By Fred Woods
Editor

To most of us, “communication” is the process of exchanging information between individuals or groups. But communication is not the objective of the “public comment” portion of the Lee County Commission agenda, Lee Road 106 property owner Peter Byrd was told earlier this week. Byrd was told, emphatically, that he could comment but not raise questions during his three minutes as he (Byrd) once again attempted to ask why the East Lake Subdivision was allowed to use the extremely narrow Lee Road 106 as an access route in apparent violation of the county’s access management policy.
On a more positive note County Administrator Roger Rendleman reported that, for the ninth consecutive year, Lee County has received a clean audit from the state Examiners of Public Accounts for the last fiscal year. This means the Examiners found the county’s financial practices and statements to be materially correct and proper with no legal compliance findings (problems). In fact the county has received only one legal compliance finding in the last 12 years.
Rendleman thanked the commissioners and senior county employees for their assistance, giving them a lot of credit for the favorable audit. He introduced two members of his own staff, Barbara Howard and Gwinetta Ligon, for special recognition for their contributions.
He also thanked, by name, Yvette Daniel and Kim Oas of the HR. dept. Chris Bozeman, Director of Lee County Environmental Services, announced that the now annual E-Cycle event would be on Oct. 10, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Saugahatchee Square (former Midway Plaza).
In other actions, the commission
–appointed Glenn Leuenberger, an Auburn resident, to the county Department of Human Resources Board,
–approved an additional year’s use of the Tyner Building by the Genealogical Society of East Alabama and the Lee County Cemetery Preservation Commission,
–approved educational reimbursement for EMA’s Rita Smith,
approved funding for the annual Employee Health and Benefits Fair and
-approved seven annual Highway Department maintenance bids while allowing County Engineer Hardee’s request to reject bids and negotiate four others where only one bid was received.