The site is jointly owned by the city and county. CDC failed to budget for or to get advance approval for sealing its parking lot, pressure washing its sidewalks, and mowing its lawn, and is now asking the city and county to cover those costs. The total cost is $7,162, which would be $3,581 each from the city and county.

CDC, while apologizing for not having gotten advance approval, contends that the maintenance is covered by its contract with the city and county. County Mayor Eugene Ray and Finance Director Robert Daniel, however, said Tuesday night that they can't find such a contract, and the finance committee voted to defer action on the request.

Last week, the county commission's courthouse committee also deferred action on the CDC request, because it hadn't been submitted in time to be placed on the committee's formal agenda.

Meanwhile, the committee approved paving work at Tennessee Rehabilitation Center which will be paid for by the county but reimbursed by the state. A driveway at the center needs to be relocated, in part because it places the loading dock in the blind spot of trucks backing up to it.

In other discussion Tuesday night:

Purchasing: Daniel reported that the Sheriff's Department, while having made many improvements in connection with the county's new financial management system, had two recent instances of non-compliance. In one case, a purchase order was submitted and approved for $600 for a purchase that turned out to cost $814. In another case, windshield ice scrapers, a promotional item with the Bedford County Sheriff's Department name imprinted on them to be given away to citizens, were bought with no purchase order at all. Daniel said auditors have told him that the promotional item may not even be an appropriate expense under state guidelines governing advertising.

Sheriff's department administrator Larry Lowman took responsibility for the purchase order errors but also complained about being put on the spot publicly for them, and about the way the county wrote the ice scraper vendor to say the bill would not be paid.

Daniel said any vendor which requests payment without a purchase order receives the same type of letter.

Lowman compared the ice scrapers, which bear an anti-crime slogan, to the educational items like crime prevention coloring books which the department buys to distribute to school children.

Finance committee member Joe Tillett reported that the new county audit committee had held its first meeting just prior to the finance committee meeting. Tillett was elected as chair. Tillett said the committee discussed and corrected two purchase orders which had been charged to the wrong departments.

Finance committee member J.D. "Bo" Wilson reported that the county needs to do a better job of keeping its vehicle insurance records up to date. He said the county's vehicle insurance shows the sheriff's department as having 61 vehicles, while the department's own records show only 51.

Vietnam project: The committee recommended contributing up to $2,500 towards a project to bring a replica of the Vietnam War Memorial to Shelbyville in late October and early November. The county will match the City of Shelbyville's contribution up to $2,500, which was the amount organizers had requested from each government.

The Shelbyville & Bedford County History Museum, located inside the Fly Arts Center, is organizing the project. The names of 12 Bedford County soldiers are among the 58,253 engraved on the memorial and its replica.

Costs for the project include a $4,000 fee, plus landscaping, staging, printing of programs, portable toilets, security for the exhibit and travel and lodging for the exhibit's curators. An account has been set up at Pinnacle Financial Services on North Main Street for those who would like to contribute to the project.

Budget adjustments: The committee approved a budget amendment to cover fuel costs for the sheriff's department; the amendment shifts money among line items and no new tax money is being requested.

The committee also voted, at the recommendation of state auditors, to close out a solid waste fund in the county general budget and consolidate it with the solid waste fund managed by the highway superintendent.

Re-election of officers: Roger Brothers was re-elected as chair of the Financial Management Committee. Ed Gray was re-elected vice chair, with Tillett to continue as secretary.