More At Fiscal Court: Road Dept. Going To Four-10Hr Days, County Treasurer Raise Extended, Senior Food Pantry Clarified

​Darren Doyle, story
​In addition to the normal reports and fiscal court discussions, the court voted to extend County Treasurer Margret Skaggs' raise retroactive to July 2016, per her request. The court had already voted at the last meeting to increase Treasurer Skaggs' pay by .50 per hour. She made a request to make it effective in July, 2016.  A motion was made,  seconded, and all voted in favor, except Magistrate Joe Durbin.

"This sets a precedent that any county employee can ask for retroactive rates when they get a raise," said Mag. Durbin. "I always understood that if you get a raise, it takes place after the raise is agreed upon. You don’t get to go back and say it began on a previous date. I don’t want to take anything away from Margret personally, this has nothing to do with her personally, but I’m against this because this could open up lots of additional costs and headaches we’re not prepared for.”

Cannon said he didn’t see it that way and that each case could be handled on a case-by-case basis. Durbin said he felt like it would be a case that if you did for one, you’d have to do for all. The retroactive amount would be an approximate additional amount of about $320 before taxes on top of the current pay raise. The motion passed.

County Road Foreman Ray Page requested that his department go to four 10hr days during the winter months. "Cold weather requires longer warm-up times for trucks and equipment," he said. "You can't just start a piece of equipment with hydraulics and take off. You have to have time for it to warm up." Page said since the weather has already began to cool down, he feels like his guys are wasting time out of the day waiting for trucks and equipment to warm up in the mornings.

He said rather than shortening an eight-hour workday due to waiting for warm-up times, going to 10 hr days will allow a full work day while only working four days during the week instead of five. The court agreed to allow Page to make the decision himself on what he thought was best for his department. He said he let the road workers vote on it and they agreed to go to four 10 hr days. The court allowed the decision.

Senior Food Pantry Director Vickie Walker clarified the Senior Food Pantry and the Food From the Heart Food Pantry, both located in the new facility inside the Community Center. She said apparently there had been confusion that both programs were the same. A chamber ribbon cutting for the facility is scheduled for November 21, 2016 at 10am. Walker is the director of the Senior Food Pantry while Food From the Heart is operated by Terri Vincent of Community Action.

“Terri Vincent has nothing to do with my program," said Walker. "The ribbon cutting is for the Senior food pantry only, not Food from the Heart. It’s not that I’m against the other program, but the ribbon cutting is for everyone that’s put in their time and effort into the Senior Food Pantry. I want this to be a community thing that celebrates everyone that's volunteered to make our new Senior Food Pantry possible."

Vincent sent a memo to the Judge's Office that made clarifications regarding her organization. The memo stated, "Food From the Heart is supplemental food and is the third Monday of each month and as needed for emergencies." 

All county offices and local organizations can be found on the new county website, edmonsoncounty.org.