County Commission Agendas - Regular Meeting

This time I'd like to kind of order the July 27, 2026 Jackson County Commission meeting. Thanks for everyone being here. We have several items tonight to discuss and approve on our new business and several items also in our work session for the night portion of the meeting. At this time, I'd like to ask Ms. Turner, our County Administrator, to present the role of the staff.

Commissioner Bowling?

Present.

Commissioner Penimer?

Present.

Commissioner Buckner?

Present.

Commissioner McBride.

At this time, we do have a quorum. At this time, if everyone would please stand. I'd like to ask Mr. Porter to offer an invitation. Thank you. That's great.

God, our Father in heaven, we are truly blessed to live in this country and in this beautiful county and to have so many people that will volunteer and to be elected to serve us on a daily basis. We're thankful for the men and women that offer their time. in public service. Thankful for the men that are before us today. As they consider matters that are important to this community, God, we pray for wisdom and discernment, compassion for them. And we know that they serve because you allow it to be so. And we're thankful for all the folks that serve us each and every day. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.

Amen. Salute. Pledge.

We have a copy of the agenda in your packet for tonight's meeting. There are some additions that we're making tonight from our party announcement. First of all, there's item six in new business, item D. There will be a motion to approve the Mackinac Water Transportation LLC contract. We discussed this in our last meeting, and I tell you, it's really hard to vote on. And we have two items to add in the work session. First is item seven of the work session discussion. Item A, commission. Item two, the master B, MSS proposal for Jackson County Commission. And then under B, public works. Item one, government equipment lease. Give you a moment to look at the . Do I have a motion to approve the agenda with the state institutions? Motion is approved. Motion. Do we have a second? Second. We have a second. Any questions or discussion? If not, all in favor say aye.

Aye. Motion carries. Thank you.

We do have two awards, presentations to make tonight. So if I could get the commissioners to please join me.

We will take some time to do that.

We always enjoy the opportunity to take some time to recognize people who serve our county, those members of our Jackson County staff and family. We have a great team of people working for Jackson County through all our departments. And they come to work every day to serve and take care of the people of our county. And so, as I said, we want to recognize two tonight that have been with us for a while. And first, we'd like to ask Ms. Lucy Perkins to come forward, please. And Missy has one of the most interesting and rewarding jobs in the country. I say that because she has one of the toughest jobs that we have in the county. She is the person working for the county that is constantly searching for grants to help us to get funds to do the job that we do for the county. And she does a tremendous job. So not only that, but once she finds a grant, we hold her accountable to be the person that's the project and grant coordinator for all of that. So she stays in touch with everything that's going on with the schedule and how things are working. And she informs the commission about that. She has been with us five years. She started out as what we call the administrative role. and working with our county administrator. So she was doing a lot of work with our budget and tracking of the execution of our funds. And then I volunteered her to be the grants and project coordinator. I'm not sure she was ready to jump into that volunteer role, but she has done a wonderful job. So I missed you on behalf of the commissioners. I want to say thank you for the great work that you're doing for us, and we really appreciate it. by the work that you're doing. Thank you very much. You want to say something?

Thank you. This has been a great opportunity. It is an interesting job, so thank you.

Thank you. Mr. Chair, One of the services that we provide across the county is taking care of our seniors in Jackson County. And we have six senior centers in the county. We do appreciate the mayors and the town councils that allows us to use their facilities for a senior center. And we have a great staff that works in support of It is one of the most important functions that we have in the county that are trying to assist our seniors across the county. We serve a lot of food in our senior centers. We deliver a lot of food to those that are health vulnerable. And we also help them with prescriptions, help them reduce the cost of prescriptions, and we help them also with their insurance coverage. And so Chad is head of our Council of Aging team that is responsible for that. He is the director of our Council of Aging operation here for the county. So Chad, we want to thank you for the great job that you're doing. And so we want to present this again on behalf of the commissioners and people we can say thank you for that. Thank you. Do you want to say anything? Thank you guys for the opportunity. Five years ago, the very important job, as Chairman Nance said, and I take it to heart and very personal that we serve the senior citizens of Jackson County to the best of my ability and look forward to continue that in the future. So thank you, gentlemen. Thanks, sir. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you.

