When members of the Carter County Commission meet on Monday one of the items they will be considering is a regional economic development partnership.
Commissioners will hear a presentation from Mitch Miller, CEO of the Washington County Economic Development Council regarding a regional approach to job and business recruitment. The information packet presented to commissioners prior to the meeting is a public record and is typically available online five days before a scheduled meeting does not contain any information regarding what Miller will be presenting to the Commission.
Over the course of recent months, Carter County Mayor Leon Humphrey has suggested to the Commission on several occasions that Carter County should consider joining into a regional economic development partnership as a means of recruiting new jobs to the county. During Budget Committee meetings as part of the budget process, Humphrey said he and leaders of the surrounding counties have already been in talks regarding the development of a regional economic development partnership.
Members of the Commission will also consider a resolution authorizing Humphrey to sign a contract with the Tennessee Department of Health regarding local health services provided at the Carter County Health Department.
“We’ve been in that contract for many, many years,” Humphrey said, adding each year the county must renew the contract.
The contract allows the local health department to receive grants from the state which help pay for the costs of staffing, services and programs. Currently, the majority of the Health Department’s funding comes from state allocations.
The Commission meeting is scheduled for Monday, June 20, at 6 p.m. in the courtroom located on the second floor of the Carter County Courthouse.
Prior to the scheduled Commission meeting, a public hearing for the proposed county budget for the 2016-17 fiscal year will be held in the courtroom at 5 p.m. While the public hearing will be held on Monday, the budget itself will not be presented to the full Commission until its scheduled meeting next month on July 18.
Because the county operates under the Financial Management Act of 1981, commonly referred to as the “‘81 Act,” state law stipulates that the budget cannot be presented prior to the month of July and it must be passed by the county during the month of July. If the Commission fails to pass the budget at the July 18 meeting, a special called meeting will have to be held to address the budget before the end of July.
When the budget is presented to the Commission, members of the county’s governing body can vote to change any proposed funding within the budget except for the funding designated for the county’s debt service to pay off loans.
Under state law, counties operating under the ‘81 Act are prohibited from changing the debt service allocation after a public hearing on the budget has been held.