Daniel Prince
New county website and branding should be ready to roll out soon
In other news from Tuesday’s Union County Council meeting, Robert Garner was honored for 25 years of service with the county. Dianne Spencer was honored for 10 years of service. Dennis Quinn, Annette Smith, Carolyn Edwards, and Will Sexton each have tallied 5 years of service with the county.
Supervisor Frank Hart updated council on the renovations of the two bank buildings downtown. He said the work should be complete at the old Wells Fargo Bank building within the next four weeks, if not sooner. The Union County Sheriff’s Office will be moving there. Sheriff Jeff Bailey said the building that formerly housed the drive-through staff is being converted into a patrol office, and evidence will be kept in the vault area of the main building. Hart said some overages have been encountered. He said money was allocated based on the contractor’s exact bid. Additional expenses for heating and air for the server room and other changes have led to a total of $27,141.76 in change orders so far, and an additional $10,000 or so may be needed after that. Council unanimously voted to allocate $27,141.76 from bond proceeds to pay for the change orders.
Hart said work is slower on the South State Bank building, as the crew is having trouble getting in the electrical components that it needs due to supply chain issues. He said the project could go into late July or August, depending on the availability of the components, even though the contractor is still projecting a completion date of July 1.
Council unanimously voted to fill four vacant budgeted positions in county departments. Probate Judge Toni Allen said she has to replace her entire staff and asked for those two positions to be filled. Christina McDowell with Healthy U Behavioral Health Services said she needed to fill a vacant prevention position. Clerk of Court Melanie Lawson said someone in the Common Pleas office will be leaving on April 19, and she requested that position be filled.
$19,563 in capital funds were requested and approved by council. That includes $8563 for a new stove at the Union County Detention Center, $4000 for tables for the training room at the Voter Registration office, and $7000 to replace the roof at the animal shelter to resolve ongoing leak problems there.
Dolton Williams with the Union County Development Board said Jami Trammell has been working for a couple of years or more on a new county website and branding for the county, along with the marketing firm Allison South. He said it is just about ready to be rolled out to county employees to review before launching to the public after that.
We’ll have even more from the meeting tomorrow.