Clarke County Democrat

Smile when you fill up at county gas pumps





The Clarke County Commission voted Tuesday to advertise bids for surveillance video cameras to capture use of the Road and Bridge Department gas pumps.

Two cameras, at different angles, will be installed on the tower near the department on Clarke St. and will record the pumps across the street.

“This is something that I think is needed very much,” said Commission Chairman Jackie Ray Rush. “We have a lot of problems down there.”

Commissioner Tyrone Moye asked why the key card system was not sufficient to record use of the pump.

“There is a discrepancy in vehicles fueling up,” Rush said. “It is an ongoing problem of people not writing their mileage down.” The county is not receiving correct information about “what gas in going in what vehicle.

“…I’ve watched this for two and a half years, and trust me, it’s a problem.”

“There is an accountability problem,” said county administrator Lois Morris. “It has caused internal problems. A camera would get rid of that problem. Some of the accountability has been dealt with in certain ways, but (the cameras) would encourage everyone (that uses the pumps) to be accountable.

“…There have been ongoing issues with it. (The pump system) is not being used properly.”

Moye said Tuesday that he was in favor of the cameras being installed.

In other action from Tuesday’s meeting, the county will continue a partnership with the Community Action Agency of South Alabama in Daphne for office space in the extension building on Court St. The county also provides the utilities.

 The county voted to provide healthcare service for inmates at the County Jail. An extra nurse will be added for 12 hours, seven days-a-week (an additional $61,261.20 to the $142,638.84-a-year contract with Southern Health Partners), said county administrator Lois Morris.

Therefore, a nurse would be available seven days-aweek. Funding in the sheriff’s budget for a maintenance assistant could be used to offset the cost of the additional nurse.

 Chairman Rush is concerned about illegal hunting on the North Clarke Industrial Park, site of the Louisiana Pacific mill. County officials have yet to discover who is hunting, he said. Gates have been put up in the past to try to keep (hunters off the property), Rush said. The game warden had been contacted about the problem.

The hunters are so brazen that there is an active grass patch at one site, the chairman said.

If hunters are going to use the site, “I think we ought to get paid for it,” the chairman said. He asked his fellow commissioners for their input about the legality of granting hunting leases for 374 acres (leases at $8 to $9-an acre).

 The Friends of the Animal Shelter volunteer group wants to contribute money toward improvements to both buildings on the site of the proposed animal shelter, which will be located on Highway 84 East in Grove Hill. That proposal needs to be presented to the commission for approval, said county attorney Bruce Wilson. “It is the commission’s building. You have control over it. You need to know what’s being done.”



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