In a relatively short meeting Tuesday, the Athens County Commissioners approved the purchase of property for a new Athens County Emergency Medical Service station.
The commissioners' meeting lasted only an hour, with about a quarter of that time dedicated to an executive meeting over the purchase of property at the intersection of South Plains Road and West Union Street for a new ACEMS station.
Bob Gallagher of the Athens County Department of Jobs and Family Services was approved to give Licking County's Department of Jobs and Family Services $250,000. Licking County would pay Athens County back $315,000.
"The premium is to our benefit, and we're fine with doing it," Gallagher said.
Commissioner Charlie Adkins took a moment in the middle of the meeting to apologize to the other commissioners and their staff over an article that ran in The Athens Messenger.
Several people were hired by the County that did not go through the process of being interviewed by the commissioners, such as the billing clerk and an intern for the DJFS, Adkins said.
"In the paper, it talked about the process being a joke, a backdoor deal and nepotism," Adkins said. "During those conversations, I didn't have the opportunity to speak with the press at that time. I feel that this was hurtful to our staff and made it look like the staff ... and the commissioners had done something wrong."
Adkins said the procedure for hiring had not changed since his tenure began four years ago, and that the commissioners may want to consider changing the hiring process.
"Hopefully we can move on and work together for Athens County," Commissioner Chris Chmiel said when Adkins had finished.
