BOC to assist fire dept. with land purchase

However, county attorney Mike Pruett told the commissioners that Boswell could lawfully sell the property to the county without incurring fines. The fire department can then purchase the land from the county.

The board unanimously agreed Monday to purchase the property and have the fire department buy the land from the county.
Seagraves said there is no timetable on construction of a new station.

“We don’t intend to start building right away,” he said, adding that the designs have yet to be drawn.

In other matters Monday, the board approved installation of a plumbing system and a septic pump system at the recreation department soccer complex by Marc Perry.

The group discussed a proposed policy change that would give the BOC chairman authority to make decisions on contract change orders for up to 10 percent of the contract price. Commissioner John Pethel said he wasn’t comfortable with giving the chairman that much authority. He said he’d be OK with giving the chairman latitude on expenses up to $1,000, but he said anything above that should be voted on by the board.

“Some of you remember four or five years ago when we had serious issues with this,” said Pethel, referring to conflicts the BOC had with past chairman Wesley Nash.

Commissioner Mike Youngblood didn’t care for Pethel’s statement.

“I don’t see how you can compare this administration to the previous administration,” said Youngblood. “What’s in the past is in the past.”

BOC chairman Anthony Dove called for a “point of order” as Pethel and Youngblood’s exchange grew heated.
Dove asked that the board not approve the policy change. And a motion by commissioner Pete Bond to accept the change died due to a lack of a second.