Roads indexes to be digitized in Union County

Starting the fiscal year off by looking at what came before, Union County received reports from the Recorder’s office during their meeting Wednesday.

Union County Recorder Katie Carlton gave her quarterly and end-of-fiscal-year report to the board. Notable was the Union County budget normalizing at 99.35% of the projected revenue in the previous fiscal year.

“You can’t get closer than that,” Carlton said.

Carlton also received an approval for contracting Cott Systems to digitize the county’s roads books. This requires Cott to take the county’s roads books off-site and scan them, preserving the material digitally and allowing for online access.

The Recorder’s Office and Engineer’s Department will split the cost of $7,900. Other Union County files have been digitized in the past, such as historical records, transfer books and military defense agreements. More files can expected to be digitized in the future.

“It’s always been a goal of mine to get as much digitized as we can,” Carlton said.

“They’re getting really crumbly and old,” Union County Auditor Sandy Hysell said about the quality of the books getting digitized.

A search feature will also be available for the digital indexes, allowing for faster research and a stronger ease of access for Union County’s departments. While the books are off-site, access can still be requested through Cott’s cooperation.

In other Union County news...

The first resolution of the fiscal year for Union County was signed on a familiar topic.

Union County will begin advertising the sale of up to $5,000,000 in general obligation urban renewal bonds after a resolution was passed by the board of supervisors. Funds from these bonds will go toward secondary roads’ capital projects, allowing them to continue for the foreseeable future.

This is the second $5,000,000 bond sale for the urban renewal plan, with the first $5,000,000 almost deplenished. Both of these bonds will be paid through wind turbine TIF revenue.

Potential bidders will receive a preliminary official statement which was also approved by the board of supervisors. The approval of advertisement also allows for electronic bidding.

More details about the sale process will be discussed during the July 16 meeting.

In their continued review of county ordinances, the board of supervisors reviewed ordinances 15 and 20, covering the unauthorized use of county property and general relief policies accordingly. In the next review, the county will cover ordinances 30 through 35, which includes items such as the board of health rules and regulations and waste water treatment.

The employee handbook was updated for the fiscal year. County departments follow the employee handbook for operations and guidelines. Copies will be sent to department heads.