So with that, we'll move into the new business portion of the meeting. In your packet, you have a minute from the June 22nd meeting and work session, and also our June 24th and our June 26th budget hearing. So I'll give you a minute to review the meeting. So do I have a motion to adopt the minutes for the June 22nd to June 26th meeting and work session on the June 24th budget hearing on the June 26th to June 26th budget deal? I'll make that motion. We have a motion. Do we have a second? We have a second. Any questions, comments? If not, all in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Thank you. Next on the agenda is we discussed in our last work session the opportunity we have to provide a bonus for the employees of our retirement system. And this will be a lump sum of payment. This is from the legislative act. We 26, 6, a way to restore local unit retirees and beneficiaries, you know, sees the times. And the Jackson County Commission has elected to come under the provision for that. And we used to provide all funds necessary to the employees. We can recover the cost of a one time loan from the United States by this act. Well, those eligible retirees as well as the beneficiaries of the deceased retirees of Jackson County Commission with the months-on-payments being paid beginning in October of 2026. So do I have a motion to approve and sign the resolution for Act 2026-608, months-on-bonus for retirees 2026? I'll make that action. Do we have a motion? Do we have a second? Second. We have a second. Any questions, discussion? If not, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Motion carries. Thank you. Next in the packet, there are two hazard mitigation grant programs that we are required to review every five years. And so this is that time that we have to do that. You will see those two grant programs in your packet. These are to allow us to participate any time that we have local disasters that we can work with FEMA and with our state EMA office to be able to apply for grants under these programs. So if there are any questions, let me open it right now for any questions. We have Josh here, director of the Bay that could answer those questions. If not, do I have a motion to approve and sign the two hazard mitigation grant program for emergency management? We have a motion. We have a second. We have a second. Any questions? If not, all in favor say aye. In our last meeting, we also discussed renewing our contract with Mack Mortuary Transport LLC to handle our transport services. We have reached out to Mack Mortuary with the contract package. They have agreed to that. And it has been reviewed by our county attorney. And it was discussed in the last meeting. The question that came up in the last meeting was to make sure the timing of response was included in the contract. And it was included in the previous contract in the bid package. But our county coroner has asked us to include it in the contract itself. So we've done that. They have agreed to that same timing. as previously agreed to. And so we've asked, do I have a motion to approve the Mack Mortuary Transportation Rules in the contract? A motion. Do we have a motion? Do we have a second? No second. We have a second. Any questions?

Is there a penalty for not making the time or any kind of consequence in the contract?

The thing that we're working on is making sure that we know when the time starts. And so I will explain that. Usually when you have someone stuck in the state highway patrol that works, the accident, even if it's on county roads. So the discussion we're having and we're working with a corner in the state highway patrol, it would be best when highway patrol shows up if they think it's necessary that they would notify Mack Mortuary and they would stop. If in the point, the time of their, before they arrive. If there is a family, the family would refer some other, maybe a funeral home to respond. They just let them know and they will turn around. But this would improve the timing. So that's the agreement we're working on.

Is there a question?

If not, all in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Thank you very much. That's the last item in our new business portion of the meeting. We'll move to the work session. And so we are proud to have with us tonight the president of the College Health Network Center. This session is going to give us an update.

