Abbeville — On behalf of the Association of Concerned Citizens for Better Government (ACCBG), President Carlton Fisher filed a formal protest at Tuesday’s county commission meeting regarding action the board took at its September meeting.

Fisher said the Association has met with an attorney, and everything in his letter to the commissioners as well as accompanying documentation has been discussed with that attorney.

At the previous month’s meeting, commissioners had agreed to continue allowing Southern Renewable Resources Inc. (Southern Refuse) to handle the county’s solid waste at a per month cost of $11,800 for the next four years.

Fisher contended that at that Sept. 6 meeting, the commission had no written contract prepared to enter into the minutes as required by law, that the commission instructed the county attorney to prepare an “after the fact” contract in the amount of $11,800 per month for a term of four years contrary to the term limits imposed by law, and that the contract approved was a “pig in a poke” contract whose terms were concealed and unavailable for public scrutiny.

Finally, Fisher posed the question, “how did the agenda item, ‘Discussion about Solid Waste,’ listed under Old Business evolve from a discussion of solid waste to awarding a new contract to Southern in a matter of minutes in the amount of $566,400 over four years?”

He also asserted that the current contract with Southern Refuse which is costing the county $17,500 per month and was signed by former commissioners in 2008 has “questionable provisions.”

Fisher contends that two garbage trucks and 60 dumpsters were sold to Southern for $28,714.95, then financed by the county on a promissory note at 7% interest for 12 months.

Since the county was making payments of $17,500 per month to Southern, “there was not much risk of default on the note,” he said. “As you consider our protest,” he added, “you need to check out the chapter in your handbook on ‘Contracting, Purchasing and Sale of County Property.’”

Finally, the Association president said, “we anticipate a reversal of the action of the Commission on the solid waste issue approved in your September, 2011 meeting.”

In a separate letter, Fisher requested documentation which will prove that Commissioners actually had looked at other solid waste disposal proposals before agreeing to continue with Southern. “Were you actually looking at documents or were you trying to deceive us?” he asked.

Concerning requests for information under the open records law, County Manager Tommy Higgs told commissioners that he will need some part-time help to assist with gathering that information if it continues at the pace it has been since he’s been a county employee.

He said many of the requests have been redundant and so time consuming that he is unable to do other things that he was hired to do for all the citizens of Wilcox County. He asked those people who are requesting county documents to narrow down their search, and get everything they need the first time. “We are spending an inordinate amount of time on open records requests,” he said.

For about two weeks during the past month, Higgs was in the office by himself on a full-time basis. Now, however, Paula Jones of Abbeville has been hired as clerk to replace Alex McBride.

In other business, Commissioners:

• Conducted the first reading of a proposed noise ordinance. Commissioner Lanier Keene said there will be two more readings before it becomes law, and the document will be available for public viewing. Several citizens argued that such an ordinance will do no good, but Keene said law enforcement officials can take no action to reduce noise levels without this ordinance. “It’s getting so bad that some people can’t get a decent night’s sleep, and at least one person is trying to sell his home because of the noise in his neighborhood,” Keene added.

• Delayed action on a request from Higgs that a policy in the employee handbook be clarified. Currently, Higgs said, employees think they are entitled to compensation for all unused sick days when they leave the county’s employment. They are not, however, asking for any accrued vacation time, he said. Higgs wants to reverse that trend and pay for unused vacation time, but not sick leave.

• Made three appointments to the Workforce Investment Act Board which is a regional board that meets quarterly. Sibbie Terry was reappointed; David Brown was appointed to represent the commissioners, and Bob McCloud will represent the business community.