By Michael V. Hannigan
Henderson County Commissioners Court met for its regular weekly meeting Tuesday morning. I was at the meeting and reported from the meeting on Facebook. (See post above.)
Below are the items I reported about.
eFiling Fee
Commissioners discuss an optional $2 transaction fee for eFiling, and by taking no action eliminated the fee for now. The fee would have gone to the county.
Commissioner Ronny Lawrence said we are “fee’d to death” and said he wasn’t for this action.
Commissioner Ken Geeslin ripped the state for instituting a $20 filing fee last year and now another $2 fee. He said eFiling should be more efficient, not cost more, so he is also against it.
County Attorney Clint Davis told the court the intent of fee is to help counties to recoup cost of implementing eFiling, because many counties may be incurring costs to do so. However, Henderson County is already well along in that regard.
eFiling will not be mandatory until 2015 and that may be pushed back, said Commissioner Wade McKinney.
ETMC EMS Contract
The commissioners approved an ETMC Emergency Medical Services contract with the county for ambulance service.
The contract is for five years with two automatic extensions.
Commissioner Ronny Lawrence questioned the automatic extensions of contract at 5 an 10 years.
“We might could get a better deal (later),” he said.
An ETMC representative at the meeting said it would be hard to get better than free to the county. Currently, the cost is placed on the patients.
Lawrence said maybe the county could get more first responders or get more money for first responders.
Commissioner Wade McKinney noted that the previous contract had been structured the same way and that either side can get out of the contract with notice.
The contract passed 4-1 with Lawrence voting no.
Odyssey Project
The court approved a pair of documents to move forward with the Odyssey Project (scope of work and charter).
The Odyssey Project is the process of switching the county to a new software system.
Commissioner Wade McKinney told the court that the project is ahead of schedule because of the enthusiasm of the county employees for the change. He said local employees are excited for the training.
Recycling Contract
The court approved an electronic recycling contract for Pct. 4 Commissioner Ken Geeslin.
Pct. 4 is trying to be a total recycling location and can currently offer single stream, glass, oil an oil filters. But it cannot currently do electronics.
Geeslin said he has found a company to come pick up electronic devices every six months to haul them off for recycling at no cost to the county.
The court approves contract unanimously.