The Polk County Board Commissioners met on Tuesday afternoon at the Polk County Government Center. They heard from County Administrator Chuck Whiting about board room improvements and three other agenda items.
REVIEW OF BOARD ROOM IMPROVEMENTS
The Polk County Commissioners are looking at streaming their board meetings in the near future. They installed a microphone system and cameras to live stream the board meetings. These meetings will be accessible to anyone with a mobile device or a computer. The Board is looking to have this into effect by later this year. The Board will have multiple meetings with these new features to acclimate to being recorded before officially live streaming. “It’s a little bit different when you have a microphone pointed in your face,” said Whiting. “Generally speaking, they’ve been pretty positive about doing this. The reason we want to live stream is to be more visible to the public and get closer to our residents. We have to get some of the policy stuff for it.”
BUDGET ACTIONS FOR 2024
The department has received their input sheets through finance to start the construction of the proposed preliminary 2024 department budget. “This is all a part of a process where we receive a budget calendar that we follow,” said Whiting. “The middle of June to the middle of July is when departments start putting together initial budgets.” Another meeting will be held in early August to find where the most budget issues will take place.
ARPA UPDATE
The ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) was a talking point at the meeting because Polk County has $584,000 aside for assisting a new water district in the county. “This pays for upsizing the pipe to allow water to be distributed throughout the southwest portion of the county,” said Whiting. The city of Climax is involved in this project, but with the water district under formation, this bill has not been finalized.
SOCIAL SERVICES AND FACILITIES DEPARTMENT TO FILL POSITIONS
The Board approved all empty positions presented to be filled. The Facilities department requested a custodian and maintenance position. The Social Services department requested a temporary part-time social worker, social worker replacement, and office support specialist.
The Polk County Board has a policy to evaluate requested vacant positions, then determine if those positions are needed.