Thank you so much. I brought up a point that I'm also getting a property. So you'll have that information. We'll take that to your communities. I wanted to take this time today to give you an update on our EMS, our ambulance service. As you know, it has become a part of HH EMS, which is primarily Hennessy and Huntsville. Their longtime director, John Howell, is now the president of that and has taken all of the ambulance services in the system under that umbrella. But we are still managing it at our local level. So Chris Hall is our director. We're in constant contact. Basically, he still reports to me, but the financials are handled by the school system. So the new things that we have, we've got a fifth ambulance today, actually. So we have five new ambulances that are in service. We will get five more. So the mechanic service repairs are provided by HHMS. It's at the HMSE garage in Huntsville. So there's no longer any cost to the hospital for that. All of the ambulances and supervisor trucks have GPS in there and they all have cameras inside the ambulances and the supervisor truck. So if there's an accident or anything that involves our ambulances, we can see the video. And they also, HHMS in Huntsville has a long-distance ambulance that when it's available, they will make those transfers for us, which we often see in children who need psychiatric needs. They'll have to go past Montgomery, sometimes to Mobile, you know, Vanderbilt, UAB. If they're available, they'll do that for us to keep ambulances in our community. So last year, we just ended our fiscal year. Our fiscal year is July 1st to June 30th. So these numbers reflect our most current fiscal or past fiscal year, fiscal year 26. So these are the total runs that we made in our fiscal year. So it's 10,060 and it's broken up by stations. This year compared to last year, we saw a significant amount of increase in the community stations. So we're talking about North Jackson, Pisgah, Skyline, Bryant, So I know that those areas are needing more help, and I'm thankful that we're out there to be able to move those calls. Of our EMS calls, 77% were actual 911 emergent calls. 23% were non-emergent calls. So I think you can see the value in having our ambulances available in all the different communities, which I know you all know already. But it's very important to us that we're able to meet all of the 911 calls. And having those trucks available allows us to take care of these folks in extremely rural areas. Our top 10 transfer sites, of course, the Highlands Medical Center is the first one. The second one is Central Hospital 90. We do a lot of transfers to patients' homes, whether they're discharged from the hospital or if they're from a care center and they've been in short-term rehab. So that's our second, our third one, and then Cloverdale, of course, the nursing home, DeKalb, Erlander, Park Ridge, Fresenius. We do a lot of transfers for dialysis patients, Child Memorial, and Crestwood. We have recently purchased new handheld ventilators. They are very, very small ventilators that can be carried in a backpack. Well, that's just a significant change in technology compared to what we've had to use for ventilators in the past. We've used it three times this week or last week, but we've used them three times already last week and had excellent results. It's impressive that a ventilator this size actually has the power to work, but it does. The other thing that we have implemented, and we were the first hospital in the system, is blood products and re-ambulances. especially in a rural area, if you have a significant trauma, blood can save lives. And so we have implemented that in our ambulance a few months ago. They've had to use it a few times. So it's very good that we have that available. This is Dr. Christensen doing additional training for our MS group. He's our medical director of EMS. He's very hands-on with our team and does a lot of additional training. It's not that late unless you have questions or any questions that are possible.

Okay. Do you have a question?

Yeah, I do. Thank you, as always, for coming. Okay, you mentioned that there are five ambulances that are new and you have five more coming. You decided where those are going or what's the plan for them?

There should be a new one at each station.

Okay. It is replacing.

We are keeping one or two of the old ones just in case we need extra. We donated one of the old ones to another old one we'd like to donate maybe to Northeast as soon as we have them all replaced. So we are trying to repurpose what we have, but to also keep one or two of the old ones available.

And I assume that that's Which I wouldn't mind if I'm in need.

Yeah, training purposes.

All right. Next, and this is probably completely irrelevant. The cameras inside the ambulance is more so than the supervisor truck I know you mentioned for in case something happens. Is there a possibility that that could be – use for coaching or for help with service? If you've got an emergency situation now, I can see what's going on.

So the emergency situation, the camera does not view the patient. It views from but we do use it for education and coaching of ambulance members, the employees. One thing that this camera system will do is if someone's on their cell phone, it will verbally alert that it's aware that they're on their cell phone for them to stop using their cell phone. So it's just reminders and safety. We probably need that in all of our vehicles, but in the ambulances in particular, they did get that alarm.

So you can stop at any time. You're here voluntarily. So based on my amateur math, I used the number 350 days to make runs. and with the total number of runs that you have. So from the hospital, you're averaging about 14 runs a day. And at North Jackson, it appears to be roughly four a day. And then the other two locations, Skyline and Bright, three a day. And so that's why I was kind of a prelude to where the emphasis is going to be. I mean, I know that those areas in their remoteness, if they're gone, It's going to be a long time before they come back. So we want to make sure that there was an ambulance there in their absence.

