The Baldwin County Board of Commissioners met Tuesday for its first meeting of the year.
To open the meeting, House District 149 Representative-Elect Floyd Griffin reintroduced himself to the commissioners and the county. He briefly spoke about his new position, thanked those who voted for him, and invited open communication and partnership between himself and the district he is representing. He closed his short speech by reminding commissioners that, “You’ll do well if you do the right thing” in regard to making decisions.
Moving into board matters, commissioners unanimously approved several resolutions referring to the tax commissioner.
“Resolutions four, five, and six (refer to the agenda) are all housekeeping matters assigning certain responsibilities of tax collection to the tax commissioner,' Assistant County Manager Dawn Hudson said prior to approval. “These are all previously adopted resolutions. It is recommended by the Department of Revenue that when you have a new election, and the tax commissioner is reelected that you readopt these resolutions.”
These resolutions included:
• approving the waiver of certain penalties and interests by the Baldwin County tax commissioner;
• assigning the responsibility to the tax commissioner regarding corrections of errors and refunds of taxes and removal of personal property from the digest;
• to authorize the Baldwin County Tax Commissioner's Office to receive checks for property tax payments, and motor vehicle registrations and to reaffirm the ordinance passed and adopted authorizing the acceptance of credit card payments due to Baldwin County;
• to authorize the award of Victims of Crime Assistance grant in the amount of $170,340 to the district attorney’s office. There is no county match;
• to appoint Bo Danuser as legislative liaison. Cunningham was the prior legislative liaison and is retiring; and
• to assign the terms of office of each member of the Board of Elections and Registration of Baldwin County. As of Jan. 1, Baldwin County’s election responsibilities are no longer with the probate judge but a board of elections. Members of the Board of Elections by virtue of the law are former members of the Board of Registrars. The terms of each member were drawn on Jan. 2. Please refer to 20:34 of the meeting recording on the Baldiwn County Commissioner’s Facebook page to hear the outcomes.
Commissioners then moved into discussion for the concession stand operator. Despite much debate, the commissioners ultimately voted 3-2 in favor of giving Out of the Park the contract, due to County Attorney Brandon Palmer’s legal opinion to not approve Nicolasa’s Catering and Concessions.
“I don’t think at this point I can recommend to approve the contract with Nicolasa’s Catering and Concessions. The reason is about putting us on equal footing with the company. When you register with the Secretary of State office, you receive a registered agent. It is my job to determine if they are registered and have an agent upon whom we can serve process. Therefore as legal counsel, I cannot recommend we approve this contract until they are officially approved by the Secretary of State office. ”
The meeting concluded with the appointment of Commissioner Andrew Strickland as chairman and Commissioner Kendrick Butts as vice-chair.