Morgan County Council

MORGAN — All three candidates for the Morgan County Council will be unopposed, and none of the incumbents is running for his or her current seat.

But one face won’t be new. Robert Kilmer, who has filled an at-large council seat since 2011, filed for the four-year District 3 seat. He will be replacing Howard Hansen, who has served on the board for four years.

MORGAN -- At a time of budget crunches when all county departments are being asked to curb expenses, the Morgan County Council isn't playing the part of hypocrite.

MORGAN-- A down-on-his-luck resident was denied the chance to have two homes on his Morgan County lot.

MORGAN -- Morgan County Councilwoman Ronda Kippen seems to be balancing her legislative duties with her employment as a full-time office assistant in the county's planning and development services department.

As Kippen sat in county budget work sessions that stretched as long as 10 hours for several days in November, some county residents wondered if she was still officially on the clock for her planning job.

A review of Kippen's time card obtained by the Standard-Examiner shows Kippen logged 4.5 hours on Nov. 7 and 2.5 hours on Nov. 8, the same days as lengthy county council budget work sessions.

MORGAN -- Ray Walker moved to Mountain Green from Huntsville for the amenities of a new subdivision.

After the move, he "almost lost" his wife, who has a respiratory condition. Doctors finally narrowed the cause to the nitrates in their drinking water. Walker says he has not been able to drink water out of his tap for four years.

"When we moved, we were not made aware of high nitrates in the water," Walker said. "I encourage (the council) to move on and get clean water back into the community that they desperately need."

MORGAN -- Morgan County will now allow its council members to vote electronically when absent from meetings.

"When a council member is absent from a meeting, there exists a possibility of a tie vote with no decision rendered," said Councilman Don Mathews, who initiated the recent resolution. "Sometimes these issues require an immediate decision."

The council unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday allowing use of electronic conferencing for meeting attendance and voting requirements. Electronic votes and participation will be noted as such in the official council minutes.

MORGAN — The Morgan City Council opened its current budget to make adjustments for a poor economy.

“We did not take into account the decrease in property and sales tax revenues due to the decline in the economy,” said Councilwoman Shelly Betz.