County commission appoints new committee members

The Sept. 20 meeting of the White County Board of Commissioners included the appointing of new members to committees for the upcoming year.

Before the votes on the committee began, Chairman Stanley Neal addressed the commissioners saying he was sure they had all, like himself, received numerous emails about the county’s response to vaccine mandates.

“The state passed laws back in the spring that dealt with vaccine mandates and vaccine passports. Currently the legislature is asking that a special session be called where they can do more about this,” Neal said.

Neal stated he wanted to give the county an update about what was happening at the state level. Those laws would be what the county follows, not the ones coming from the federal government.

“During this pandemic we’ve had a tough year – we’ve lost loved ones, and we’ve been sick, some of us, but I wanted to thank you all for still making things work and go on within the county,” Neal said, acknowledging that it hasn’t been the easiest of years, but that the county’s commissioners have continued to work for their constituents.

Moving on to the business of appointing leaders and committee members, the nine commissioners present (Dale Bennett, Cain Rogers, Dakota White, Lee Broyles, and Terry Alley were absent from the Sept. 20 meeting) voted to approve the following:

• County Commission Chairperson – Stanley Neal
• Vice Chairperson – Roger Mason
• Parliamentarian – Lanny Selby
• Resolution 48-09-2021 – Appoint Budget Committee:

T.K. Austin, Dakota White, Kyle Goff

• Resolution 50-09-2021 – Audit Committee

T.K. Austin, Dakota White, Kyle Goff, Chairman Stanley Neal, and one citizen representative (Michael Lewis)

• Resolution 52- 09-2021 – Steering Committee A
• Resolution 53-09-2021 – Steering Committee B
• 55-09-2021 – Fair Board Member - Roger Mason
• 56-09-2021 – White County Library Board Member - Dale Bennett
• 57-09-2021 – Agriculture Committee Members – T.K. Austin, Lonnie Crouch, Andy Haston
• 58-09-2021 – Beer Board members – Robert McCormick, Lanny Selby, Dillard Quick

There were amendments made to a few of the appointment resolutions before the commission passed those.

“I make a motion to remove Dakota [White] as it is a conflict of interest to be on the Financial Management Committee and the Budget Committee,” Dillard Quick said when Resolution 49-09-2021 was presented to the board.

The commissioners unanimously agreed and replaced White with Quick and then approved the motion to create the Financial Management Committee of Cain Rogers, Dale Bennett, Lanny Selby, and Dillard Quick.

When the time came to vote on Resolution 51-09-2021, Neal had to be replaced as a commissioner representative as he would already be on the committee as chairman, along with two of the county’s department heads. An amendment was made and the commission approved appointing Lanny Selby and Robert McCormick as their representatives to the Purchasing Committee.

Resolution 54-09-2021, which appointed the Solid Waste Committee, also received two amendments changing the nominations due to conflict of interest before being passed. Ultimately, the commission approved appointing Andy Haston, T.K. Austin, Robert McCormick, Lanny Selby, Dillard Quick, Roger Mason, and Kyle Goff to the Solid Waste Committee for the 2021/2022 fiscal year.

The commission also addressed a few other resolutions during their September meeting.

Resolution 59-09-2021 to remove stop signs from Taft Church Road and Jerry Parker Road was sent to the full court by Steering Committee A.

“I make a motion to table this until a member of TDOT can look and see if they need to be taken out,” Quick said, adding that having an engineer’s opinion on the validity of signs in the addressed area would be beneficial should there be an accident and the county end up in a court of law.

The commission voted to send the resolution back to Steering Committee A for further review.

Without any further discussion or amendments, the full court of commissioners voted to approve the following amendments:

Resolution 60-09-2021 – Resolution to sell property acquired in delinquent tax sales

Resolution 61-09-2021 – Resolution to amend the general debt service fund

Resolution 62-09-2021 – Resolution to amend the highway capital projects fund

Resolution 63-09-2021 – Resolution to appoint new EMA director - Matt McBride

Before adjourning, the commission also approved the issuance or renewal of notaries for Jennifer Scott, Devon Neighbors, Randy Rich, Destiny Price, Rhonda Dawson, Roy Whited, Kristi Holman, Chad Marcum. Michael Lewis, and Destinee Price.

The next meeting of the White County Board of Commissioners is set for 6 p.m., Oct. 18, 2021,  the third floor courtroom of courthouse.