‘A new day’

An open line of communication is first on the board of commissioners’ agenda for 2009, followed by a laundry list of issues including roads, finances, taxes and personnel issues. These were just some of the matters on the minds of county commissioners Saturday morning when they met in a four-hour called meeting with chairman-elect Anthony Dove and District 4 commissioner-elect Pete Bond to discuss plans for 2009.

CHAIRMAN-ELECT’S RECOMMENDATIONS

Dove took the podium first at the early morning meeting, saying jokingly that his first order of business was to initiate a recall – on himself.

Dove told commissioners he realizes he faces a variety of daunting tasks as he takes office next month, but that he feels the place to start is with communication.

One of his first recommendations to the board was to consider changes to the two commission meetings each month by making one an “agenda-setting meeting” and the other a business meeting.

Dove said from what he has learned, agenda-setting meetings allow more time to consider matters coming before them.

He said having such meetings should help the board limit suspending the rules and using the “urgent matters” section of the meeting to discuss items not on the agenda.

As to closed (executive) sessions, Dove said he would like to keep those “very focused” on the stated reason for the meeting behind closed doors, and would like to have all in attendance, including himself, sign an affidavit at the end of such meetings stating they had kept to the topic.

Dove also wants to make the public meeting room, as well as the county complex, more “consumer-friendly.” He wants employees to make a greater effort to answer the phones and he wants to establish a code of conduct for all employees on how to interact with the public.

Dove said he would like to have monthly meetings with department heads and meet with his staff the morning after each commission meeting to implement board decisions.

“I want us to get out of the ‘putting out fires’ mode and look at some long-term goals,” Dove said. “Always reacting to things costs us money.”

He plans to have a written itinerary so that the BOC and the public know when he will be in, or out, of the office.

Dove said he has started a dialogue with several incoming chairmen in surrounding counties similar to Madison County about developing regional projects. He said he feels this will become more important as state and federal cut backs continue. “We’re going to have to start looking at doing things differently,” he said. “Change is not always good or comfortable.”

BOARD’S RECOMMENDATIONS


For their part, the commissioners spoke of reinstating many of the chairman’s powers they removed or diminished during the current chairman’s tenure.

First off, the BOC said it would like to return hiring and firing to the chairman.

District 5 commissioner Bruce Scogin said he’d never been comfortable with the board “airing employee issues in public.”

“There has been a lot of ‘drama’ over the years,” District 3 commissioner Mike Youngblood said, adding that most of it stemmed from a lack of communication and a lack of seeing board actions implemented by the current chairman. “Now having someone that will communicate — I think the drama will be a lot less,” Youngblood said.

The board also offered the use of a county vehicle to Dove. Scogin pointed out that they had not taken away the current chairman’s vehicle, but had restricted its use to business hours while requiring some accountability and responsibility.

“He (chairman Wesley Nash) opted not to do that,” Scogin said.

Dove said he would prefer to go to and from work in his own vehicle, particularly since he takes his children to school each morning, but that he understands there may be situations where he needs to conduct county business in a county marked vehicle.

“It was a battle from day one for the past four years,” District 2 commissioner John Pethel said. “I feel we’ve went from a country club atmosphere to a business atmosphere and I welcome that.”

The board also discussed quarterly meetings between itself and department heads to give everyone more opportunities to voice their concerns.

Commissioner Thomas suggested rewarding employees for implementing cost-saving measures.

Chairman-elect Dove said he is looking forward to the challenges ahead. He told the board that the best saying he had ever read was this: “The man that is sure he knows everything sure has a lot to learn.”

“It’s going to take all of us in this room and the whole county to lift the civility level and start rebuilding relationships between us and the public,” he said. “It starts with me and I intend to do my best.”

“I enjoyed this,” Scogin said of the meeting. “I think this has helped us get a feel for how it’s going to be. I hope we can do this quarterly.”