District 10 Has A New County Commissioner, Pinson School Will Have New Owners, 1954 Babe Ruth Trophy Will Have A New Home

These were a few of the actions taken at Monday night's Madison County Commission meeting.

All 25 members of the County Legislative Body were present for Monday's monthly meeting.

Commissioner Joe "Smokey" Roland who was a member of the 1954 Madison County All Stars, who were runners up in the National Championships, introduced Mr Jerry Gilbert, who was also a member of the team. Mr Gilbert made a presentation to the commissioners and asked the commission to find a permanent home for the 1954 Runner Up trophy. Commissioner Gary Deaton made a motion that the trophy be housed in an appropriate place in the Madison County Courthouse.

Motion passed unanimously

A motion to approve the Jackson Madison County School resolution to sell the former Pinson school to the Pinson Rotary organization for One Dollar was approved unanimously

Commissioner Barbara Johnson gave the Property Tax Freeze committee report. the committee met and approved a resolution unanimously that will begin the process of qualifying residents eligible for Property Tax Freeze. When the state passed this resolution the Madison County Commission said at that time there was no need for the county to enact the tax freeze since they had no plans to raise anyone's tax.

Now the commissioners still say a property tax will not be passed "in this generation" but has given the go ahead to Trustee John Newman to start qualifying this eligible.

Commissioner Jerry Bastin, who represents District 10, nominated Ann Harrell to fill the position left vacated by the passing of Commissioner Dale Morton. Ann Harrell has a professional history in retail and banking. She is the mother-in-law of business owner and county constable Frankie Lax and currently is listed as the Financial and Project Manager of Maxxguard Security.

Amy Jones, Madison County Juvenile Court Services Director, introduced two of the summer youth employees of a Juvenile program

Director of Schools Buddy White asked the County Commissioner to sponsor a resolution that would allow non-certified JMCS employees to remain with the TCRS state retirement system, if approved by the state. It was originally not the intention of the county to affect school employees when the moved the other county employees to a new retirement plan managed by ING representative Steve and Brad Little. But non certified ended up included and school board members would like to get that changed. There was little discussion about the resolution, Commissioner Larry Lowrance made a motion be sent to insurance committee for review and recommendation.

Commissioner Doug Stephenson was appointed to the Financial Management Committee

The commissioners approved a settlement offer of $12,485 dollars from a class action lawsuit with JP Morgan at the recommendation of county attorney Steve Maroney

The meeting lasted just over two hours