Supervisors approve quarterly reports

BY BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

County officer reports highlighted an otherwise light agenda for the Henry County Supervisors during their regular meeting Thursday morning.

Third-quarter reports from the county sheriff and county recorder were received.

Rich McNamee, county sheriff, said in his report that his office served 290 persons with notices or court orders during the quarter. Topping the list were 51 people served with money judgments. Twenty-six county residents were served with petitions and 25 received original notices. There were also 22 orders setting hearings served.

In financial matters, the sheriff?s office dipped slightly into the red for the quarter, receiving $132,102.05 while disbursing $133,361.43. However, the sheriff had a positive balance of $16,525.83 at the quarter?s end.

Bond revenue was the largest source of revenue at $11,300. On the other hand, the total of all judgment-related disbursements was $73,741.35 for the largest payment.

Some 513 civil papers were received. Arrest warrants accounted for 48 of the civil papers, while notices of garnishment and interrogatories each were at 37.

The recorder?s office collected $80,303.30 in fees for the quarter. Revenue stamps sharing with the state were the largest revenue source at $25,434.71.

Fees collected from recording of instruments amounted to $18,110.

Supervisor Gary See had the lone sub-committee report. See reported on the Stronger Economies Together (SET) public forum he attended Tuesday afternoon at the Union Block Building. SET is a regional economic development initiative with Henry, Washington and Jefferson counties partnering in pursuing economic development and strengthening the region.

?It was your typical seminar on identifying strengths, weaknesses and opportunities,? See began. ?I thought it was more of a struggle than others I have attended. However, that doesn?t mean the outcome wasn?t good.?

When asked how he defined struggle, See said ideas and thoughts came slower than at some similar forums he has attended.

He noted that housing (the lack of) was one of the items that surfaced. ?It is difficult to identify (housing) needs and when the needs are identified, it is tough to come up with capital. I don?t see any subdivisions being created that would be a step above Habitat (for Housing program).?

The board met in special session today (Friday) at 8 a.m. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the possible expansion and/or renovation of the county jail with McNamee and architect Larry Goldberg. The county jail has beds for just eight prisoners and the county has a daily average of 20-25 prisoners.

Consequently, Henry County prisoners are jailed in other county jails, costing the county over a total of $1,000,000 in recent years.

The next regular meeting of the supervisors will be on Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 9 a.m., in the courthouse.