Concerns regarding a proposed county engineer’s policy that could cost about $100,000 lingered during the relatively brief Athens County Commissioners meeting Tuesday.
Last week, Athens County Engineer Archie Stanley proposed to raise the percentage of employees’ salary they receive for unused sick days from the current 25 percent to 100 percent of their pay.
Though the proposition may be unpopular among the commissioners, there is a chance Stanley will be able to enact this policy.
“There is a state law that allows each department to make its own policy,” said Commissioner Larry Payne. “This isn’t fair to taxpayers and other county employees.”
Payne added that this policy, which comes out of the engineer’s salary line of funding, could cost Athens upwards of $100,000 if the employees it currently has were to retire.
Stanley and Jeff Maiden — who defeated Stanley in the Democratic Primary — were unable to be reached for comment.
Commissioners responded to a resident’s worries regarding a potential fill-material mining site.
The site is located near the Hocking River and across the river from Walmart on East State Street. A resident raised concerns that some of the fill material was leaking into the river.
The state is in the process of approving renewable 15-year permits for companies that wish to use that area for mining, said Gary Green, •mineral resources inspector for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
Though the county does not have any say in whether the permits are approved, the county has a right to ask for a meeting with the state, Payne said.
After mining is complete, the company will have three years to complete a reclamation process, which helps to return the environment to a more natural state, Green said.
“When everything is eventually done it will be green — it will be grass,” Green said. “But how long down the road that is, I don’t know.”
Friends of Shelter Dogs also made a presentation at the meeting with hopes to work out some of the technicalities of rescuing dogs.
“We have to pay high costs to pull dogs, which we have never had to pay before,” said Anne Cornwell of Friends of Shelter Dogs.
Next week, Cornwell, the county commissioners, Athens County Dog Warden Jeff Koons and Athens County Auditor Jill Thompson will be meeting to further discuss details regarding dog licenses and other matters concerning the dog shelter.
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