them know that it was coming, but like I said, I don't know the the amount just yet. We're waiting on May release that information. I was happy to know that they were getting one. So, a couple things. First off, kudos on the work on the pinch pension. I know that was very much a a concern that we had making sure that

that looks a whole lot better. You mentioned that Crestwood was was uh adding 180 beds to the to the system which which of course is a good thing. Yes. Uh just curious how many how many beds do we have? We our certificate of need is for7 we staff 50. Um being at 50 beds it's really all we can staff but it puts us in the rural hospital. um additional funding that we can receive from the state. Okay. So, that's a number you want to stay at, is it? Yes.

And we we will go over. So, for example, right now, um everybody is really sick apparently. Um so, we are we're full at the hospital. We have patients holding in the ER. So, there may be times we go over the 50 number, but in general, 50 is our number. And for the most part, that's monitored care. I mean not not intensive care.

He has 10 intensive care beds and um so one thing that we're working with Huntsville own is you know it's very difficult to get specialists in rural areas. So I've asked for a pulmonologist that's an intensivist that can help us with these patients will be through teleaalth but I think our hospitalists will feel much better having that higher level of care provider just available through a tellahalth consult. We have really good monitors for tellahalth. We do that in other areas particularly for psych. Um so we're familiar with that with the teleaalth process and this will be an extra set of eyes on ventilator management. So, so with your availability there, is there is there something y'all don't don't trade secrets or anything, but is there is there a possibility that our hospital could become a specialty center uh with with that kind of person coming in potentially to say, all right, for regional for this for this type procedure, this is somewhere to specialize.

Such a good question. Um so possum I know right now with Marshall South I think it's Marshall South one of the Marshall hospitals we're they're working on being a higher level um neonatal intensive care unit facility. So there's a level two that we want them to be and then the really um six babies would go to Huntsville because they're they're over capacity there too. Um so we are looking at different ways to better use the regional hospitals for different specialties. So, um I don't know what it would be right now, but um I do know that we need cardiology and working with Huntsville to get at least tell health until we can recruit a cardiologist. Just some things to sort of buffer us for right now.

I I can I can see the benefit of using your multiple locations. This is this is especially for this and so on so forth. Um is there anything that we can do to to better support the hospital? Yeah, I've been can't think of a thing. probably drive you crazy. We're in contact a lot.

Well, I I'll have to say if we look over the from when the hospital uh postal hospital took over operation, great progress made clinical care uh facilities in the hospital. If you walk through the hospital, I know many of you have, you constantly see renovations going on and uh really appreciate what what is happening here for the hospital. patients are up as I understand and I think there's a

conference and we hear a number of good news stories about patients who come into the hospital and treatment and we recently had one of our employees that had an experience with the hospital Miss Perkins there. So Misty would you like to share a little bit of your experience? Okay. So, Friday, last Friday, February 6th, I went in for an imaging procedure. Um, it was as soon as I went into the waiting room, there was nobody in there. I was greeted and, um, sign was really quick. Um, I was taken back and reassured by the technician the whole time because I was a little nervous. Um, the radiologist actually came in and did the procedure, which I've never experienced before. And the whole time I could actually watch the procedure going on, which was really neat. I love medical stuff. So that was really cool for me. And then as soon as the procedure was finished, he he went over his opinion with me. And so I didn't even have to wait for my doctor to call me back with the results. So I really appreciated that.

Of course. Glad you had a good experience. That's hometown medicine. You know, when you're radiologist will come in and do that for you. That's small hospital. So I love it. Any other? Just want to say thank you for the update. you know, as important as it is that they're doing all this work, it's just as important to for us as commissioners to know what's going on. So when someone approaches us and and ask questions and we have information to give them, that's not always the case with boards and and different committees, but we appreciate you coming to us.

Another phone call away. If things come up um that you have questions about or if you're getting questions about, please call me. Um, total transparency is my desire. So, I'll be happy to share what I know. Uh, hospital's near and dear to me. I spent 12 years of my life being chair of that board. So, uh, yeah. So, I appreciate the work and dedications. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks very much for taking your time. We know how busy you are. So, spend some time with us. We're really Thank you.

