County officials seeking overhaul to maps

Franklin County Tax Assessor-Collector Talina King Matthews came before the Franklin County Board of Supervisors on Monday, Oct. 17 with a question about new boundaries related to the area’s voting precincts.

Those district lines were altered slightly during the redistricting process undertaken after the 2020 federal Census count of the nation’s population.

“The mapping changes are effective Jan. 1,” Matthews said. “(The date) is not going to affect the property tax. It will, however, affect my tags. I’m going to need (updated) maps by the end of the year. Also, (Circuit Clerk) Warren (Walker) needs maps yesterday for the voting changes.

“I really need the maps finalized by December, maybe the end of November. I need them immediately, because it’s going to take a while to change all the tags and stuff.

“I spoke to Flo Analytics and (they) said they didn’t do any legal descriptions for the changing of the lines of voting precincts. They moved the lines, but they didn’t do the legals. No legals (means) no application to the map.

“Without legal descriptions, the mapping company cannot apply (a change) to the map because (they) don’t know where it goes. For the tax districts, we’re good; for the voting precincts we’re not. Without the legal descriptions on the map, the voting precincts won’t be applied to the map.”

After some discussion, centered around whether Flo Analytics should be asked to write the legal descriptions for the voting precincts or someone else needed to be brought in, the panel came to the conclusion to ask Tri-State Mapping — the company hired by the county for its mapping needs — to write the descriptions.

While on the subject, District 5 Supervisor Jimmie “Bodi” Bass, who also serves as board president, mentioned he is currently in the process of compiling a list of roads located in the county that are not on existing maps.

“On the most current map that we have, there are roads that are not on there,” he said.

“(It) does not have Quentin Road South on there. We have to sit down and go road by road to make sure everything is on there. We’re working on it, but we’re not completed.”

He also said there are some maps that have some roads on them, and others that don’t.

“We really need to get the maps updated,” he said. “All our maps need to match and be corrected.”

Also at the meeting, sealed bids were opened at 10 a.m., for the purchase of a 2005 International garbage truck, which was no longer in use by the county.

Only one bid was received — from Doug Atkins, who owns Hometown Waste, in the amount of $35,000 — and it was accepted by the board.

In other action, supervisors took up these items of business:

• Heard from Chancery Clerk Jill Jordan Gilbert that a “notice- to-proceed” letter was received from G. Rayborn Contracting for State Aid Project-19(72) on Providence Road.

• Accepted, as presented, the list of amended and deleted homestead tax exemptions, the list of delinquent mobile home taxes and delinquent business personal property taxes.

Matthews also noted that the list of delinquent business personal property taxes has gotten smaller — it went from being four pages long to just a single page.

• Accepted an aged analysis from Justice Court Clerk Gladys Wilcher for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2022.

• Approved a payment in the amount of $900 to InfoWare 2 for annual support costs associated with the courtroom’s digital recording equipment and microphones.

• Removed a Dell Optiplex computer from the courtroom inventory and a 2005 International garbage truck from the county’s asset list.

• Gave approval to pay Fisher Brown Bottrell Insurance in the following amounts – $175 for a $50,000 bond on Wilcher; $263 for a $75,000 bond on Deputy Chancery Clerk-Inventory Control Tonya Blackwell; and $250 for a $50,000 bond on Sheriff’s Deputy Gordon Dover.

• Approved payments to WGK Engineers in the amounts of $11,962.50 for services rendered on Local System Bridge Program Project-19(17) on Bonus and Bonds roads and $53,347.18 for SAP-19(14)S, which is a reseal project.

Both amounts will be reimbursed by the Office of State Aid Road Construction.

• Approved the county employees’ and officials’ salaries for the fiscal year 2023.

• Approved claims from McGehee, McGehee & Torrey for litigation matters — one in the amount of $236.54 and the other for $432.82.

The Board of Supervisors will hold its next regular business meeting at 9 a.m., Monday, Nov. 7 at the courthouse on Main Street in Meadville.

Those wishing to address the board on issues of local interest should contact Gilbert’s office no later than the Thursday prior to the board’s meeting to be placed on the agenda for recognition by the panel.