There are 909 article(s) tagged Shelby County Commission:
The Shelby County Commission asked Gov. Bill Lee to rescind his executive order allowing parents to opt-out of school mask mandates. It also passed resolutions supporting a countywide mask mandate and spending funds on masks for all county public school systems.
During the spring budget season, the commission opted for the one-time bonuses over a pay raise proposed by County Mayor Lee Harris. But after the fiscal year started, the move began to grant the pay raises as well as bonuses.
The county-owned hospital is hiring to reopen 21 beds with $2 million in city funding approved last week. The county funding will also help over the next 13 weeks as Regional One competes with other hospital systems across the country to hire skilled health care workers to meet the demand from the latest COVID surge.
The Monday, Aug. 23, county commission meeting also includes a resolution calling for a countywide mask mandate and another resolution calling on Tenn. Gov. Bill Lee to rescind his executive order that outlaws mask mandates in schools.
U.S. Census figures show some County Commission districts have grown in population while others have lost population since a decade ago.
The CEO of the region’s trauma center and safety net hospital said national competition among hospitals for the skilled specialists needed to put 21 beds back in use at Regional One is intense and costly.
“We must have a universal mask mandate in Shelby County and it needs to happen quickly,” Health Department director Dr. Michelle Taylor told the County Commission Wednesday. Related story:
Most — but not all — county commissioners support return to masks
There are also questions about whether the move back to masks is legal, given the governor’s recent executive order. Related story:
Health Dept. Director: Shelby County mask mandate ‘needs to happen quickly'
The second council meeting of September could see final votes on all three of the ordinances. The council also made some key amendments to two of the proposals that impose local regulations on crude oil pipelines proposed for the city.
The Shelby County Commission voted Monday, Aug. 9, to override the veto of a new ethics advisory panel the commission would appoint.
The delays to the Aug. 23 commission meeting followed a rancorous debate among commissioners and between commissioners and anti-maskers who taunted one commissioner online before Monday’s session.
The veto override by the commission is the latest chapter in an ongoing dispute between County Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. and Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris.
The Shelby County Commission delayed action Monday, Aug. 9, on a resolution requesting a countywide mask mandate.
The commission is the latest body to take up a call for a countywide mask mandate that would come from the Shelby County Health Department. The health department amended its latest health directive Friday to require all K-12 students in all schools – public and private – across the county to wear masks as the school year begins. Also on Monday’s agenda is a veto override.
Shelby County commissioner’s exploratory committee for Memphis mayor is another indication that county Mayor Lee Harris will seek re-election next year.
County commissioners will vote Monday, Aug. 9, on a resolution urging the Shelby County Health Department to require masks be worn in public. Some on the commission are trying to avoid the politics of the county’s first mask mandate.
The Commission Scorecard also looks at a possible compromise to the stand-off over a new voting system that may be beyond reach.
Shelby County Election Commission Chairman Brent Taylor said on The Daily Memphian Politics Podcast, that local Democrats want disputed election results, referring to the push for paper ballots, which he believes will lead to chaos.
The County Commission will soon have a panel of five to advise on ethics. One commissioner warns it could be seen as conflicting with the ongoing special prosecutor’s investigation into a 2019 grant proposed by Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr.
Brent Taylor says the County Commission decision to take its own bids on a new voting system “effectively bypasses” the Election Commission and “doesn’t indicate a willingness to work cooperatively.”
The commission also delayed the second of three votes on the Byhalia Connection Pipeline ordinance after it was amended.
Shelby County commissioners Monday voted down a new touch-screen voting system that includes a paper trail and moved to cut the Election Commission out of the process by taking new bids on a system that primarily uses hand-marked paper ballots.
Shelby County commissioners chose Dr. Michelle Taylor as the new head of the county’s Health Department Monday, and they picked Judicial Commissioner Danielle Mitchell-Sims to fill a General Sessions judge vacancy.
Monday’s commission agenda includes confirming a health director whose nomination is in trouble, possibly reopening the contentious question of a property tax hike, a long-delayed decision on a voting system for the county, and appointing a new judge.
A vote Monday by the Shelby County Commission on a new voting system could mean new voting machines by the May county primary elections.