County council approves library lot funding

Sunday, March 26, 2017

With the Putnam County Public Library Board moving forward with plans to redesign its parking lot, one of the final pieces to fall into place required approval of the Putnam County Council.

That step was completed last Tuesday when the council approved the use of $43,000 from Library Improvement Reserve Fund (LIRF) to complete the project.

While asking several questions about the project of Library Director Grier Carson, council members seemed onboard with the plan all along.

The need for county approval arises from the council’s authority to approve the library’s annual budget. Since this expenditure counts as an additional appropriation, the council had to sign off for it.

Carson also explained that the LIRF fund is one the Library Board is trying to use less and less.

“We’re just trying to move away form using that fund and using (the) Rainy Day (Fund instead).”

The expenditure will leave just $3,000 in LIRF.

In other business:

• County Commissioner David Berry announced the formation of a committee to explore future of the Jones School/Courthouse Annex property on Liberty Street.

The group is to be composed of Berry; Council members Darrel Thomas, Dave Fuhrman and Jill Bridgewater, Auditor Lorie Hallett and County Attorney Jim Ensley.

The Putnam County Commissioners story published last week erroneously left Fuhrman off this list.

• The council approved a $20,000 transfer in the commissioners’ budget from the health insurance fund to the property and casualty insurance fund.

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