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The Covington County Commission approved the pay increase for poll workers in the county and approved six other items at a regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday, July 26.

The commission approved raising the pay for county poll workers from $100 a day to $150 and the pay for chief inspectors from $125 to $175 effective immediately.

“Our poll workers are very important. I have a great team in my office, and we do all of the behind-the-scenes and get everything ready. If we don’t have poll workers at the polls who know what they are doing, who can communicate well, and help the voters, then we’re not going to have good elections in Covington County. Historically, we have really honest elections, and everything is run right by the book. It’s done correctly, and I want to continue to have poll workers that will do that. It reflects on all of us when things aren’t good especially me,” Probate Judge Stacy Brooks said. “Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Poll workers get there about 6:30 in the morning and don’t get to leave until about 8:30 at night. That’s a 14-hour day,” Chairman Greg White added, in supporting the increase in pay.

The commission made a commitment of $1.16 million of the $7 million ARPA funds for county road and bridge projects ($250,000 in each district) and improvements to the nature trail at LBW in partnership with the City of Andalusia, which committed $55,000 to the project one week ago.

The commission listened to Alex Myrick regarding his application for a lounge retail liquor license for Slinks Nighttown Bar and Grill, formerly known as Soggy Bottom.

“When somebody makes an application for a liquor license of any kind, the process is handled by the ABC Board. One step in the process is to come to the commission for approval at the commission level. There was some conflict between this applicant’s application and his business plan. I don’t think it was intentional. His application was what the ABC Board considered, and then the business plan is what he presented to the commissioners to be considered. We felt like there was no way to move on it without him clarifying and fully disclosing his plans with the ABC Board. We took no action on it and encouraged additional work on his part. We also committed to having a public hearing before we act on his application in the future when it comes back to us,” White said.

In other business:

• The commission adopted the Hazard Mitigation Plan as presented by Covington County EMA, with the agreement to review it closely, which may require amendments after the review.
• The commission approved the final plat approval for the Twelve Oaks Subdivision, located in the Harmony Church community.
• The commission approved the solicitation of bids for curb and gutter work on upcoming projects.
• The commission approved declaring an older front-end loader of the Engineer’s department as surplus. It will be disposed of at an upcoming Wood auction.
• The commission awarded a bid for seed and fertilizer to Andalusia Farmers Coop, which was the sole bidder.

The next meeting of the Covington County Commission will be held Tuesday, August 9, 9 a.m., at the Covington County Administration Building. The public is invited to attend. White said this will be the only meeting held during the month of August, due to scheduling conflicts.