Tuesday night’s Rhea County Commission meeting was the last meeting for two of the commissioners.
Bill Hollin, longest serving commissioner on the board, served his last meeting along with Commissioner Rusty Rogers, who was not present because of illness.
Mr. Hollin, who came on the commission in 1978, was part of the original county court which had 18 members.
He served 28 years with two interruptions of service.
He said that he was happy to serve on the commission. When asked what some highlights of his terms were, he was quick to respond that besides setting up the current county commission and county executive system was the purchase of the Phil Swafford annex for county offices.
Mr. Hollin has served continuously since 1976 on the Rhea County Hospital Board.
He is also a member of the Tennessee County Commissioners Association, a group that looks over proposed legislation for the upcoming events. The group is made up of county commissioners of the three grand divisions of the state, East, West and Middle.
Mr. Hollin was asked to stay on for the remainder of his three-year term by Executive Director Charles Curtiss. He will serve in an advisory capacity.
Several of the commissioners thanked Mr. Hollin for his years of service to the county. Commissioner Emily Fisher added her thanks to Mr. Hollin and the budget committee for the job they did in creating the newly adopted budget.
All three of the newly elected commissioners, Tommy Ballard, Mark Cashman and Nick Welch, were in attendance of the meeting.
Jim Vincent brought up one of the sticky points the commission has been dealing with for a while, the convenience centers.
“I have been working on the convenience centers for some time. They are poorly organized. These are good people but need some training,” said Mr. Vincent.
One of the things he pointed out was the different schedules that each of the centers have. He said, “Looking at the signs on the front of the gates, you have five different schedules. We need to have a uniform time set for all our convenience centers. We need to post new signs with the hours and a number where people can call complaints in.”
Mr. Vincent requested that commissioners, most of whom have a convenience center in their district, think of a time to start and stop service and a day to be closed.
“This in the long run will save us some money, create some time for training for our center workers, and give the drivers one day a week to be off. We will also have a log sheet in all of the pickup trucks to show what time they get in, what time they leave the yard, where they go to pick up dumpsters at and how long it takes them to do so. This will help us to determine which sites create the most garbage and which do the least. By knowing this we can fix our schedules to be more efficient," said Mr. Vincent.
Commissioners also voted to set up a $1,000 fund under the Emergency Management Agency Budget to do background checks on new firefighters.
Fire Authority Chairman Jim Reid presented the measure to the commissioners saying that they are having to pay $21 per person for a background check.
Commissioners moved to have a special called meeting on Sept. 1 at 10:30 a.m. in the commission room for the selection of chairman, vice chairman and the various committees that commissioners serve on.
The swearing in ceremony of all the county commissioners and elected officials will be held in the historic Rhea County Courthouse on the second floor in the main courtroom at 9 a.m. After his oath is administered, incoming General Sessions Court Judge Jace Cochran will administer the oath of office to all of the commissioners and elected officials.