1.

Call to Order, Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance

   Chair called meeting to order at 6 p.m. Hinson led into invocation and Pledge of Allegiance.

   4.

Amendments to the Agenda

  Chair asked if any amend and Morris stated no 

   5.

Approval of Agenda

   Simpkins/ Wood 5-0

   6.

Citizens Requesting to be Heard on Non-Agenda Items (3-minute limit)

The Gadsden County Board of County Commissioners welcomes and encourages public participation at all meetings of the Board. Citizens are free to speak for up to three (3) minutes on non-agenda items. Public comments and participation are also encouraged for items on the agenda. Additionally, if you are unable to attend a meeting in person, comments from the Public can also be submitted via email to CitizensToBeHeard@gadsdencountyfl.gov until noon on the date of the meeting. Comments submitted after the deadline, but prior to the meeting, will be added to the official record, but the County cannot guarantee that Commissioners and staff will have adequate time to review comments prior to the meeting. Citizens are further encouraged to participate on the County’s website at www.gadsdencountyfl.gov.

  Chair read aloud the above statement.

Tracey Stallworth, P.O. Box 1339 Quincy, FL 32353

  Stallworth appeared and stated Gadsden County has been a topic of discussion

  Mentioned county being involved in another lawsuit with RAC

  Stallworth stated if they fire attorney, would cost around 700k to a million

  Mentioned concerns raised regarding comments made from Wood

  Asked about remaining ARPA funds

  Commissioner Wood mentioned the comments he made at last meeting regarding the black community   

  Chair stated have 3.1 million in ARPA funds and they have already been assigned

Nandrycke Albert, 50 MLK Blvd. Midway, Fl

  Albert appeared before the board to discuss legislative session.  

Rodney Moore, 1404 St. Hebron Road

   7.

General Business

  7.a

Interim County Administrator’s Agreement

  Simpkins stated normally not a contract for interim; not sure why they were doing an actual contract

  Simpkins would like spending threshold lowered to 5k and place a hiring freeze

  Holt stated not sure if could vote on things not advertised on special meeting

  Williams stated cannot vote if not publicly advertised   

  Williams stated need to decide on doing agreement or not – not comfortable with lowering threshold but can ask that any agreements come before board for approval.  

  Wood stated Morris was helping them, they are not helping him

  Holt asked Morris how many resignations he has gotten – Morris stated 2

   Holt stated they still need help with planning dept

  Holt asked Morris what was the delay with Stevens School

  Morris stated the delay was not with county, need to wait on the state to say when they can go

  Simpkins stated there are many unfinished projects other than Stevens

  Wood wanted to make sure projects can get done – administrator role was pretty tough

  Morris stated county has been moving forward and were in compliance with grants

  Green asked for Morris to answer if he was comfortable taking this role – Morris stated he was very comfortable with the understanding that this was temporary.    

  Simpkins mentioned email from Clerk – they still have not addressed it.

  Morris stated it was still ongoing investigation

  Williams stated investigation was confidential; not appropriate to get into detail but can give surface details. Clerk was inquiring about it; did not see any violation

  Chair asked Williams to read email from Clerk

  Williams stated email came in today – normally would do research on it, has not had time yet and will not provide opinion on it yet

  Chair stated to give attorney couple days to read it and research

  Green stated they always get information like that on the day of a meeting – stated clerk should come to mtgs

 Wood motion to approve and make salary of $140k retroactive to November 19/ Holt 5-0

  Bishop Green appeared before the board and expressed his concerns.

Holt stepped out at 6:56 p.m. 

Holt returned at 6:57 p.m.

  7.b

Review of County Administrator’s Position and Criteria for Advertising

  Chair stated should table this item due to time constraints

  Green stated purpose of this mtg was regarding administrator and advertising

  Simpkins mentioned using headhunter to complete the search for CA

  Holt stated to look at requirements that they want the headhunter to look for

  Burroughs appeared.

  Green stated he would like community input with this process

  Holt motion to hire outside firm to look at hiring CA and HR Director bring back info to hire administrator/ Green 5-0       

  7.c

County Attorney Discussion regarding upcoming SHADE Meeting

  County Attorney stated

Bopp vs. Gadsden County

Jackson vs Gadsden County

Holt/ Wood 5-0

  7.d

County Attorney Legal Services Agreement

  Chair stated they could discuss this

   Wood asked how much they are being charged for meeting

  Williams stated $215 an hour

  Wood felt like the attorney was representing the county manager and not the commissioners – did not feel like this contract was legal

  Williams stated he has never said he was averse to clients and he was not being that way towards Wood

  Green mentioned Wood not giving Williams a chance

  Holt stated all commissioners were notified about the interviews

  Green stated to iron out differences and move forward

  Wood stated did not get opportunity since they did not wait for him to get on the board

  Wood asked if Williams wrote contract – Williams stated he drafted contract and board decided to vote on it

  Bonnie Francis appeared. She stated she hoped they would get it together.

  Bishop Green appeared again.  

Wood stepped out at 8:37 p.m.

Wood returned at 8:38 p.m.

  Tracey Stallworth appeared again. Challenged commissioners to give out to the community.

  Rodney Moore appeared.

  Derrick Elias appeared. He stated this was a bad contract and it was going to cost him

Simpkins stepped out at 9:10 p.m.

   Chair asked Williams how many years – Williams stated 3-year contract 

  Chair passed out FL Statute Ch 215 Section 425 – mentioned a requirement that severance pay provided may not exceed an amount greater than 20 weeks of compensation

Simpkins returned at 9:16 p.m.

Holt stepped out at 9:16 p.m.

Holt returned at 9:20 p.m.

  Roosevelt Rogers appeared and stated it sounds like there is an Issue with contract and not attorney. They should go back and look at contract.

   8.

Motion to Adjourn

Chair adjourned meeting at 9:26 p.m.