This Monday night, the Solid Waste, Public Safety and Budget Committees all met to discuss different issues and elect official committee positions for this year.

During each meeting, County Mayor Jonah Keltner was proud to announce that progress is being made with the new jail project. The jail is planned to go out for bids starting in November, and has set a preliminary budget of $5,085,000.

“That does not mean we will spend that much,” said Mayor Keltner, “We aimed a little high, definitely hoping to come in under budget.”

The breakdown of that preliminary budget is $3,260,000 for a detention building; $725,000 for kitchen, laundry and isolation; $100,000 for site preparations and parking; and $1,000,000 for renovations to existing building.

Solid Waste Committee

Positions Elected

Commissioner Wendell Kelley was nominated in a unanimous vote to be Chairman. Commissioner Jim Grinder was elected with a unanimous vote to be Vice Chairman of the committee. Commissioner Allison Tanner was re-elected unanimously as the secretary.

Bid Accepted for Removal of Scrap Metal

The Lewis County Government received two bids for the removal of scrap metal from the Lewis Country Transfer Station.

One bid was from Clayton Recycling to pay $4.00 per 100 pounds with no hauling fee and no propane tanks. The second bid was from S A Recycling to pay $5.76 per 100 pounds, also with no hauling fee.

Commissioner Tanner moved to accept S A Recycling’s bid and Commissioner Grinder seconded the motion. The bid was accepted unanimously.

Public Safety Committee

Positions Elected

Commissioner Jerry Ashmore was elected as Chairman unanimously. TJ Hinson was unanimously elected as Vice Chairman and Newly-elected Commissioner Kyle BoBo was unanimously elected as secretary.

Budget Committee

Positions Elected

Commissioner Patrick Halfacre was unanimously elected as Chairman of the Budget Committee. Commissioner Robert Brewer was unanimously elected to serve as Vice Chairman. Commissioner Austin Carroll was unanimously re-elected to be secretary.

New Voting Machines

Administrator of Elections, Rusty Isbell came before the Budget Committee to request that the Election Commission be approved to purchase new machines.

The current machines are about 16 years old and are no longer reliable, said Isbell. They typically have a lifespan of 10 to 15 years. The cost to rebuild one machine once it tears up is around $900, which happened in last year’s election.

The new machines would also have a lifespan of about 10-15 years and the company with the best offer was Harp Election Services. They offered the machines needed at $162,051 with a two-year warranty. The Election Commission has received a grant that would cover $100,000 and the City of Hohenwald has agreed to pay $36,000, which leaves $62,051 for the county to supply.

Mayor Keltner stated that there is a hopeful grant in the works which would cover that cost. Commissioners Ronnie Brewer and Halfacre both stated that this deal was the best that they had seen come before the commission for new voting machines.

The Budget Committee did not make a decision, but asked for it to be brought up in next month’s Commission meeting once the City has voted as well.