The Christian County Board held a special meeting in the Christian County Courthouse Monday night.   The meeting was called by chairperson Matt Wells to consider 3 specific issues:  Repairs to the Courthouse boiler, untabling a motion to rehire recently fired Zoning Administrator and Animal Control Officer Vince Harris, and Zoning Permits.

The meeting started off with Board member Ray Koonce questioning whether Wells’ action calling the special meeting was legal based on published county board rules.  He made a motion to override the Chair’s calling the special meeting.  That vote failed with 5 voting yes, 7 voting no, so the meeting continued.

Chairperson Wells said the reason he put the Courthouse boiler repair on the agenda was that county department heads didn’t have the authority to authorize the nearly 65-hundred dollar expense.  Board member Venice McWard made a motion to take the money from the county’s capital improvement fund.  That motion passed 15 to nothing.

A motion was then made to untable the motion to rehire Harris as Zoning Administrator and Animal Control Officer.  During the discussion before that vote, Chairperson Wells said it was his decision to put this item on the special meeting agenda since it wasn’t acted on at last week’s regular meeting.  Board member Koonce said it had been referred to the board’s personnel committee, with Board member Bryan Sharp saying he wanted the committee to review the job descriptions of each position before the issue came back to the full Board.   They voted 12 to 3 to keep the item tabled.

On the Zoning Permits item on the agenda, Chairperson Wells said something had to be done because of the number of requested building permits that were not being issued since the county has no Zoning Administrator to issue them with the Harris firing. Board member Clint Epley made a motion that this task be moved to Christian County Assessor Chad Coady’s office, with training provided by assistant Zoning Administrator.  

That motion led to a long discussion, with Board member Bev Graham saying she had talked with Coady and he didn’t feel his office could issue zoning permits and then assess those properties, plus didn’t have the office space.  Graham felt that the Board was forcing Coady to take the additional duties.

At the suggestion of Chairperson Wells, Christian County State’s Attorney Wes Poggenpohl was asked what the Board could do in the situation, and Poggenpohl suggested that the County Board’s Zoning Committee could vote on each zoning permit application and get them issued until a new Zoning Administrator was hired.   

After further discussion by several board members, the motion to ask the Assessor’s Office to issue zoning permits with training from the assistant Zoning Administrator passed 8 to 7.  Board member Mike Specha then made a motion that as a plan B if Coady didn’t want to accept the added responsibility, that the County Board Zoning Committee act on zoning permits temporarily until a new Zoning Administrator was hired.  That motion passed 14 to one.

In public comments at the end of the meeting, resident Tom Furgin expressed concerns about the way he thought County Board members were treating county employees, adding he felt there was a lack of leadership. 

The Christian County Board special meeting adjourned at 7:14 Monday night.