Commissioners bid farewell to Bethel
CADIZ—The Harrison County Commissioners met for their regular meeting on December 21 with a packed agenda. Department of Job and Family Services Director Deb Knight was the first to present. She talked about Resolution 46-22 and Agreement 63-22. The resolution is one that the department has every year.
“It enables us to share funding with other counties,” Knight said. “Because of the way our allocations are provided, it is necessary most years to give money that we won’t spend to other counties. And it allows us to receive funds from other counties as well.” The agreement is so that the DJFS can spend to have a website created. The website would allow people to do more paperwork online, which would cut down on paper forms and speed up the processing time for the office. The company Knight has met with several times is experienced in creating government websites and will cost around $7,500 to initially set up and host. The company will maintain the site for about $2,400 a year. While seemingly pricey, a good website is invaluable to anyone. It will be incredibly helpful not just to the DJFS office but to every resident who takes advantage of DJFS services.
Dylan Borcher from Bricker & Eckler spoke to the commissioners next about Resolution 48-22, which has to do with the PILT program for Nottingham Schools. PILTs are federal payments to local governments to help offset losses in property taxes due to the existence of nontaxable Federal lands within their boundaries. This project will bring in a good amount of funding to the county general fund as well as many entities in the county, like the school and library. It will also bring in more jobs to the county.
At the end of the meeting, the commissioners announced that their next meeting would not be held until January.
“With that,” Commissioner Paul Coffland said, “We should acknowledge that this is Commissioner Bethel’s last meeting. On behalf of the people of Harrison County, I’d like to thank you for twelve years of service.”
“I appreciate the people of Harrison County,” Bethel said. “For putting up with me for twelve years!”
Coffland went on to share his appreciation of Bethel’s service as a county commissioner, “When you came into office, there was no money,” Coffland laughed. “Things were pretty tough. Since then, things have changed significantly. You helped spur on some important things, like dividing up and securing funds for capital improvement and youth and recreation, a lot of great projects across the county. Your foresight is greatly appreciated.”
Bethel thought back on his experience of being commissioner, sharing appreciation for everyone who has supported him along the way.
“We passed a 2.8 million budget and had about $270,000 to pay for it. Now, we’ve got a little over 13 million.”
Bethel has certainly been a driving force in Harrison County for over a decade.
“The things I’m proud about are things like cleaning up the statues, getting the clock finally working, and beautifying the county,” he said.
He finished with a simple but powerful thank you, “I’ve been blessed in my lifetime; make no mistake about that. Thank you for the opportunity, and the ride was great.”
