CAIRO — In a meeting consisting of two closed sessions and a field trip, Grady County commissioners are preparing for the dam to close at Tired Creek Lake and water to be impounded.

The Board of Commissioners meeting was barely called to order before those in attendance were ushered out for the first of two closed sessions. The initial one dealt with “threatened mitigation” and included the county’s liaison with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Laura Benz, and County Attorney Kevin Cauley. The two attorneys have recently joined forces to investigate all means of recouping losses due to deviations in mitigation plans for Tired Creek Lake.

After the closed session, Benz publicly updated the board on activities at Tired Creek Lake. Benz reported that, over the next several weeks, the county will be issuing request for proposals for mitigation monitoring equipment. Benz said she wants to make sure the county fully complies with the monitoring plan approved by USACE. Also, for quality assurance, the county would be purchasing water quality stations and would begin implementing its approved stabilization plan.

County Administrator Carlos Tobar said he had gotten bids on some of the equipment.

Following the second closed session, it was announced that Rodney Gordon was hired as Director of Emergency Medical Services.

On other business, Chairman Charles Norton brought up a resolution in the defense of natural marriage by the Liberty Counsel.

Commissioner T.D. David asked, “Why do we want to insert ourselves into this? We don’t want to get into an area that we don’t want to be involved.”

Cauley said it could invite “scrutiny and debate.”

Norton replied, “If there’s a time I put my job before my religion, I’m walking off.”

After some back and forth, David made a motion to not consider thr resolution. It was passed with the votes of commissioners LaFaye Copeland, Ray Prince and David. Voting against the motion were Norton and Vice Chairman Elwynn Childs.

Also, as part of the meeting, the board loaded into a van and went on a “field trip” to look over a couple of roads that might meet the criteria of this year’s Community Development Block Grant for low-to-moderate income neighborhoods. The grant calls for a high density of homes to be benefited by the paving project.

The board rode around the 1.9 miles on Johnson Road, Pine Lake Drive and Pine Hill Lakes Drive, going through huge water-filled potholes. Pine Lake Drive and Pine Hill Lakes Drive are private roads.

If the board approves this half-million dollar project, the county would be on the hook for a five percent match.

Tobar proposes using the county’s road construction crews to do the earthwork as the county’s match, saying it would be worth much more than five percent.

“Hopefully, there will be no cash outlay from county if we do the earthwork (elevations, clearing and grubbing),” Tobar said. “We are truly thankful that we have such a premier construction team that can do this (sophisticated) level of work,” he said. “Every grant application has a match. The other option is to do nothing.”