BAY MINETTE  ̶  If the initial meeting of the newly elected County Commission Wednesday is any indication of things to come for the next four years, it's going to be  ̶  as actress Betty Davis once intoned  ̶  a bumpy ride.

The Commission chamber was packed with county and municipal officials and a crowd of Baldwin residents as the meeting kicked off promptly at 8:30 a.m. with the swearing in of the four commissioners. Frank Burt, District 1 commissioner, took the oath of office for the 7th time; Charles F. “Skip” Gruber, District 4 commissioner, for the second. Bob James, District 2, and Tucker Dorsey, District 3 commissioner, were each sworn in for the first time. Baldwin County Judge of Probate Tim Russell handled the oaths for all four men.

As the commissioners then turned to the business at hand, the tone of the proceedings became more sober and at times grew testy as the proceedings plodded through its five-and-a-half-hour length.

The body's first official action was to approve a resolution to determine the order of the rotation of commissioners as commission president. The yearly November to November schedule will be as follows: Burt, James, Dorsey and Gruber.

Many of the resolutions taken up during the meeting appeared to pit the District 1,2 and 3 Commissioners against District 4 Commissioner Gruber, if only with regard to the deliberative process. One such resolution was to reduce the size of county government for the 2011 budget year.

“This is not the time to have done this. We haven't had time to sit down and discuss it; I just learned about it last Thursday,” Gruber said.

“I have been involved for four months in meetings around the county; our budget will be reduced next year,” Dorsey said in response.

Commissioner James added that he had run to bring more efficient government, “This is just a business decision; we are making tough decisions today.”

Commission President Burt said, the pre-Nov. 10 meetings attended by Dorsey and James, did not, according to the Alabama Attorney General's office and Association of County Commissions of Alabama, violate the state Open Meetings Law.

“I can't support something I don't know about,” Gruber said. “For us to sit up here and make these decisions today is very wrong.”

The resolution passed with Gruber casting the lone “no” vote, a ballot tally frequently recorded during the proceedings.

Legal Representation

The commissioners, 3 to 1,  approved hiring Blackburn & Conner PC on an independent contractor basis to represent the County Commission with legal matters. The contract calls for an hourly rate of remuneration of $225 plus expenses “including, but not limited to, court costs, deposition expenses, travel expenses, facsimile charges, postage expenses, telephone expenses, copying charges and outside legal or expert expenses.” Other services for “matters beyond the normal scope of services” will cost extra, too.

County attorney Scott Barnette asked to address the commission one last time.

 “I want to thank the employees of this county. I hope in some way I have left some positive impact,” he said.

Interstate 10 Service Road Project

With Gruber as the lone dissenter, the commission approved a resolution to move forward with the plans, permitting and other activities needed to go out for bids for the I-10 service road project, which will connect the two shopping centers just north of the Interstate as well as provide additional I-10 access at County Road 13.

A number of Eastern Shore residents, mostly from the Timbercreek subdivision, spoke against the project, citing concern for property values, lack of a real need for the project, that the real beneficiaries of the project would be a few developers.

 Daphne Mayor Fred Small and Spanish Fort Mayor Jo Bonner spoke in favor of the project.

“This will be a good opportunity to do something to get the Lake Forest pond dredged,” Small said.

Bonner said his city supported the frontage road and had agreed to fund the project within the city limits. “We went on the record as supporting it in 2007 and continue to support it today,” he said.

As controversial as this agenda item was to some of those present, a mistake in the preparation of the agenda item that erroneously referred to the road as “Gus Palumbo Drive” added to the divisive atmosphere.

Assistant Administrator David Brewer said he took responsibility for the error for himself and his staff. “The agenda released to the public and press is correct.”

The agenda containing the error, however, was viewed by many before it was corrected.

Funding cuts to non-profits

With Gruber dissenting, the commissioners voted to have the clerk treasurer to develop proposals to lower the county rental lease tax, which would reduce or eliminate financial support to organizations such as the American Red Cross, the Baldwin County Heritage Museum, USS Battleship Alabama and others. After comments by Diane Poole of the ARC, commissioners voted to reinstate $18,000 of support  for ARC if Mobile would match it.

“These are worthy projects but we are facing difficult choices,” Commissioner James said. “I believe in personal benevolence but not with taxpayer money.”

Gruber then asked the commissioners to go across the board and delete the highway contingency fund.

“The Baldwin County Heritage Museum is part of our heritage. They use this money for their insurance. Amend it to give them $30,000,” he asked, but his motion died for lack of a second.

The commissioners then voted to eliminate the highway contingency fund for the remainder of this year as well as any residual current quarter funds that have not been expended. This fund amounts to about $80,000 per commissioner per year.

In other action, the commission:

Unanimously approved a resolution asking department heads to prepare proposals to reduce the number of county vehicles driven home by county employees;

Unanimously approved a resolution naming a county bridge on County Road 13 between County Road 64 and State Highway 104 the Judge Harry Wilters Jr. Bridge;

Unanimously approved a decision to place the County Commission checkbook online at the commission website effective Jan. 1, 2011;

Unanimously approved a resolution authorizing the commission chairman and the clerk treasurer to sign all necessary bank documents;

Unanimously approved a contract with the Alabama Historical Commission for the stabilization of the Fort Morgan State Historic Site;

Unanimously voted to cancel and non-renew all existing employment agreements, effective immediately;

Unanimously approved execution of an employment contract for an emergency management director with Melvin Stringfellow;

Voted 3-1 to authorize and approve the execution of a new employment contract for county engineer with Ralph C. Markert;

Voted 3-1 to authorize and approve the execution of a new employment contract for clerk treasurer with Kimberly Witherington Creech;

Voted 3-1 to to authorize and approve the execution of a new building official employment contract with Michael Howell.

Voted 3-1 to approve the execution of a new development and environmental director employment contract with James M. Ransom Jr.;

Voted 3-1 to have the clerk treasurer and budget director to prepare a resolution for the Nov. 16 commission meeting to amend the county's FY 2011 budget;

Approved a resolution to cancel and non-renew the existing employment agreement of the planning director and authorize and approve the execution of an employment contract with an acting director.

Approved that the assistant county administrator serve in the absence of the county administrator, appointed the assistant personnel director to serve as interim personnel director and appointed Jennifer Lee as interim director of Juvenile Detention.

 Approved a resolution to change the start time of the Nov. 23 commission work session.

Tabled a resolution to authorize and approve the execution of an employment contract for a personnel director;

Tabled authorization of the execution of a new juvenile detention director employment  contract with William E. Ford.

Tabled a resolution to post county employee salary and benefit costs on the county website;

Voted 3-1 to adopt an organizational chart with revisions to be presented to the commission at its Nov. 16 meeting; and

Removed from consideration a resolution to rescind actions taken during the Nov. 2 commission meeting to downgrade the chief accountant position to a staff accountant and approve the lateral transfer of an individual to the staff accountant position.