The Herald Bulletin
While the Madison County Council is still working without a budget for the 2008 fiscal year, it did address several issues at its regular meeting on Tuesday:
• The county highway department is in its last stretch of fixing potholes around the county, Commissioner Paul Wilson, D-South District, reported to the council. The department requested $40,000 of funds be transferred to overtime to pay for two weeks of work done by the department. Wilson said the highway department had spent $400,000 on materials this year on patching potholes. To compare, in 2007 the department spent a total of $87,000 for pothole work, Wilson said.
• The council unanimously approved the purchase of three new computers for the assessor’s office, as well as the hiring of five employees. Three of the new employees will be stationed in a satellite office in Alexandria, where they will work on all business and personal property assessments. It is hoped that the office will open by Aug. 4. The two other new employees will help in the county office to make up for the loss of 13 township assessors. All of the money used for the computers and the new hires will come out of the reassessment funds.
• Max Howard, chairman of the Public Defender Board, requested $19,680 to pay David Happe, chief administrative public defender, in back pay. Along with being a full-time public defender, Happe acts as a chief administrator in distributing cases and coming to compliance with state regulations. The action passed 6-1, with Gary Gustin, R-District 4, dissenting.
• Wilson reported that the county was meeting with other governmental units to consider purchasing certain supplies, such as fuel, paper and road materials, together to reduce costs.
