Commissioners elected without opposition
Escambia County District Judge Eric Coale issued the oath of office to County Commissioners Raymond Wiggins and Brandon Smith Wednesday morning after the two were re-elected without opposition in the Nov. 5 General Election.
The county commission held its organizational meeting Wednesday as required by law following the election.
Wiggins’ and Smith’s terms on the commission officially ended at 12 a.m. Wednesday, so Vice Chairman Larry White opened the meeting.
After Wiggins and Smith were sworn in the board voted unanimously to keep Wiggins as chairman and White as vice chairman through the end of the year. The board will vote on a chairman and vice chairman in January.
The commission also adopted a resolution to set the meeting schedule for the second and fourth Mondays of the month.
In other business, commission approved to fund an assistant and programs coordinator for the highway department. County Engineer Parker Ross said the person selected would be over all internal programs such as items issued by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, doing right-of-way research, utility agreements and applying for federal and state grants.
The commission also approved Crystal Waldrop as the new assistant county administrator.
The commission also:
- Approved a contract with Summerill Law Firm,PLLC, to negotiate a new U.S. Marshals per diem rate for housing and transporting federal prisoners.
- Approved the transportation contract between the Area of Aging and the Escambia County Alabama Transportation System (ECATS).
- Approved a contract with Allied Universal Electronic Monitoring US, Inc., for an ankle monitoring contract for the county’s community corrections.
- Approved a letter of support to the city of Atmore for road and drainage improvements on Ross Road. It was noted that the county has resurfaced the portion of the road within the county and the city of Atmore wants to continue the project to resurface portions within the city limits. The resolution is a show of support but does not cost the county money.
