Commissioners want national motto displayed in board room

The national motto “In God We Trust” will soon be put prominently on display in the board room of the Grady County Commission following action taken this week.
Grady County commissioners unanimously approved a resolution supporting the display of the national motto.
Commissioner Charles Norton read the resolution aloud before offering a motion to adopt it.
According to the resolution, “In God We Trust” became the national motto on July 30, 1956 and has been used on U.S. currency since 1864.
The resolution calls for the motto to be “permanently and prominently displayed” in the commission chambers in the  Grady County Courthouse.
County officials say that 447 other cities and counties across the nation have adopted similar resolutions.
In other business Tuesday night, the commission:
Approved the use of the Agri-Center by local Girl Scouts at no charge on Saturday, Feb. 21 from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m.
Rescinded previous action to accept a bid of $34,981.72 from Spence Chevrolet in Thomasville and to ratify verbal approval to accept the bid of $36,643 for a Silverado 3500HD from Hobson Chevrolet-Buick. The board verbally approved the change 3-2 with Commissioners Elwyn Childs, Ray Prince, and Charles Norton voting to approve the bid from the local dealer and Chairman LaFaye Copeland and Commissioner T.D. David favoring the low bid from the out-of-town dealer. However, on Tuesday night the board voted unanimously to purchase the truck from Hobson since the dealer’s bid was within five percent of the Thomasville dealership’s bid.
Approved increasing the mileage reimbursement for court reporters to $ 0.575 per mile at the request of Chief Judge A. Wallace Cato. Commissioners agreed that if they were going to pay the higher rate to court personnel then the higher rate should apply to all county personnel. “I don’t see it going up now when the price of gas is going down,” Commissioner Ray Prince said. Commissioners voted 4-1 to raise the reimbursement rate with Commissioner Norton casting the lone nay vote.
Accepted the low bid of $16.50 per ton for 250 tons of crush and run base rock for the county road department from CalMart Inc. The only other bid received was for $19.50 per ton from Southern Contractors.
Tabled payment of two invoices from Wm. Thomas Craig to verify some of the billings were not duplicated.
Approved payment to the Association County Commissioners of Georgia on claims made against the county. One case involves an inmate who fell while being led into the courthouse. The invoice for that case was $1,952.28, which was approved. The second invoice is related to an auto accident involving a motorist and a county road department employee. That charge was $1,672.49, which was also approved.
Instructed County Administrator Carlos Tobar to contact the Georgia Forestry Commission about marking pine trees at the Tired Creek Lake site that need to be thinned so that the project can be put out to bid. The Messenger previously reported that Tobar had been instructed to solicit bids for the thinning, but that was incorrect.
Heard an update from Tobar that the courthouse would be rekeyed today, Jan. 21, or Thursday, Jan. 22, but he did not explain what process would be followed in assigning new keys to those who need them.