The Cherokee County Commission held their regularly scheduled meeting Monday Morning. The meeting was held in their chambers at the Cherokee County Administrative Building.
Present were Commissioners Randy Jones of District 1, Dr. Roger Nichols of District 2, Ronnie Shaw of District 3, and Carlton Teague of District 4. Chairman Tim Burgess was not present for the meeting. The meeting was chaired in his absence by Commissioner Teague.
The pledge and invocation were held, in honor of Spc. James Holloman of the Alabama National Guard, who has been honored for his heroic actions on July 24th of 2024. Holloman was able to removed a mail carrier vehicle that had caught fire away from gas pumps at the Fruitdale Corner Store.
There were no public comments scheduled for the meeting.
The Agenda was approved by the commission. Two announcements were made regarding items for the next meeting, to be held on March 24th at 5M. Those regarded vacating a small parcel of road that was discussed at last months meeting, as well as an appointment to the Regional Airport Board. Applications for the position can be submitted up until March 19th at close of business.
The council approved three items on the agenda.
The first item declares the week of March 28th through April 5th as County Clean up week.
The second item approved was dealing with the Sheriff’s department, combining on part time investigator position and one part time deputy position that have yet to be filled, into a single full time deputy position.
Sheriff Shaver said the decision in the long run should save the county money, and would create a position that would handle issues such as transportation to and from courts, along with other duties.
The third item on the agenda that was approved, was to let bid, or begin to take bids on restoring the old Weis Egg building located off of Hwy 411 North of Centre in the County. The building would be used for animal control, storage, and other possible future uses.
Prior to the meeting, in the planning session we heard from Animal Control officer Dutton regarding the proposal. Dutton stated the current shelter was full, and unable to take more animals. The same situation is facing most other shelters in the area, leaving no where for animals to go.
The shelter has been receiving as many as 600 Animals a year. The use of the much larger facility would allow for animal control to handle many more animals. Initially it would be cats and dogs, but in the future they hope the facility would allow them to deal with and house livestock as well, when needed, one day. There are several structural issues with the building currently that would have to be repaired.
They have been working over a period of around two years with an architect to draw up a feasible plan. With those plans in had, they are now ready to accept bids to see what the needed work would cost. It is the accepting of those bids that was approved at today’s meeting.
The commission was not going to go into executive session today, and the meeting was adjurned until the next meeting to be held on March 24th at 5 PM.
