The council reviewed two short appropriation items on the agenda: a highway fund payment described as a buyout for a county highway superintendent and a riverboat-funded appropriation request for county postage.

The highway fund item was presented as a crude-payment/buyout request with an amount of $32,004.62; the transcript notes there was no highway representative present to speak in detail. The presenter said the payment was essentially a buyout for the superintendent but did not provide further documentation during the discussion.

The riverboat appropriation request was presented by Laura Toms, chief deputy to the Board of Commissioners. Toms said the county is requesting $75,000 for postage and freight; she told the council the commissioners cover postage for the entire county and that the commissioners’ postage line has about $43,000 remaining. Toms said billing from the city for May had not yet been received and that department-level mailing reports are available from the county’s mail processor.

Why it matters: postage is a recurring county expense that can exceed budgeted line items late in the fiscal year; highway buyout payments affect payroll and fund balances. Council members discussed possible steps to reduce postage costs and asked for additional detail on department-level spending and whether postage-related fees collected at filing are returned to the county general fund.

Outcome and next steps
- The transcript records the appropriation requests and discussion but does not show a formal vote or final disposition for either the $32,004.62 highway payment or the $75,000 riverboat postage appropriation.
- Laura Toms said she would provide a spreadsheet breakdown of department postage usage to the council for further review.

Ending
Council members asked for follow-up detail on department postage usage and on statutory routing of filing fees; no final votes on these appropriations are recorded in the provided transcript.