Policy set to keep tabs on media

After emerging from the closed session, the board quickly voted to reinstitute an aborted search for a new emergency services chief. That was not totally unexpected in light of the interim chief’s recent revelation that delaying the appointment of a permanent chief would not save the county money.

But there was no public discussion prior to the vote.

It does apparently put to rest the question of whether interim chief John Skinner will continue to run indefinitely Barrow County Emergency Services.

Meanwhile, only seven days before the scheduled adoption of the FY2011 budget and planned 1-mill hike in the property tax rate, the board continued to leave in limbo the futures of about 200 county employees who have been sitting on pins and needles waiting to find out if their names are on the short list for an impending layoff.

And the commissioners took no action — at least in public — on the outcome of an investigation of the county’s embattled human resources director, Norma Jean Brown. (See related story, this page.) The series of lengthy private meetings since Aug. 31, followed by little or no public action, is an indication that the commissioners are having difficulty reaching a consensus on both high-stakes, and potentially volatile, decisions involving the potential termination of employees.

For more on this story, see the September 15 edition of the Barrow Journal or click here to read the full story online when you subscribe to our new e-edition.