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The Covington County Commission renewed an annual contract of $175,000 with the Covington County Board of Education for school resource officers at a regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday, Nov. 8.

“The school board supplements our budget with an appropriation towards the cost of school resource officers. It’s a long-standing agreement we’ve had in place, and the rate is being proposed at the same level it has been for several years. It’s been at least 15 years we have been sharing this cost,” Chairman Greg White said.

Dist. 2 Commissioner Michael Smith felt it was appropriate to renew the contract.

“I think we should go ahead and make a motion to approve it. We have been doing it for years, and everything seems to be working out fine for the schools in the system and the county commission,” he said.

The commission also approved a change in the disposal method of motor graders previously declared as surplus to sell them to neighboring counties.

“We have two motor graders that Dale County has shown interest in. They were on our surplus list to be sold at auction, and we’re asking those to be removed, so we can sell them to another government agency. We would also like to change the remaining ones so that if another county were to reach out to us, we would not have to go to auction,” said Administrator Karen Sowell. “I’m pleased to be able to do this after what we went through at the auctions. We are regaining some of our money back,” Dist. 1 Commissioner Kenneth Northey added.

In other business:

• The commission approved the participation of the county in the Severe Weather Preparedness Tax Holiday scheduled for Feb. 24-26, 2023.
• The commission approved a renewal of a lease agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture for their office space in the USDA building on South Bypass in Andalusia.
• The commission approved a one-time pay supplement of $500 to full-time county employees and $250 to part-time to be paid before Thanksgiving on Nov. 24.
• The commission approved a $1,000 sponsorship to Christmas in Candyland, which will be paid from contingency funds.
• The commission approved a contract renewal for inmate housing with local municipalities at a rate increase of 15 percent. The commission noted that the present rates had been in force for several years.
• The commission approved a one-year contract renewal for a Covington County Sheriff’s deputy to be assigned to patrol in the Town of Sanford. Sanford covers the personnel costs, and the Sheriff and commission cover the costs of equipment, fuel, training, etc.
• The commission adopted a resolution updating the county’s cyber security policy.
• The commission approved a resolution to accept a donation from Forever Wild as an offset of tax revenue lost on the acreage that Forever Wild owns in Covington County.

The commission announced the second meeting for November would be cancelled, and only one would be held in December due to the holiday schedule.

The next meeting of the Covington County Commission will be held Tuesday, Dec. 13, 9 a.m., at the Covington County Administration Building. The public is invited to attend.