By angie meadows
The county budget committee will increase from five to seven members in October under the new policies and procedures recently adopted by the county commission.
Under Rule 17, the Budget Committee shall be made up of one Commissioner from each of the seven districts to be appointed each October by the County Mayor and approved by a majority of the County Commission. The officers of the Budget Committee shall consist of a Chairman and Vice Chairman to be appointed by the County Mayor.
The commission voted 9-5 to adopt Rule 17 Budget Committee procedures along with separate provisions of the new policies and procedures manual. Commissioners voting in favor were Janice Fish Stewart, Myron Rhody, Beth Pafford, Dennis Slager, Bobby Johnson, Jenny Trapp, Julie Young, Scott Little, and Bruce Malone. Those voting against were Commissioners Anita Puckett, Jeff Barnes, Sabrina Farler, Jerry Adcock, and Matt Adcock.
The initial proposal under Rule 17 was for the Chairman of the County Commission to make the appointments to the Budget Committee but 1st District Commissioner Dennis Slager offered an amendment to assign that responsibility to the County Mayor. Currently the County Mayor and Chairman of the Commission are one and the same, Tim Stribling. Each September, the County Commission names a Chairman to serve for the ensuing year. Historically the Chairman has been the County Mayor but it can be a member of the County Commission.
“We don’t know who the next Chairman is going to be. It may be Tim (Stribling) or it may not be. I don’t know if he wants to continue to serve (as Chairman). My point is the County Mayor should make the appointments because he is elected from all over the county and he should have the vision to represent all the citizens of every district. If you put one of these people sitting here (County Commissioners) as chairman you are going to put politics in that chairmanship like you have never seen before,” said Slager.
The Commission voted 11-3 to approve Slager’s amendment to Rule 17 giving the County Mayor rather than the Chairman of the Commission the budget committee appointment authority.
Commissioners voting in favor of the amendment were Bobby Johnson, Julie Young, Jeff Barnes, Sabrina Farler, Janice Fish Stewart, Myron Rhody, Beth Pafford, Anita Puckett, Jenny Trapp, Dennis Slager, and Bruce Malone. Commissioners Scott Little, Matt Adcock, and Jerry Adcock voted against the amendment.
The budget committee currently has consisted of five members appointed by the County Mayor including Commissioners Sabrina Farler from the 2nd district, Dr. Scott Little from the 4th district, Jerry Adcock and Anita Puckett both from the 5th district, and Jeff Barnes from the 6th district.
Under Rule 17, one of the 5th district commissioners will be forced off the budget committee in October since only one commissioner from each district may serve.