MINUTES OF THE EMERGENCY MEETING OF THE JEFFERSON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS HELD ON OCTOBER 30, 2017 AT 9:30 A.M. AT THE JEFFERSON COUNTY COURTHOUSE, 220 NORTH MAIN, ROOM 102, WAURIKA, OKLAHOMA:
PRESENT:
Ricky Martin, Chairman
Ty Phillips, Member
Bryce Bohot, Member
Chairman called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m.
Traci Smith acknowledged that proper notice was given on October 30, 2017 at 9:20 a.m. and the agenda was posted on the bulletin board outside the courthouse.
Others present:
Marcey Howell, Commissioners Secretary
Tammy Richardson Election Board Secretary
Sandra Watkins, Co Assessor
Emily Follis, Co Treasurer
Bohot made the motion to Approve Claims and 29 Blanket Purchase Orders. Second: Phillips. Aye votes: Martin/Bohot/Phillips. Motion Approved.
Phillips made motion to Approve Payroll for the Pay Period 10-16-2017 through 10-31-2017. Second: Bohot. Aye Votes: Martin/Bohot/Phillips. Motion Approved.
Bohot made Motion to Adjourn. Second: Phillips. Aye Votes: Martin/Bohot/Phillips. Motion Approved
Meeting Adjourned 9:45 a.m.
Minutes taken by Traci Smith
Approved by:
JEFFERSON COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Ricky Martin, Chairman Ty Phillips, Member Bryce Bohot, Member
ATTEST: Traci Smith, County Clerk
west in record numbers in search of work. Some experts say Germany and Sweden’s open immigration policies also make economic sense, given Europe’s demographic trajectory (PDF) of declining birth rates and ageing populations. Migrants, they argue, could boost Europe’s economies as workers, taxpayers, and consumers, and help shore up its famed social safety nets.
In August 2015, Germany announced that it was suspending Dublin for Syrian asylum seekers, which effectively stopped deportations of Syrians back to their European country of entry. This move by the block’s largest and wealthiest member country was seen as an important gesture of solidarity with entry-point states. However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel also warned that the future of Schengen was at risk unless all EU member states did their part to find a more equitable distribution of migrants.
Germany reinstated temporary border controls along its border with Austria in September 2015, after receiving an estimated forty thousand migrants over one weekend. Implemented on the eve of an emergency migration summit, this move was seen by many experts as a signal to other member states about the pressing need for an EU-wide quota system. Austria, the Netherlands, and Slovakia soon followed with their own border controls. These developments have been called the greatest blow to Schengen in its twenty-year existence.
In September 2015, the European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker announced plans to revisit a migrant quota system for the block’s twenty-two participating members.
Some policymakers have called for asylum centers to be built in North Africa and the Middle East to enable refugees to apply for asylum without undertaking perilous journeys across the Mediterranean, as well as cutting down on the number of irregular migrants arriving on European shores. However, critics of this plan argue that the sheer number of applicants expected at such hot spots could further destabilize already fragile states.
Other policies floated by the European Commission include drawing up a common safe-countries list that would help countries expedite asylum applications and, where needed, deportations. Most vulnerable to this procedural change are migrants from the Balkans, which lodged 40 percent of the total asylum applications received by Germany in the first six months of 2015. However, some human rights groups have questioned the methodology used by several countries in drawing up these lists and, more critically, cautioned that such lists could violate asylum seekers rights.
