Fiscal Court had meetings on back-to-back days to discuss and act on the business of the county

    At their caucus on Tuesday, June 8, they had a presentation from Tara Johnson Noem from the Work Force Development. The program helps people of the Pendleton County community in assisting them in preparation to seek and obtain jobs with resume/application help. The program is located at the Pendleton County Public Library.
    The airport has received a federal grant through coronavirus funding of $13,000. There is no local match but the court has to approve its acceptance before the judge can sign it. As a result, the court held a special meeting on Wed., June 9 to approve.
    Three Rivers Health Department and the county joins in an agreement that provides discounts for county employees for vaccinations at the employee’s cost.
    The county has received the first part of the American Rescue Act with $1,416,918. The court will amend the 2020-21 county budget to address the funds.
    “We have been told to not act too fast. There might be more money coming for broadband and we should wait on spending the ARPA funds on broadband until we know if more broadband funds are coming,” said Judge Executive David Fields.
    He added that they would receive $535,000 through SB36. “I was first told it would be $1.7 million but then told to not pay attention to that figure. I asked how I am to make plans without knowing the figure. Then was told it would be around a million. It turned out to be $535,000.”
    The water districts, two cities and county government will have to agree on how to use the funds.
In other county government business, the Code Enforcement Board met to finalize some of their bylaws. They changed one bylaw that was calling for a meeting once a month that proved to not be needed. Instead, they are required to meet once a year in June and then also as needed throughout the year.
    Code Enforcement Director Kevin Valentine reported that he is having a good response from residents becoming compliant with the county’s nuisance code.