Staff Writer

In the Pike County Commission meeting Monday night, Allen Dunn homeowner and David Gilchrist, Sr. part land owner had a dispute over whether a public county dirt road off of Highway 103 in the Neadmore Community needed to be paved.

"I would like to keep the area as natural as we can," said Gilchrist. "I want my grandchildren to be able to ride bikes up and down this road one day and paving this road would take away from the serenity of it."

Gilchrist and his brothers own Neadmore Farms, Inc. They farm peanuts, cotton, corn and grow timber. They also have recreational turkey and other game on their land. Gilchrist feels that a paved road would take away from their land’s beauty as well as more of its acreage that would probably be needed in order to widen the dirt road to make it possible for two cars to be on the road at the same time.

Dunn, who is a well-known eye doctor in Troy wants the dirt road paved and will pay for its pavement without any expense to the county.

"I don’t think making the road more passable alters the beauty of its surroundings," Dunn said. "I also think that the road can be improved without taking any more of Mr. Gilchrist’s land, but if more land is needed for the roads improvement then only about an acre and a half will be needed of Mr. Gilchrist’s land. The upkeep of an dirt road can be rather expensive for the county to maintain, and if Mr. Gilchrist lived on road he would have a different point of view."

The Pike County Commission decided to let its attorney and county engineer do research on road in terms of ownership and then they will decide whether the road will be paved.

· Approved starting the proceedings of moving the Juvenile Probation Office to a new and bigger office on Highway 87. The City of Troy will supply any extra money needed for the difference in the leases between these two buildings. The new facility will be already handicapped accessible. The Juvenile Probation Office will have a three-year lease option on this new location and the option to renew at anytime. The only requirement before the move is that the Juvenile Probation Office give the lesser a 30 day notice before they vacate the building.

· Tammy Powell of the Auburn Extension Office met with the County Commission concerning lack of funds needed to properly run the office. The Auburn Extension Office controls the 4-H program as well as several other programs in Pike County. In 1985, funding from the County Commission was about $30,000 serving about 68,000 people. But in 2002, the County Commission has no funds going towards the Auburn Extension Office, which it serves about 240,000 people.

"4-H has done an awful lot for an awful lot of young people," Powell said. "Any money put into extension itself helps out a lot."

The County Commission agreed to appropriate funds as quickly as possible for the extension program.

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Agreed to let Robert Sellers continue working on the proposed Long Leaf Subdivision that will be located south of Livingston Crossroads on County Road 26.

Herb Huner, the county engineer, said that everything is in order so far but will continue monitoring Sellers progress on the subdivision.

·  Approved a pay increase for seven county employees of the Engineers Office because they reached their anniversary dates.

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Decided to wait on some more bids to sell three tri-axle dump trucks because the only bid that they received was too low for the three dump trucks.

·  Agreed that the county engineer could purchase three new tri-axle dump trucks from Gulf-Coast Trucks for $84,800.

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Declared April 8-12, 2002, Pike County Work-Zone Awareness Week. In order to promote safety for those that work on construction crews that work on Pike County Roads.

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Decided to have the Carter Road issue taken off the agenda because it was resolved. Speed limit signs were put up and the weight limit signs were taken down.

·  Approved the Sheriff’s Office, Commission Office and Probate Office employee evaluations.

·  Agreed to give county employees achievement pay for furthering their education in their line of work. But only after doing an in-depth analysis of each employee and

the employee submitting a draft to the commission and then after the commission makes any changes necessary the employee will submit a final draft to the commission allowing for a pay raise. The estimated cost for employee achievement pay will be $6,000 for the county.

·  Approved the Sheriff to purchase a new vehicle with additional cost coming out of the general fund.

·  Approved the re-naming of County Road 277, County Road 305, County Road 131, and County Road 129.

· The Liquor License Application submitted by Mary’s Delite has to be in the newspaper for four consecutive weeks before the commission will consider approving the license and it has not been in the paper the entire time yet.