I attended the June 13, 2023 Camden County Commission meeting at 10:00 a.m.
All commissioners were present.
There were about a dozen people present at the meeting besides the county employees who normally attend.
At the beginning of the meeting, Presiding Commissioner Skelton stated that the recording system in the room wasn’t operating because of connectivity issues. Yay! The Gadfly’s career continues!
The first agenda item was Camden County Library Board.
Skelton explained that Camden County must appoint members as their terms expire at the end of July. There are five members of the Library Board as well as the Library Director. Two terms are expiring on July 31, 2023. Those positions are currently filled by Michelle Mylar and Candi Geiter.
Michelle Mylar was present at the meeting. Commissioner Skelton said that he appreciated her service. He informed the audience that the Commission has also been contacted by other residents who would like to serve on the Library Board.
Candi Geiter is also a current member of the Library Board. She was not able to attend the meeting, but Skelton spoke to her on the phone and she expressed a desire to continue to serve on the board.
Michelle Mylar spoke before the Commission. She has served on the Library Board since July 13, 2007. Mylar recapped many of the accomplishments of the Camden County Library System. There are six libraries in the county and the library district also supplies free wi-fi hotspots to various areas of the county. She described many different programs offered by the district.
Commissioner Gohagan mentioned that he had spoken six to seven months previously with Library Board member John Olivarri regarding surplus revenue coming into the library district. Olivarri remembered the conversation differently and felt that it had been mainly about a reduction in revenue that was dispersed from the county to the library district.
Gohagan also stated that he hoped the library district would consider offering its libraries to the Emergency Management Agency as emergency warming shelters during major ice storm power outages. Olivarri responded that this was the first time he had heard about such a request.
Commissioner Gohagan asked when the Library Board met? Olivarri replied that it was usually on the 2nd Friday of each month at 9:00 a.m. They are posted as public meetings.
Commissioner Skelton said that the two serving members had performed well and he appreciated them, but felt that it might be time to give some new people the opportunity to serve.
Commissioner Gohagan made a motion to appoint Vicky Simbro and Denise Gay to the Camden County Library Board.
Commissioner Williams asked Michelle Mylar how much longer she planned to serve on the board? Mylar responded that still she planned to attend the meetings, observe, and listen at the library district meetings, regardless of whether she was re-apppointed.
Board member Olivarri told the Commission that there was an advantage to having experienced member on the Library Board who had some knowledge and history of board decisions.
Commissioner Skelton asked Olivarri how long he had served on the Board? Olivarri responded that he didn’t know, “but it had been a while.”
Skelton mentioned that perhaps Olivarri could provide that experience for the Library Board.
Commissioner Williams stated that he likes to bring new people on, but he also respects the depth of institutional knowledge provided by the experienced Library Board members.
This motion was approved unanimously.
The second agenda item was County Insurance – Medical Mutual – Pharmacy Contract.
Camden County funds its own health insurance plan and Jeremy Billington, the insurance broker for the plan had some questions for the Commission concerning the county’s pharmacy plan.
The current county plan renews on January 1, but the pharmacy insurance plan renews on August 1. This creates some trouble because the two plans are not synchronized.
The pharmacy plan also does not cover certain diabetes/weight loss medications that county employees need. As one example, Ozempic can cost over $900 per month. Billington offered the Commission a variety of options for alternate pharmacy plans that could potentially provide subscriptions to county employees at lower costs. The Commission could also authorize the pharmacy plans to pay for these expensive diabetes medications and/or raise the co-pay for those prescriptions.
It sounded like there was a lot of flexibility regarding the medications that could be covered. Various employees in the audience expressed that there was a need for some of these medications to be funded by the county’s health insurance. Commissioner Skelton asked Billington to gather more information from the current employee data to determine what the potential cost would be for Camden County if the Commission agreed to fund those medications.
The third agenda item was Ratify May 2023 Tax Abatements.
The Commission approved these unanimously.
The fourth agenda item was Brian Walls – Request to Use Courthouse Front Lawn.
Walls asked for permission for the Heartland Worship Center to host a Pop-Up Worship Night on the courthouse front lawn on July 21, 2023 between 7:00 p.m. and 8:30 p.m.
This was approved unanimously by the commissioners.
The final agenda item was K.C. Cloke – Camden County Ag & Youth Enrichment Council (CCAYEC) – Request for Funds.
CCAYEC is a not-for-profit organization that wants to establish a Camden County fair and fairground in Camden County. I wrote about their previous presentation to the Commission here.
Britney Meads and K.C. Cloke from CCAYEC asked the Commission for $50,000 to pay for a feasibility study and an economic impact assessment. The study would cost $30,000 and the remainder would be used to start their capital campaign. CCAYEC has tried to raise funds from donors, but must donors want the reassurance that a feasibility study has been conducted before they are willing to contribute money toward a Camden County Fair.
Commissioner Skelton stated that he does not believe ARPA federal money could be used for a feasibility study.
Commissioner Gohagan mentioned that there should be around $43,000 in the Commission’s Passport Fund. County Treasurer Kendra Hicks verified that this amount was correct.
A motion was made to give $43,000 from the Passport Fund to the Camden County Fair (CCAYEC). Commissioner Williams will attend their meetings as a liaison and CCAYEC will report back to the Commission after the 60 days required to complete their feasibility study.
This was approved unanimously.
And that was that.
Among the Dogwoods 