Thank you. The next item on the agenda is placement of a 250 year memorial tree. I have a couple items that are opposing itself. The Alabama USA semiquentennial commission uh is uh given every county in the state an opportunity to get a a tree to represent and mark the 250th year of our nation. And uh that tree is a Princeton elm. Uh there's a sheet on the that I provided that will provide some information about Princeton L. U and the tree will be accompanied by a plaque and the sample of that plaque is on the second chief that you have this and the county would be responsible for selecting a site for the tree and for the planting and maintaining of the tree. The tree grows out a period about 20 to 30 years. It can reach a height of about 70 feet tall and width. I think on the sheet it does have a width of the tree. Um and it says that the elm tree um has a history in America being designated the first liberty tree. Uh so they are offering that tree to us. It is at our request that we want to have it directly. Um they will start delivering trees the end of August into March. And so we do have the opportunity to make this decision the last meeting of the uh this month. So I'd like to just give you the information that we have with the tree. Uh I have been in touch with the commission. Um and uh they certainly will be responsive to us for the

question about where to have the tree. Uh we have two we have a courthouse and we have the courthouse annex as also there would be the opportunity to provide the tree to either the municipality within the county or another agency within the county that we would think it would be very appropriate to have. So that is a decision of the commission as to where we would recommend the app. So let me open for just some discussions. Uh but we don't have to make any decisions tonight. This is for your information and we'll discuss it together at the 23rd meeting and make a decision. That decision will be do we want the three? So

I think the three will be great and you know Liberty Lane liberty project that kind of be cool. Liberty Lane. Yeah.

Uh, yes. I I don't disagree. I'm I'm curious with the grounds here at the courthouse and Liberty Lane. Uh, do we have any semblance of a of a master plan of where we want, what would be good there, what's what's what's not. Um, and I know that you're smiling at me because it sounds like additional work, but instead of just uh let's we we've got a we've got a nice evergreen. Let's put it beside our our whatever and have a repeat of what we we just dealt with out there. I don't want that. I'd like to I'd like to plant a tree where it can stay for 70 years and be and be beneficial or 100 years. Uh probably for this this tree. Um, okay.

But maybe too much as in a couple weeks. Well, let me answer part of your question. You know, we don't have a master plan. We have trees. We do have a lot of trees around the courthouse.

We have had to deal with in several instances of large tree limbs falling out of trees and landing on car. We've had some requests for insurance claims regarding that. In fact, u and and not to be light on this, uh many of the trees that are around the courthouse were um memorative trees that were placed and so they will be here for many years or as long as they survive. Many of those trees are getting aged at this point and they're reaching um arborists tell us near the end of their life. Uh but as long as they're here, we're going to keep those trees. Some trees around here are not commemorative trees. And if you know, some of them have not been in good shape. Uh we had one in the front that we approved taking out because it was not native to this area and it was it was clearly dying and the recommendation by everybody was that we needed to get through there. There is space over at the courthouse annex, the new building. Uh the annex certainly part of our courthouse structure. U the grounds over there now do not have uh any any uh landscaping done to it. There are no trees in and that. So there's plenty of space over there for that. One of the issues we have dealt with here at the courthouse is the number of trees we have in the canopy we have is creating an issue with the ability to stain sustain growth of grass on the lot. and we have invested several times with that. My personal recommendation that we certainly wouldn't want to do add another tree to the front of the courthouse to increase that canopy. But that's just my thought with that. So,

but just some things to consider certainly. Um and so are there uh folks uh more in tune than ourselves that could help with placement of this tree? Absolutely. We have a tree commission in uh in in the city uh that could help us consider that and we certainly have arborists that we have reached out to you and I'd love for Mr. F to be on that and yes I think that's a great idea. Okay. So, we can get a recommendation from those those folks and this any other question. So, I would certainly entertain having the tree the question now is just where we put it and we'll get some information for you. So, with that we'll we'll work on that and get that to you in the next meeting. We'll probably put it back on the work session but then after discussion make make a decision. Yeah.

All right. So, that's uh next item on our agenda is very parked and I think uh Doug has a request that we surplus a an old truck 1997 truck. Doug. Yes. Stamp. Yes, sir. Yes. We we'd like to surplus. We were fortunate to receive one of the trucks that was handed down from I believe it was mapping the appraisal and one of those three trucks came to the park. So with that we've got this 1997 model truck that we would like to surplus. It's pretty old and it's pretty rough. Okay, any questions? Are you going to dispose of it in surplus?

Put it on go deals. We'll sell it that way. Okay. So, we'll put that on your business for approval. Okay. Thank you very much. By the way, uh walk around the trail today and the burning bush trail. Uh won't be long until flowers are budding out over there the park. And so, thanks for the great work that you folks have really it does look good. That's the last item in our work session. So at this point, let me ask, are there any reports from the staff? County administrator, any comments? No, sir.

Okay. County engineer. Uh, county attorney. Okay. And now comments from the commission, district two, uh, Commissioner Kilmer. Uh, Commissioner, Commissioner Bner. I just want to thank everybody for coming out tonight and have nothing else to add. Four, Commissioner M. Thank everyone for coming out. Thank you to all employees for the hard work that they put into their account.

District one say it's a pleasure to serve and I appreciate all the hard work of the county employees. Okay. And so again, let me say thanks again. Thank you for the great work that your folks are doing at the top. With that, that is the last item that we have. Our next meeting will be February the 23rd. So, do I have a motion to return the meeting? We have a motion. We have a second. Second. All in favor say I. Just feet like