No Date Set for Sales Tax v.02

County Commissioner Bruce Poindexter said that no date had been set for another election attempt at raising the county sales tax by a half-cent.
"That is entirely up to the Sheriff," said Poindexter at Monday's County Commissioner Meeting. Sheriff Jay Blackfox confirmed this as well, stating that he wanted to wait awhile and make sure that this time it would properly handled. Having more time, he said, would give him an opportunity to speak to more people about the proposal, and meet with the Grove City Council members on an individual basis.
He confirmed that his office had requested the election, not the County Commissioners.
"I just want additional funds to get better service to the county," he said. "We have places in the county that are at least 45 minutes drive from Jay and we need to get to them more quickly. We can do that with additional deputies," he said.
The election to raise the county sales tax was scheduled for Aug. 9 but was withdrawn after legal issues were raised by the Grove City Attorney, referred to as Scribner's errors. If passed, Delaware County sales tax would have been 9.4% in Grove, one of the highest in the state.
In the regular meeting of the County Commissioners, the board approved the purchase of two ambulances to be used by the county's Emergency Management Services. Gary Metcalf, manager, said he had driven both vehicles at Claremore's Emergency Vehicle Resources and both were in great running condition. Purchase price was $23,000 for both vehicles, from a Homeland Security grant. One vehicle will be located in Jay, the other in the Colcord area.
Also approved by the board was platting for Cherokee Trails Phase III, owned by Craig Criger of Grove, located north of Grove. The development will have 30-40 homes in the $150,000 price range with partial brick or stone. The developer requested a delay for the Stoneridge Phase I development due to convenants being incomplete.