Lyon County commissioner Marshall Miller was deemed “the Squirrel Man” Thursday in a surprise resolution offered at Thursday’s commission meeting. Thursday was the last meeting for Miller and Commissioner Bob Davis, who are stepping down.
Miller’s squirrel problem has been a source of humor between commissioners for a while.
“The squirrels attack my home,” Miller said during Thursday’s meeting. “If you all need help with the squirrel population in the area just call me. They went so far to take my Cablevision. They took the siding on my house. They dug up all my landscape. They cut the branches and they all fall down on my beautiful lawn. They need to have a better territory than in the cities.”
In honor of the resolution, — which died for lack of a second — Miller was given a squirrel statue and a plaque to go with it. The room rang with laughter as Miller looked at his squirrel statue, which was complete with fangs.
In other matters, Lyon County ended 2008 with money in the bank and an overall positive end-of-the-year report.
Christie Miller, of A&M Consultants, told commissioners that the county ended the year with $11,162,492 in unencumbered cash. Revenues for 2008 are $562,000 higher than budgeted. Prisoner-care fees came in $149,000 higher than budgeted.
None of the county’s funds ended the year with a negative cash balance, Miller said. Overtime for 2008 was just more than $271,000. However, a significant portion of that was budgeted, making overtime $69,000 under budget for the year. It’s still a 7.2 percent increase over the previous year, Miller added.
Overall, the county ended up with $10,000 more than it started out with in 2008.
“Overall it was a pretty good year,” County Controller Dan Slater said. “If 2009 can be that good, I think Christie (Miller) and I both would be happy.”
F Commissioners voted to pay an extra $500,000 in courthouse bonds in March. Slater said there is more than $478,000 in the surplus sales tax fund and $80,000 each month for the next two months. Slater recommended that $500,000 be paid toward bonds. Slater said if all goes well, the sales tax that is paying off the Lyon County Courthouse, could be discontinued in the middle of 2010 — significantly earlier than the original 2018 date to have the bonds paid off.
F Commissioners approved an $1,000 expenditure for Emergency Management for the county’s ID program.
F Commissioners took no action on a request by Newman Regional Health for up to four keys to the county’s fuel pumps and gates. A motion was called for but no motion was made. Lyon County Commission Chairman Scott Briggs said he would like to see the issue discussed at a quarterly joint meeting of the commission and the hospital board.
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create (anonymous) says...
That's okay, Mr. Miller, I've had squirrel problems too and they can be a real challenge. You can't just load them up and haul them off. Don't let 'em (the county commissioners) get you down. By the way, do those squirrels have high def TV? Lucky little dudes!!!
January 9, 2009 at 3:20 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Free4all (anonymous) says...
Hope their ready with digital converters.
January 9, 2009 at 3:55 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jaredfromsubway (anonymous) says...
My in-laws seem to attract squirrels. I wonder if that means something?
January 10, 2009 at 11 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )