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Long Commission hires recreation director
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LUDOWICI — Long County Commissioners decided to hire a full-time recreation department director, offered the job to the current part-time, interim director at their March 3 meeting.
According to commission Chairman Bobby Walker, the position will be offered to Sam Taylor.
“Sam was selected primarily because he was already doing the job. He’s about to retire (from another job) and will be available. And he has been in the position now for over a year,” Walker said.
According to the chairman, the position will have an annual salary of $24,000 and will carry all the benefits available for a full-time county employee.
Fourth District Commissioner Clifton DeLoach said the field had been narrowed to three candidates, who were interviewed by commissioners.
In other recreation department news, DeLoach reported he had been told by a state representative that Mitchum Road, which is the entrance to the Long County Recreation Complex, will be repaired soon.
According to DeLoach, the road was damaged in several places when the former Long Pre-Release Center offered commercial drivers license training to inmates.
“The inmates would drive the truck, and turn around at the recreation department, and all of the driving tore the road to pieces,” DeLoach said.
According to the commissioner, the road is to be repaired with at least a four-inch layer of concrete at the state’s expense.
The commission also approved a resolution to begin the process of establishing a board of elections. However the measure did not pass without debate whether it should have been decided at a later meeting.
The proposed resolution was brought up at this month’s meeting, but 2nd District Commissioner Wallace Shaw felt the information should have been given to each commissioner earlier.
Shaw said he did not feel he and the other commissioners had been given enough time to review the resolution.
Walker said the issue had been known for some time, commissioners had agreed changes were needed and that the matter was a necessity. He said the commission needed to start the process.
Walker also encouraged any commissioner who had proposed changes to request a special meeting.
Shaw countered, saying that once it was submitted to the state no changes could be made without going through the entire process again.
Shaw did suggest one change at the meeting. That was to stagger terms of the election board members, instead of them all having the same dates.
District 3 Commissioner Andy Fuller moved to establish the board with Shaw’s changes. District 1 Commissioner David Richardson seconded the motion and the measure passed 4-1. Shaw said he voted against it because he did not have time to properly review it.
After the vote, however, Shaw said that for a proposed resolution of change through the state it had to be a unanimous vote by the commission.
After the meeting County Attorney Jay Swindell said, “For some changes in the law it requires a unanimous vote, but for this, I don’t believe that it is the case. What I do believe is that it has been the standing policy in the past for it to be brought up (for changing) the vote has usually had to be unanimous.”
“Right now, I’m still researching this matter,” said Swindell.

In other business, the commissioners:

• Approved $5,000 from Drug Abuse Treatment Education fund to go to the Long County Family Connection for its Life Skills Training Program.
• Appointed Anthony Smith to the Long County Development Authority to complete the unexpired term of the late Terry Gordon.
• Approved $400 for the Long County Library for its summer reading program.
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