Rick Patrick: Greene Publishing, Inc.
During the regular meeting of the Madison County Board of County Commissioners on Wednesday, Sept. 13, the Commissioners voted to purchase a new grapple truck for the Solid Waste Department. This truck will replace a truck that was totaled in a wreck earlier this year. Solid Waste Dept. Coordinator Jerome Wyche informed the Board that he was in desperate need of a new truck, especially with the added work of clean-up after Hurricane Irma. The Board discussed the pros and cons of leasing versus purchasing a new truck. Wyche had solicited prices from several venders for both leased trucks and purchased trucks. Wyche also informed the Board that it would not be any faster to lease a truck as opposed to buying a truck. The County will be receiving a check for approximately $88,000 from the County's insurance carrier for the truck that was totaled in the wreck. According to County Comptroller Billy Washington, there are funds available in reserve to purchase a new truck. The Board voted to purchase a Freightliner truck from RDK for a total price of $128,164. The lone dissenting vote on the motion to purchase the truck came from Board Chairman Alfred Martin. “I just prefer to lease,” said Martin. The Commissioners also approved the consent agenda for the meeting. The consent agenda included an agreement between Madison County and the Regional Planning Council for annual monitoring of hazardous waste generators. The approval of an agreement and resolution 2017-09-13 authorizing the Chairman of the Madison County Board of County Commissioners to execute an agreement of the Small County Outreach Program with the Florida Dept. of Transportation for road construction of SE Donaldson Rd. was passed. Also passed was Resolution 2017-09-13A authorizing the use of no more than $150,000 of gas tax proceeds for funding the closure and clean-up of the closed Madison County Landfill. The Commissioners voted to use $43,500 from the Suwannee River Water Management District to purchase a lot of property that is prone to flooding. This property is adjacent to another lot purchased by the County earlier this year. Due to the hurricane, the public hearing for the fire and solid waste assessments was postponed. The special assessment meeting will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 26, at the Madison County Courthouse at 6 p.m. The next public hearing for the budget will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 27, at 5:30 p.m. before the regular meeting of the County Commission. The next meeting of the Board of Madison County Commissioners will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 27, at 6 p.m. in the Commission meeting room at 229 SW Pinckney St., in Madison.