Burke County approves multiple personnel hires, grant application, and administrative purchases

At its meeting, the Burke County Board of Commissioners approved a package of routine administrative actions: advertising to fill vacant positions across departments, applying for a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), ratifying an insurance renewal payment and approving a vendor bid extension and blanket purchase orders.

Hiring and recruitment actions approved include advertising to fill two 9‑1‑1 dispatcher positions, an Administration I position in the Clerk of Court’s office, ten emergency medical technician positions for the EMA (to bring total hires to 13 after earlier approvals), eight part‑time positions in the recreation department, and one vacant position at the animal shelter. Commissioners said budget funds are available for the advertised positions.

The board also authorized the county to submit an application to the CSRA Regional Commission for a $1,000,000 CDBG grant to support recreation facilities. The board ratified payment of the county’s annual insurance renewal and discussed that the county’s premiums have increased over recent years; the renewal amount recorded in the meeting materials was $1,188,188 for the year and an additional $88,639 for another policy line noted in the packet.

Commissioners also approved a one‑year extension of an existing bid award with SNS Distributing to hold pricing for paper and cleaning supplies and approved several blanket purchase orders to cover recurring annual expenses within the approved budget.

Finally, the board approved a request from the sheriff to fund deductible and legal fee items that had exceeded the Sheriff’s FY25 budget, and the board ratified payment of those deductibles as requested by the sheriff’s office.