By Diane M. Moore
During their March 24 regular session meeting, Washington County Commissioners granted Supervisor of Elections Carol Rudd a budget amendment regarding the county’s January alcohol referendum ballot.
Commissioners agreed to pay for the election and all the costs associated with it. However, the board did not agree to cover the costs of a printing error that led to a reprint of ballots.
The misprint pushed election costs to approximately $30,000 more than anticipated. The county paid vendors for the error out of the general fund, but the money will be returned to the fund through the next two quarterly draws from the Supervisor of Elections’ budget.
In the meeting, bids for the next set of roads to be paved through FEMA were opened. But the contract for the work has not yet been awarded.
Coming in well over budget, a recommendation for the award is expected to be brought to the board during their April meeting.
The roads involved in the project are Pipkin Road, Loubelia Road, Cooks Mill Road, Bess Nook Road, Lee Road, Brackin Road and Cutoff Road.
State appropriation funding for Crystal Lake Drive and Davidson Road paving projects was awarded to the county. For a more in depth look at the funding, see page 1C in the Horizons special section.
In other items, County Administrator Jeff Massey advised commissioners on the success of Amnesty Day, which was held on March 14.
“This year’s Amnesty Day was really successful,” he said. “We had 160 residents utilize the service where six tons of electronics and five tons of garbage was brought to the recycling center for disposal. That is the highest number we have had in several years.”
Chipley resident Mack Campbell addressed the board with concerns about cleaning out ditches at the west end of South Boulevard and resurfacing Brown Street.
“The residents down by the west end of South Boulevard deal with flooding regularly,” he said. “The ditches need cleaning out. Is there anything that can be done? I would also like to know about resurfacing Brown Street. That road is heavily traveled and is in pretty rough shape.”
Commissioner Todd Abbott, who represents the district where these roads are located, responded.
“We have been exploring options for getting Brown Street taken care of,” said Abbott. “We have applied for grants and been denied, but we have not and will not stop looking for ways to fund that project.”
Abbott agreed to meet with Campbell at the area on South Boulevard to figure out what needs to be done to remedy the flooding issues.
The Clerk of Court was approved to pay vouchers for the month of February totaling $2,707,953.21.
The Washington County Board of County Commissioners will meet again in regular session at 9 a.m. on April 21.
Staff Report 
Jim Saunders