County established Audit Committee and amended Solid Waste Appeals Process

The County Commission meeting was held on Monday night, December 13, 2021, in the Courthouse. Commissioners discussed solid waste, the purchase of gift certificates for county employees, leasing office space and budget amendments. All commissioners were present except for Ronnie Brewer.

Amending Solid Waste Appeals Process

A request to amend the Solid Waste Appeals Process came before the Commission which stated, “The current appeals process regarding Solid Waste Fees is to appear before the Solid Waste Committee, and whatever they decide is final. However, this is not quite working. More than once, we’ve had people tell the committee they produce ‘NO’ or ‘VERY LITTLE’ trash, in order to get their fee waived or reduced. However, once the Solid Waste Department looks into it, that is not always accurate, but it’s after a decision has been made.”

After a short discussion, Commissioner Jobbitt suggested that they amend the Solid Waste Appeals Process by giving the Solid Waste Department one month to look into a request to reduce solid waste fees. This would mean that if one were to request a reduction in their Solid Waste Fee in December, the Solid Waste Department would have until January’s meeting to approve the request.

Commissioner Allison Tanner seconded Jobbitt’s motion, and the amendment was passed in a unanimous vote.

Audit Committee Established

As encouraged by the Tennessee Code Annotated, a resolution came before the Commission to establish an independent Audit Committee which would provide independent review and oversight of the county’s financial reporting processes and the county’s internal controls, a review of the external auditor’s report and follow up on management’s corrective action, and compliance with laws, regulations and ethics.

The Committee consists of five members of the County Commission, citizens of Lewis County or a combination of both. Committee members cannot be a county wide elected official, employee, spouse of an official/employee, or person that co-mingles assets with an official/employee of Lewis County. Although committee members do not have to be accountants, “they should possess sufficient knowledge and experience in finance, business and accounting to discharge the committee’s duties.

The duties of this committee include carefully reviewing the county’s annual audit report and consult with external auditors regarding any irregularities and deficiencies disclosed in the audit; Considering the effectiveness of the internal control system including information technology security and control, the system for monitoring compliance with laws and regulations, and the process for communicating the county’s ethics policies and compliance; To establish a process by which employees, taxpayers or other citizens may confidentially report suspected illegal, improper wasteful or fraudulent activity; To annually present a written committee report detailing how it discharged its duties and any committee recommendations to the full county commission.

The audit committee will consist of the Budget Committee Chairman [who automatically serves on the committee] Patrick Halfacre, Annette Peery, County Commissioner Kyle Bobo, former Commissioner Connie Sharp, and Mike King.

Commissioners T.J. Hinson and Jim Grinder sponsored the resolution which passed unanimously.

Gift Certificates from local Businesses for County Employees

The County typically gives its employees turkeys and hams around Christmas time as a token of appreciation for their service to the County. But this year there is a shortage of turkeys and hams across the county due to the Coronavirus.

In lieu of turkey and ham, the County put forth a resolution to gift their employees with $30 gift certificates to Powers Food Town for both part-time and full-time employees at the County Christmas Dinner.

County employees will have to sign a paper stating that they received their gift certificates. The gift certificates must be used by December 31, 2021, before the certificates become invalid.

The resolution was sponsored by Commissioners Hensley and Dyer. The resolution passed in a unanimous vote.

Leasing Office Space

A resolution, sponsored by Commissioners Halfacre and Timmie Hinson, came before the Commission which would authorize the County Mayor to enter into a new contract with DCS and DHS to allow them to rent office space in the War Memorial Building.

The resolution stated, “The terms are between 3 and 5 years... the square feet of the space is corrected to 8,694... and the rate is set at $9.05 per square feet ($6,556.73 per month/ $76,680.70 per year).”

There were no questions or discussion, and the resolution was passed in a unanimous vote.

Budget Amendment - Sheriff’s Vehicles

A resolution was brought be fore the Commission to move $13,822.50 from the Insurance Recovery account into the Sheriff Department/Vehicles account in order to purchase a replacement vehicle for one that was damaged in Friday night’s storm.

The resolution was sponsored by Commissioners Bill Dyer and Larry Hensley and passed unanimously in a roll call vote.

Authorizing Surplus for Solid Waste and Sheriff’s Departments

A resolution came before the Commission to authorize the surplus of old vehicles and equipment at the Lewis County Transfer Station.

The following equipment and vehicles will be declared as surplus property, auctioned off and proceeds placed in the Solid Waste General Fund: 1987 John Deere Backhoe, 2004 New Holland Skid Steer, 1990s New Holland Skid Steer, 1988 John Deere Front End Loader, and 1982 Pull Out Truck.

The resolution was sponsored by Commissioners Halfacre and Timmie Hinson and passed unanimously.

Another resolution was presented to the Commission to authorize the following two Sheriff’s Department Patrol Vehicles be listed as surplus, auctioned off and place the proceeds into the County General Fund: a 1996 white Jeep Cherokee and a 2013 white Ford Explorer 4WD.

This resolution was sponsored by Commissioners Doug Jobbitt and Jerry Ashmore and was unanimously passed.

Approving County Government Employee Health Insurance Plans for 2022

Five Points, the current Agents of Record for Lewis County, shopped around with different insurance companies and found that BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee still had the best available plan for the Lewis County Government and its employees.

The insurance plan was the same as last year’s where Lewis County Government will pay for 72 percent of the ‘Employee Only’ plan fees while the employee will pay the remaining 28 percent; and will pay 50 percent for an employee’s family plan while the employee pays for the remaining 50 percent.

The resolution was unanimously passed.