The Putnam County Commission honored Buffalo High School agriculture science teacher Danielle Grant for her dedication to agriculture in Putnam County at its meeting Tuesday.
In addition to her position teaching agriculture science at Buffalo High School, Grant also is a Future Farmers of America adviser, vice chairwoman for West Virginia Young Famers, secretary for the region's Farm Bureau, and co-owns a beef production farm.
Grant recently participated in a the Farm Bureau's national discussion meet competition and placed fourth. As a reward, Grant received a brand new tractor for her farm.
Meanwhile, Jamey Hunt, community corrections director, told the commission the program only received a grant for $185,000 - $25,000 less than last year.
The program also saw a cut of $10,000 last year from the state, so a total loss of $35,000 over two years, Hunt said.
However, the current community service supervisor announced he would be leaving after getting another job, so Hunt said the organization will not refill his position.
In response, three officers will be absorbing his duties.
"It's a burden to ask my officers to [do] a lot more," Hunt said. "We worked out a system where three of them are splitting days and times. We're good at adapting and overcoming."
Hunt said all counties received less funding, and Putnam County was one of the more fortunate counties. For now, the department will try to cut costs where they can and possibly charge more in fees.
County officials also traveled to Spencer to check out new voting equipment. County Clerk Brian Wood said the equipment was top-notch, and he is looking forward to future conversations about it.
The current ballot counting method is slow and Putnam County is typically one of the last counties to have results in on election night. County election officials typically are working at the courthouse from the evening of Election Day to early morning.
The county would put each ballot counting machine at the individual precincts, with the exception of four precincts where use of the machine wouldn't be plausible. In total, the county would need 42 machines.