Marengo receives 4-H CYI designation at commission meeting
A large contingent of 4-H supporters attended the Marengo County Commission meeting Tuesday to celebrate the county receiving the 4-H Centennial Youth Initiative designation.
Paul Brown, the Alabama Director of 4-H, presented the commissioners with the Crystal Clover to commemorate the event.
Brown said that when the U.S. Agricultural Extension Office celebrated its 100th year in 2014, it reviewed
its most successful programs. One of them was 4-H. To keep the program strong and help it grow, the state Extension Office out of Auburn University set up the 4-H CYI. Each county was to meet criteria adapted to its own circumstances.
Marengo County’s office is one of 22 in the state to have completed the requirements. As a result Beth Yates, 4-H director for both Marengo and Greene counties, now will work exclusively in Marengo. Greene County, which also has qualified for the 4-H CYI designation, will have its own director as well.
Brown said the Marengo County 4-H program “has grown by leaps and bounds” over the last few years. It now has 800 members ages 9-18 and reaches more than 1,400 students in K-12 through all of its programs.
In other action the commission approved a $10, five-year lease agreement with the state to operate Chickasaw Park. The state closed the park last year due to budget cuts.
“I think this is exciting that we can do something for the people of Marengo County,” said Dan England, commission chairman.
Commissioner Freddie Armstead said the county is looking to expand RV parking and will investigate the rates it charges for campers and the use of the pavilions.
Employees in the county engineering department and the Probate Office received permission to donate vacation time to fellow employees who must take time off because of illness in their families.
The commissioners approved the use of a van for the county library. Marengo County librarian Joyce Moore thanked them for the van and showed off book bags that will be used to distribute and pick up books for the elderly and disabled patrons of the bookmobile.
Revenue Commissioner Sharon Barkley reported no insolvencies in the county, one bankruptcy in litigation and one error in assessment involving homestead exemption.
In other action, the commission:
- Accepted the Grand Jury report
- Appointed Willie James Dorsey to the DHR
- Approved a letter of support for West Alabama Public Transportation
- Continued its current CD with First Bank of Linden
- Set a hearing date for the next commission meeting on vacating two roads off County Road 21.