The White County Board meeting and the Carmi Township groups will both hold August meetings next Tuesday. The township board meeting gets underway at 6 from the office on Church Street.
Supervisor Pam Deig along with Township Clerk Anthony Huffer and Trustees Michael Baxley, David Hall, Rod Matsel and Tim Scates are expected to be there as will road commish Chris Ewing and township assessor, Amy Short. We expect to hear an update from road commissioner Chris Ewing on an oil and chipping project that was met with some aggravation at the end of last month into the beginning of August. Some residents near Colony West complained of the lack of signage and were upset that oil was laid down and not chipped immediately resulting in some folks driving through it and leaving a mess on their vehicle. McEwing stood by his work however and explained that in order to get the oil and chip to bond, it’s best to lay a primer down and leave that for 24 hours. He said while he understands the process can be an inconvenience, he stands by his work, believes the people who travel and live on those roads were long overdue and deserve good roads, though he did apologize for any issues it may have caused.
The White County Board meets at 7pm at the Carmi Courthouse. Other than a representative from GBS presenting health insurance information, there’s only one other item on the agenda that stands out. Board members, it appears, may be set to consider a contract employment for what they’ve labeled as “Dog Catcher”. It remains to be seen if the same, a smaller or even maybe a larger contingent will show up for the meeting as were there in July when Chairman Donnie Puckett was absent on a planned vacation. Wayne Spicer, the dismissed Animal Control Officer, says he did turn in an application and interviewed with board member Ken Usery, but hasn’t heard anything else and says he’s not getting his hopes up.
The White County Board has yet to formally give an answer as to the specific reason for his dismissal, though Spicer’s social media posts while he was under contract seem to be the biggest issue. Most don’t disagree he worked tirelessly in an attempt to help animals, but couldn’t hold back from expressing his displeasure at times with a lack of cooperation or support from his bosses. At last month’s meeting, Spicer said with regards to that…
“As far as this Facebook thing goes, I think that was a violation of my first amendment rights and I’m looking into that.”
In addition to the “Dog Catcher” contract employment agenda item, there is an executive session planned for personnel and/or litigation.
