A position eliminated last year to balance the budget has been brought back by the Lenoir County commissioners.
In the last meeting of 2013, the county board voted 5-2 to bring the position of clerk back to the county.
The clerk would be responsible for keeping the minutes, tracking committee appointments, archiving records, going through the computation of the budget with the finance department, working as a clerical assistant for commissioners, running maintenance on the county commissioner website and maintaining public records regarding to board actions.
Vice chairman Jackie Brown said the need for a clerk was important to alleviate some of the responsibility of Finance Officer Martha Martin, who had been handling the duties in addition to her full-time job.
“I agree with having a full-time clerk because with Martha doing it, it takes away from her job,” Brown said. “She has to listen and record, type out the agendas and distribute them along with her duties. This is not the type of work to be done in a day.”
Commissioner Eric Rouse, along with J. Mac Daughety, voted against the addition of a clerk, saying he didn’t want to have taxpayers affected.
“I don’t want to see an expenditure increase,” Rouse said. “We eliminated the position in the last budget, and I was hoping since someone retired in another position, we could transfer that to fulfill the clerk position with no additional burden to the taxpayers. I also had a question about whether the position would be full-time or part-time. I just made the argument and it was denied.”
Chairman Craig Hill said there wasn’t a way to fill the position without it being “revenue neutral” for the county. There may be a way to fill the position without costing any extra money in next year’s budget, but a clerk is needed for the county.
“We need someone for the role, who can be consistent and deal with some the changes we’ll have moving forward, such as going paperless with agendas,” Hill said. “This wasn’t something unexpected. We’ve been trying to work it in the budget for about six months, and it’s hard to move in the right direction without a clerk.”
Also making a request at the meeting was Lenoir County Sheriff Chris Hill. He asked for a canine vehicle, six 2014 Dodge Chargers and a 2013 Chevrolet Tahoe. While the first two purchases were approved unanimously, Daughety had an issue with the Tahoe and voted against it.
“After raising property taxes, it just wouldn’t look good to residents seeing the sheriff ride around in a brand new Tahoe, especially since he already has a Crown Victoria,” Daughety said. “I wouldn’t have a problem with it if we were making it revenue neutral, but after the board agreed last year to raise taxes, the symbolism isn’t good to taxpayers.
“We need to be accountable with spending and keeping our expenses down.”
Hill said the Tahoe would be vital for bad weather and environments in the county.
“We need more diversity in vehicles and need something with four-wheel drive to get through things such as snow and cornfields,” Hill said. “There have been times in the past where we’ve borrowed vehicles for that reason.”
Hill released a statement on Monday to The Free Press outlining his plan for purchase of the vehicles and clarifying he tried to save the county as much money as possible.
“Every year we receive funding for vehicles. This year, the Dodge Charger was selected as the law enforcement replacement vehicle because the state contract price was cheaper in price than other vehicles for law enforcement. The Crown Victoria is no longer being produced. Essentially, the Dodge Charger has taken its place. Because I recently purchased two canines with Drug Asset Forfeiture money (money from drug dealers), I needed to put these canines in vehicles that would better accommodate a dog kennel. I decided to use the funding for one of the eight Dodge Chargers ($22,785) and put it with the drug asset forfeiture money to make up the difference for the purchase of a 2014 Ford Explorer (police interceptor) vehicle. I did the exact same thing with the purchase of the four-wheel drive 2013 Chevrolet Tahoe. My vehicle, a 2008 Ford Crown Victoria, will be converted into a canine vehicle using a kennel that fits a Crown Victoria. After careful consideration, I decided on a four wheel drive Chevrolet Tahoe because it is widely used for law enforcement purposes. As sheriff, I needed a vehicle that will endure the rigors of law enforcement and is capable of maneuvering in all types of weather and off road conditions. I only have a few vehicles with four-wheel drive capability. In addition, I was able to get a good price for the vehicle and I was able to keep the money in Lenoir County by purchasing it from Sale Chevrolet. In the end, I made the drug dealers pay the difference between a 2014 Dodge Charger and the 2013 Chevrolet Tahoe, taking the financial burden off of the taxpayers.”
The next county commissioner meeting will be held Jan. 6 at 9 a.m.
Junious Smith III can be reached at 252-559-1077 and Junious.Smith@Kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JuniousSmithIII.