District attorney presents Spencer Lawton awards; board approves budget amendments, hires court interpreter and accepts action calendar

District Attorney Jones used the commission meeting to present the first annual Spencer Lawton Jr. Victim Services Award posthumously to the family of former District Attorney Spencer Lawton Jr. and presented the inaugural agency award to Tharrows Place, a local nonprofit serving survivors of human trafficking. The district attorney’s office also announced a $10,000 contribution from its victim services funds to Tharrows Place to support operations.

“On behalf of the Chatham County District Attorney's Office, this first annual Spencer Lawton Junior Victim Services Award is presented to the family of the late Spencer Lawton Junior in honor of his pioneering work in the area of victim services,” DA Jones said, reading the plaque text into the record. Julie Wade, executive director of Tharrows Place, told commissioners the shelter currently houses eight residents aged 12–17 and described therapeutic and educational services for survivors.

The board then moved to several items that required formal action. The transcript records these motions and that votes were cast; it does not include a named roll‑call tally for each vote in the excerpt provided.

Key votes recorded in the meeting record provided:

- Excused absences: A motion to excuse Commissioners Melinda Scott Hodge and Marcia Buford (both in training) was made and seconded and carried. The mover is not named in the excerpt.

- Budget amendments and transfers: The board voted to approve a package of budget amendments and transfers that included increasing Henderson Golf Course operating revenues and expenditures by $150,000; adding supplemental funding of $4,000 each for drug court, mental health grant, and DUI court grant in the multiple grant fund; transferring $555,044 from contingency in the capital improvement program fund to establish the sheriff’s office data center project; and repurposing $1,600,000 originally for Live Oak Library HVAC to Live Oak Public roof and wall retention renovations at Southwest Chatham Library. The motion to approve the listed budget amendments and transfers was moved and seconded and carried.

- Hiring authorization: The board approved hiring a court services specialist to provide interpreting services for state court effective July 1, 2025, because superior court will no longer provide those services. The motion was moved and seconded and carried.

- Action calendar: The board voted to accept the action calendar in its entirety; the motion to approve the calendar was seconded and carried.

Other proclamations and recognitions: The board proclaimed April 2025 as Child Abuse Awareness Month in Chatham County and designated the week of April 13–19 as Public Safety Telecommunicator Week in Chatham County, recognizing 9‑1‑1 staff and their administrators, including 9‑1‑1 administrator Martha Scott Thurman and communications officer Giselle Moore. The 9‑1‑1 presentation included a report that the call center received 559,863 telephone calls in 2024 and that staffing levels had improved (open vacancies moved from about 26 to 8). The board also presented employee service awards recognizing milestone anniversaries for multiple county employees.

The transcript does not show recorded vote tallies by named vote for each motion in the excerpt provided; where totals and roll‑call names were not read into the record, the meeting record shows that votes were cast and the motions carried.