County official thanks crews, urges residents to attend meetings and defends staff amid criticism

A county official used the Morgan County commissioners’ Dec. 29 meeting to praise emergency and highway crews for their response to an overnight storm, urge residents to attend local meetings, and push back against accusations about corruption.

Speaker 2 told the room, “There’s a lot of good going on right here in Morgan County,” and thanked workers who cleared limbs and made roads passable after what he described as a ferocious storm. He said employees were at work within hours and thanked “all the workers” and the county’s roughly 400 employees for their efforts.

Addressing criticism he said some residents had implied the board was seeking kickbacks. He rejected that characterization, saying his retirement and business are local and that he has no personal financial motive: “I’m not going anywhere, all my retirement’s here, my business is here, my livelihood’s here.” He urged residents to attend meetings if they wanted to question county actions rather than rely on television coverage.

During the remarks Speaker 2 also made broader, contested assertions about international affairs, saying he had “a strong feeling, Venezuela is not about drugs and it’s not about oil… it’s about China coming over here and taking over.” No other speaker in the meeting offered a response or provided evidence in the record to substantiate that claim.

The remarks mixed operational praise and civic appeals with partisan and international commentary. No formal board action followed from these statements; they were delivered as part of the meeting’s opening remarks and public exchanges.

The board closed the meeting shortly afterward with a routine adjournment motion for the new year.