So with the old ambulances, they're very, very old. They don't have air conditioning in the back or heat. And so in the summer, it's like an oven. So we want to make sure that all the new ambulances are being positioned at all of the stations for just obvious reasons. But also, the old ambulances, the It's like a cabinet that's inside. They're bolted in. The new ambulances are actually, they're connected to the wall. It's not with bolts or anything. It's just a part of the design. So it's a lot safer all the way around. So our intent is to replace all of the ambulances at all the stations.

Very good. All right. I think this is my last question. Lots of calls that y'all need non-emergent. What is a non-emergent call?

for help when they get there. They deem it's not an emergency. We do have a law now that you can treat in place. And so they can go. A lot of that's anxiety types like calls that they can treat in place. And a lot of them are people that we know. They're people who call frequently. So they have a relationship with those patients.

I'm always wondering about money. A lot of money. Do you not know?

I don't. It doesn't come out of my budget anymore. I know it's a lot, though. I'm sure. Yeah, I'll find out.

All right. So final question. With the maintenance and everything being centralized at the main hospitals, And I know you will, but is there a guarantee that we're going to get to keep these? Will they get called for Huntsville runs, or will this be something that we get to maintain the integrity of these ambulances in our area?

Great question. So they're just there to be repaired. They come directly back into our community. And that may just be oil changes and just regular maintenance. So... So to this point, NC has only come and helped us. We've never had an ambulance pulled from our community. We do work with DeKalb and Marshall counties that come over and help us. We can help them if there's a shortage. So we are partners with our surrounding areas, but not to the point that it would ever leave us without coverage in Jackson County. I have an app on my phone that shows me where all the ambulances are. So at any given time, I can check to see. And I'll send a text out to you and to the mayor and... Chad Warren, who's the chair of our board. I just wanted to let you know when we're short. I'm in the loop.

Any other questions?

Questions? Anything else about the hospital in general? Any questions?

Can you give us an update on the acquisition that's going on?

Crestwood?

Yes.

That is complete. Kyle Buchanan, he was the president. Helen Keller is now the president at Crestwood. So lots of transition there, but I talked to him this week. He says it's going really well. As far as I know, it's all as it should be.

We were there this week. Personally, I saw them signs change. They're not going to change.

They'll be like Hempsey. They'll keep their signs.

Okay. Okay. Thank you very much. Thanks again. Real quick, I want to go back to Ms. Veller's question. I didn't answer it. I tried to talk about how we're trying to solve some problems. I know there's no penalty, but the issue we've been trying to deal with is as soon as possible, get a notification so they can get on the road quickly. If they're willing, if they're not the chosen transport system, no additional charge at that point of service. Next item up is your package you have from a CPA fund, BMSS, and there's a proposal for them to provide support for us here with Jackson County Commission. As you know, every year we do our audits. We have a firm that does audits. ready for the audit. And that is a requirement that we provide through the state audit to our annual financial statement. We have reached out to this firm. It's a different firm than we currently have. This firm is located in Huntsville. They're close. So we have questions that we can get face-to-face and have those kind of discussions. If you'll go to page seven, It lists the services that they would provide, and that includes provide client accounting solutions and general accounting assistance and assist with the preparation of financial statements and related supporting documents and schedules for this statement. Also, proposed general wager entries identified and approved by management. prepare and organize financial information for the audit preparation and assist the commission with preparing schedules, reconciliations, and other information requested during the audit process. And then, as they say, meet with us whenever we request. The other item I'd It brings you to page 11. Just like all the other firms, they have services based upon hourly rates, based upon the professional level of the member that you're asking for support. And so you see those rates that are there. Services to be provided would include accounting solutions, assistance with the items listed, as you saw on page 7, and any other consulting requirements that we would have. Let me ask County Administrator, Ms. Turner, any other comments if you'd like to make.

No, they do come highly recommended from a few places within Huntsville. One of them being TFC. So they do have experience also working with governments, which is the other reason we went to this source.

And So what I propose is I wanted to put this in your package, let you take a look at it. We'll have further discussion at our next meeting regarding it. We're in process now with our 2024 audit. The state auditors are here. They're working on that. And as we move through that, we will want to get started with our 2025 audit financial statement so that we'll be ready to go with our 2025 audit process. So that was what I wanted to do. I just want to make sure you have it active and we will, if you're okay, we'll put it on new business for the next meeting. We have a question you might have. This is the last item under commission. The next item is public works, and it's time for us to renew our government appointment lease agreement. We'll move over to County Engineer Mr. Kemp.

