The commissioners approved four Rural Economic Action Plan (REAP) grants. Each county commission district will get a REAP grant for $20,000, and the Sequoyah County Fairgrounds in Sallisaw will receive a $25,000 grant.
The commissioners also approved a Community Development Block Grant for Sequoyah County Rural Water. Garner Garrison, Sequoyah County Rural Water board president, said the rural water provider intends to put pump stations at Fields Chapel and at Akins, at a cost of $260,000 each, and is installing a larger line, at 24 inches, from the water plant to State Highway 101, in an effort to provide more water to the northeastern portion of the county which they serve.
In other business the commissioners approved the appointment of Rhonda Lasiter as interim director of the Sequoyah, Adair and Cherokee Counties Seniors Nutrition program. Lasiter will take over the duties of the late Don Butcher, who was the program’s director for about 30 years and who died last week.
The commissioners and those attending the meeting expressed their sadness at Mr. Butcher’s death.
Lasiter said, “Don will be missed. He was quite a guy. He touched a lot of peoples’ lives in many ways.”
The commissioners also approved the 2008-9 audit of the nutrition program, which reported the auditors found no deficiencies. Lasiter said the auditors did recommended updating the accounting software and she will be working with Clothier and Co. in Tulsa to improve the program.
An agreement between Sequoyah County and Craig County Area Youth Services Inc. for detention of youths was approved by the commissioners, at a cost of $23.27 per day per child.
