By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
Carter County fiscal court met in special session last week to adopt a pair of resolutions accepting federal funding for election equipment upgrades, and to approve the hiring of a new solid waste coordinator and two part-time animal shelter employees.
The court opened on the election equipment purchases, with county clerk Mike Johnston explaining that a portion of the election equipment that had already been covered was now eligible for reimbursement with ARPA funds while funds earmarked through a program aimed at helping ensure voting rights would help fund the rest of the purchase.
The two pools of money – $285,000 in ARPA funds and $152,00 from Helping Americans Vote Administration (HAVA) – will be combined with $100,000 in funds from the board of elections to purchase a number of new voting machines and devices for poll workers, including printers that will allow poll workers to print ballots on demand. With this system, Johnston said, there is no way that anyone will receive the wrong ballot. If they did receive the wrong ballot – because, for instance, they’d moved to a different district without updating their driver’s license or voter registration – they would be able to immediately update their information and print them a new ballot.
He said that with new federal regulations voting districts would need to be able to have physical records to back up any digital vote records. In other words, he explained, a paper trail.
“With these new printers, we’ll be able to have a good paper trail,” Johnston said.
In all, he said, the equipment would come to around $500,000 including the printers.
Any money left, he said, would be returned to the county’s general fund.
“Some of that money is coming home to you,” Johnston told judge executive Brandon Burton and the magistrates.
The court voted aye on a pair of resolutions accepting the two pools of money and approving their use to cover the costs of upgrading the county’s voting equipment before entering into executive session to discuss personnel issues.
Upon return from executive session the court moved to hire Dalton Waugh as the new county solid waste coordinator. Waugh, who is moving into the role from the road department, will also continue to offer assistance to the road department as necessary at his previous rate of pay.
Instead of one full-time employee for the animal shelter, the court moved to split duties between two part-time employees. Jennifer Williams and Breanna Paige Lunsford will be assisting animal control officer Woody Maddix in his duties at the shelter.
The fiscal court will meet again in regular session on April 10, at 6 p.m. at the Carter County Courthouse.
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com