Thank you, Chairman. First, of things to tell you. So please, as we work through this far away, as the chairman alluded to, just a little bit of background. For about the past decade, you guys have chosen to leverage our budget item for equipment by governmental league. And so that's a tool that allows us to keep a core group of equipment new serviceable condition and work in and out other pieces to try to work on a backlog of how a lot of it will be so that is set to expire on the current items and there are five items we'll get to in a second and that's set to The budget item in 111, just as a reminder, is represented by $150,000 combination of capital lease and interest. So I'll be working from the sheets that look like this, and hopefully yours will just staple together practically. The five pieces that are in the current government lease are listed in that top box. The first number is really for us, but you have a make, year and make, model, serial, current hours, estimated auction value, current payoff that will be due August 21st, and now some of that will go into another column for auction guarantee. The payoff that will come due represents the column that's at the bottom of that column. And the auction guarantee, you will notice, is just partially represented on some of the pieces in the top box. And that is due to we would recommend that the top two pieces that we actually perform that payoff rotate those out in the fleet and retain those pieces. And I'll explain more. So the lower section is a request of surplus. And those are pieces that are either old, like the 2002 and 2005 brooms, or disabled, like the 2002 Roscoe chip spreader. And then a piece, a rubber tie roller, which was essentially used for chip sealing. And now that we've transitioned to hot picks. So the next two boxes just are the two highlighted colors. And when the lease terminates, then this represents a request to pay off all of that, because obviously that's required by the lease. But then we would retain the top two pieces and ask that we surplus everything highlighted in yellow. And the map is essentially what's left to the right of that. Auction net guarantee is $250,510, and that's net. So that's auction guarantee less auction fees. And then the payoff is $250,720 for a difference of $210. Are there any questions on this sheet before I move to the next? So we did request just now surplus three essential pieces that are currently in the . And we would request that we replace those in addition to the two old rooms that are in the lower hall. The next sheet represents the options for those replacements if we would like to continue this program. So they are represented as option A, option B, and option C. And the categories of the equipment move in a column to the left, and the options are each column after that. So in each section of the first column, you'll notice the type of equipment, the purchase price, the interest rate provided with the government lease option, municipal lease option, or similar options provided by these sources. for the past 10 years. What I mean by that is five-year terms. It's essentially a purchase with five-year terms with a balloon or stub payment at the end of that term. So that's what we see on the first sheet for the payout. And that's the structure that was requested and the options provided. So I can go into each section and talk of models with this, but just in summary, the excavator that's represented would replace the excavator, which the lease would terminate on. The compact track loader would replace the compact track loader represented on the first sheet. The mini excavator would replace the backhoe. It would be surplus. And then the ride on grain, that payment amount would essentially be doubled to represent You will notice that interest rates range from 4.99 to 6.25. In option C, for example, there is another option that was provided that represented a local partnership where the interest rate wasn't provided, but the payment was and the balloon payment was. So we self-calculated about a 7.8% interest rate. Otherwise, without going into each one, there's a couple of details I'll just point out quickly. Not all options had every piece that was requested. So you'll notice there's an NA in option A and option C, and that's because those options didn't have a broom in the first example and didn't offer a compact track loader in the second example. So to competitively compare the monthly payments and the annual amounts, we chose the cheapest payment option that would be from the other source, just to build out a true comparison. The ride on brooms for option B and option C, you'll notice that was available there. In summary, the monthly amounts at the very bottom of the page represent the monthly payment amounts that can be expected from each option, the annual amount that that monthly payment works out to, and then you'll notice separate government lease greater. So the same structure that I just mentioned also applies to one piece of equipment per grader, and that current obligation from that $150,000 budget is $36,000. So in considering that amount in addition to the monthly and annual amounts that each of these options would accumulate, if we add that grader option with the cheapest lease option, we're at $157,498.80. So our budget item is $100 in the existing budget amount to achieve this. That concludes the summary, but I can go more into this if you're not, if you're not cultured enough.

Okay, any questions? Do you have any recommendations, Jeff?

