KINGWOOD — All our employees are valued.
That’s the message the Preston County Commission wanted to make clear Tuesday.
Commission President Samantha Stone said it was in order after last week’s meeting, when County Clerk Linda Huggins and Assessor Connie Ervin chastised commissioners for giving only commission employees raises.
“Sometimes when we respond or do not respond, things can be misunderstood,” Commission President Samantha Stone said. “So I just wanted to make a very bold statement to let all of our county government employees, every single one of our employees, know how much the county commission does value all of our employees.”
“If we have at all in any way made anybody feel not valued, we do apologize for that, but we’ve been working very hard over the last six months, since we set the budget, to try and make sure we are being fiscally responsible in every way that we can,” Stone said.
Not all county commission employees received raises, Stone said.
And “we were doing nothing different than what other offices … do throughout the year. We just did it at the budget time.”
Stone said commissioners are “looking at different things, but I don’t want to sit here and make empty promises about what we can and cannot do for our employees. But you can bet your bottom dollar that we’ve been working hard to figure out a way to do something for people.”
Commissioners have met with Huggins and Ervin, she said.
She referred to the fact the budget was prepared as COVID-19 hit and county offices were closed to the public and media.
“We want to be transparent. We have to be transparent. It’s very important,” Stone said.
The commission also:
- agreed to extend the time the farmer’s market can use the McGrew House grove through Sept. 26. Markets are held 4-6 p.m. Tuesdays and 9-11 a.m. Saturdays.
- opened the only bid received to replace the roof on the animal shelter. Action Construction LLC of Farmington entered a base bid of $89,371 to put a standing seam metal roof on the shelter. Replacing the existing soffit and fascia would be $12,350.
The bid will be reviewed before the contract is awarded.
- approved the list of poll workers for the Nov. 3 general election.
- was updated by county Technology Director Biff Armstrong on projects his department is working on. This is the first in a series of reports by departments.
- was told one person has expressed interest in serving on the Public Service District I board. Applications are still being accepted.
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