The newly elected Warren County Commission held its first meeting Monday night and selected County Executive Herschel Wells to serve as commission chairman as one of its first orders of business.
The decision means Wells will run the full County Commission meetings, but he will not have a vote in deciding county business.
The county committees proposed by Wells were also accepted by the full County Commission. They passed by a 23-1 vote with Shane Wilcher the only dissenting vote.
The County Commission appointed four new members to the Financial Management Committee. While anyone can serve on this committee, including members of the general public, commissioners opted to appoint themselves. A nomination by Shane Wilcher to appoint citizens Bob Warren and Travis Whitehead did not receive a second.
After several nominations and a vote, Terry Bell, Wayne Copeland, Billy Earl Jones, and Tommy Savage were appointed.
Among other matters brought before the commission, Industrial Development Board director Don Alexander said the highly visible construction project on Manchester Highway is nearly complete. He said DN Plastics is about a month away from moving into its new 110,000-square-foot facility.
“Last I heard, they’re looking at possibly the middle of October to be at the point where they’ll receive their certificate of occupancy,” said Alexander. “As far as I know they’re still on track for that. The contractors have done extremely well in keeping that on track. I think we’re right on schedule.”
Jail Oversight Committee chairman Morris Bond gave a brief report and said there are currently 269 inmates at the jail, with 65 of them women.
Monthly meetings of the County Commission are held on the third Monday of each month at 6:30 p.m. in the Warren County Administrative Building.