MORGAN COUNTY
The Morgan County Board of Commissioners held its first meeting of the new year on Jan. 4 at 10 a.m. The meeting began with reelecting of District 3 commissioner Ben Riden and District 5 commissioner Bill Kurtz to their positions.
Riden served as the board’s chairman in 2022 and Kurtz served as his vice chairman, and both were reelected to their respective positions by their fellow board members for the 2023 year.
Other newly elected officials were also sworn in last Wednesday morning.
Blake McCormick was sworn in before the BOC meeting as the newest board member after winning the District 2 seat. McCormick takes over for retired county commissioner Andy Ainslie, who previously represented the district. The Rutledge resident received over 80 percent of the votes for the position during the midterm elections in November.
The overwhelming support mainly came in because of McCormick’s opposition to the Rivian project and for wanting to reform the Joint Development Association (JDA).
McCormick previously worked on the Morgan County Planning Commission, so he’s familiar with the processes involved. His hopes are to bring more transparency to his constituents.
After all the new and incumbent board members were situated, the group accepted its consent agenda, heard from the planning commission, and dealt with new business which mainly involved public maintenance.
The next Morgan County BOC meeting will be at its regularly scheduled time on Tuesday, Jan. 17.