Well, we agree with what the commission has done in the past 10 years in using this tool. It helps the overall. There are 30 pieces of equipment and $150,000. It doesn't fix it, but with this tool, it helps us manage it. Our recommendation would be on the first sheet, all of the islands highlighted in yellow, we would recommend that those we serve And then the items being replaced with option B from the second page that would result in $10,124.99 free, $121.498 to be paid off. And that B would combine with the existing greater lease for the the next five years, I put in my face. In your packet also, you have the proposal and you will, like I mentioned, J-1 proposal should be in your package. You will notice a decrease in the number from cheap one and that it's auction price that you will see in that proposal less often be. And then just for reference, a photo of the the brooms that we are replacing the circle.

Any questions?

I just, and I know you have two brooms now. You need to replace both of them.

What do y'all use this for? Yeah, so snow and ice, snow and ice debris on the road, behind the mowers, in the pipe. to two. And that was one part of the government release program is we want to get around to a four-piece estate in this and be able to pull in really old pieces. So 21 and 24-year-old rooms, and you can see by the auction amount that's offered, they're taking a lot.

Okay. If you have a question, put this on your business name. We do have the time to put it on the next meeting. You guys are listening to this. Thank you.

All right.

That's the last item we have in our work session. So we've been doing some work. So from the staff to the county administrators.

I do not have anything.

County engineer, any public comment?

Just quickly, about 17, that work completed today. So you will notice there was a two-day advertised road closure. There'll be no road closure tomorrow. All that work is controlled.

Let me ask, can you give us a status on, I know we applied and signed the agreement for the $500,000 and asked to go to the state. What do you think the timing for County Road 93 is?

I really don't know. We did make that agreement. Submitted it to the state. They picked that up last week. So I can just tell you it has to work throughout our into the governor's office. After that, we could expect a pre-construction meeting to be held. And then after the pre-construction meeting, I noticed for C before we can start. So it usually takes a few months, a couple months.

Okay. You're making contractors. Yes, sir. Yeah. County attorney?

I don't have anything.

Okay. We'll move to signs from the commission, District 4, Commissioner McBride.

As always, thank you to all our boys for their hard work and dedication. It's very hot outside, and don't think that we don't think about you guys out there in the sun when you're working. I know it's tough, and we really appreciate what you do for our county.

District 3.

But our two honorees tonight, it makes me feel like a proud papa since I got to vote for both of you getting voted in. But thank you for sticking with us, and your work is very needed and appreciated, both of you. Because it's about the extra things that you do. You know, going above and beyond, making sure things are done correctly, with class and style. And I've never received a complaint or even a suggestion of a complaint on either one of you for not being professional, not doing everything you could. So very appreciative. And thank you for all of our employees. But tonight we're highlighting the two of you. So thank you for that.

That's true. Thank you. Thank you both.

Congratulations, everyone. Appreciate what you do. On top of everything else, the transition from county administrations to HR, all y'all start to make those transitions. It seems like it's going to be well.

I just echo everything that everyone else said. Thank you all for your hard work and dedication to the assistance.

Thank you. Just to comment, we've advertised for about three weeks for our board opening position to fill an unexpired term with the Jackson County Health Care Authority Board. We have received no applicants to this point. So I would again say anybody that is interested in the opportunity to serve our county as a member of that board, that's a very important board. that, and I'll ask our county attorney to make sure I'm right on target here, but Highlands Medical Center still belongs to the people of Jackson County. It does not belong to the hospital. And that authority board is the landlord for our hospital and represents all of us here in Jackson County. And they work with the hospital and their operations. And so being very much involved and participating in that is a very critical responsibility for us here in the county. So anybody that is interested, just as we asked before, just send in a request. If you would add a resume, let us know your experiences. We would appreciate that. And as soon as we get an applicant, we'll put that before the commission for approval. So with that, thank you very much. Our next meeting date is August the 10th. And it will be here. We do have already a number of items logged up for the August 10th meeting. I think you'll find that it will be a very informative and busy meeting. So do I have a motion to adjourn the meeting? No. We have a motion. Do I have a second? Second. We have a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Motion carries. Thank you.