The regular meeting of the Jackson County Commissioners was held on Monday, Jan. 25, at 10 a.m. The minutes of the Jan. 19 meeting were approved, with a minor change. There were no blanket purchase orders.

In Officers' reports, Gerald Sherrill, Jr., Assessor, said he attended the flood plain meeting with the FEMA representative last Thursday. The new flood plain maps now show some areas of the county and city in a flood plain. Jackson County has until March 1 to protest the new designations. One way the county can protest is to hire a company to do an aerial survey to get the right footage above sea level for these areas. This aerial survey will be expensive, possibly as much as a $250,000. Currently David Braddock, Chair of the Economic Development Commission, will be checking to see if he can locate funds to pay for this survey. Without the protest, "there will be some changes in the county," Sherrill said. The county can't protest boundaries, just elevations. The commissioners will be researching and working on how to best wage a protest against FEMA's new maps.

Commissioner Anthony Fixico said there have been some changes in personnel policies for county workers. The new 2010 version of these policies will go into effect in 2 weeks.

Treasurer Janet Wright reported that those who have property in the old vault will want to move it. Those county officers with unneeded items should inform the commissioners office to have them declared surplus. Then the items may be auctioned.

The commissioners approved the Circuit Engineering District (CED) Auction policies, and also the advertising for bids on communication equipment for Jackson County Rural Fire Association. This includes mobiles, radios and pagers which will be purchased with the remainder of grant monies. This move was approved by the commissioners.

Gary Strickland told the commissioners that there are 3 openings now on the Jackson County Fair board. He also asked that Monica Thompson of District 3 be added to the board. The commissioners approved her addition.

In new business, Wright said that the property at 616 S. Willard will be discussed at the Dilapidated Building Commission meeting on Feb. 4 at 9 a.m.

There were no public or vendor participation items. All claims were approved by the commissioners.