Stone County Commissioners Move Money From Maintenance Fund For "Private" Office:

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The elevated floor will be extended past the door on the left and enclosed for new "private" office to be used by county commissioners

County commissioners called for a report from the Stone County Senior Citizen Service Board at a meeting on February 25th.

Board president Sheila Woodsey says the group is in good financial shape.  Several years ago voters approved that five cents of every $100 collected in tax revenue would go to fund the agency.

Woodsey say the agency helps over 100 elderly people a month with home health care and directs those who need help to the appropriate agencies, like OCAC or the Stone County Health Department.

For the last two years the SCHD has provided low cost shingles vaccines to the elderly, but those services were no longer needed, according to Woodsey. 

Todd McMullins with the Stone County Health Department says seven out of every 1000 senior citizens will be affected by the painful disease and asked commissioners to consider adding the cost of the vaccinations to the budget.

Presiding commissioner Dennis Wood said commissioners had already set this year's budget and invited McMullin back to address the issue prior to budget talks for 2015 that will take place in November and December.

Commissioners appointed F. Rick Uebel to represent Pine B on the Planning and Zoning board.

Another issue brought before commissioners was the county's outdated website.

Tammy Fink said the site "is aged and needs updating."

"It really needs overhauled at some point," said Fink.  "We have wonderful photographers and historians in Stone County that could be used to showcase our county," she said.

Presiding Commissioner Wood agreed but maintained that the budget for the year had already been set and money set aside in the newly created reserve account would not be used to update the site.  "Are you volunteering," he asked.

Commissioners also approved moving about $250 from the maintenance fund for the construction of a small private office that will be adjacent to the commissioners office.  "There is no place for us to meet with someone who wants to talk to us privately or for us to be able to make a private phone call," said Wood.  

"Any one of the commissioners that needs to use it will be able to," he said.  "It will never be used as a backroom by any of us."