The Messenger

The Pike County Commission decided Monday night to let Pike County citizens vote on the 1¢ sales tax in the June 4 primary.

The tax will not include big-ticket items like automobiles, manufacturing equipment and agricultural products. The sales tax, which was enacted in October because of proration in education, will run out at the end of this year. But, the county commission wants to make it a permanent tax and also wants a share of the profits to go to the Pike County Commission’s general fund.

In other business, a representative of Haynes Ambulance Service met with the commission to discuss a $3,000 grant through the county. The money would be used to purchase new equipment, including a ventilator. The ambulance service does not have a ventilator for use with pediatric patients. Commissioners tabled the decision until the next meeting, citing concerns over the ability to buy back the equipment should Haynes choose to leave the county and about the precedent of granting funds to private entities

In other business, the commission:

· Approved a pay increase for Engineering Personnel at the top of the pay scale, effective Feb. 1, 2002.

· Approved travel request for training session for some of the records and road department to attend Simm’s Training Force in Gulf Shores.

· Approved the four 10-hour workdays for the Engineering Department, beginning March 4 and ending on Oct. 11.

· Suspended the rules of redistricting for voting sites pending Precinct 11, District 5 voting location. Some of the voting locations have been changed or eliminated. Some of the changes are Saco from District 3 to District 1 and Needmore to District 1 previously District 3.

· The Pike County Commission wants more information before it accepts a bid for much-needed repairs to the Pike County Extension Office roof. Commissioners on Monday refused to accept Acme Roofing Company’s bid of $29,000 for a low slope roof because of material and warranty concerns. Commissioners already had rejected a $69,000 bid for a metal standing seam roof because of the cost issue.

· Suspended the rules of redistricting for voting sites pending Precinct 11, District 5 voting location. Some of the voting locations have been changed or eliminated. Some of the changes are Seco from District 3 to District 1 and Needmore to District 1 previously District 3.

· Discussed with a McCord Communications representative repairing four emergency Sirens located at different locations in the county, including Hamilton Crossroads, Meeksville, and Springhill, which have a manufacturing defect in the speaker driver located in the top part of the unit.

The sirens were purchased in May 2000 and are under warranty, but it does not cover removing the sirens, which requires a 65-foot bucket truck, or the labor involved.

If McCord Communications supplies the labor, it will cost $2,320. The commission will decide in one of its next meetings what it will do to fix the siren problem.