Members of the Financial Management Committee of the Weakley County Commission examined a possible change in state bidding law, and continued their review of the county’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2005-2006, during a Thursday afternoon meeting.
Bidding Amendment
A major topic of discussion was a proposed resolution requesting an amendment to the general state law to allow counties to award bids to in-county bidders whose bids are within 2 percent of an out-of-county low bidder. The resolution is modeled after one passed by the Campbell County Board of Commissioners on June 20, 2005.
The resolution notes that under current state statutes, counties are required to award bids to the lowest bidder in those instances where goods or services are required to be bid, which requirement is intended to save money for the counties and their taxpayers. However, in some instances, the awarding of bids to the lowest bidder may be counterproductive and result in a county being required to spend significant additional monies for transportation, fuel, manpower, and related expenses in order to obtain servicing dealerships and/or at service providers located some distance from the county, thereby having the reverse effect of saving monies by requiring counties to award contracts to the lowest bidder, regardless of the expense of after-purchase service and related matters.
If this resolution is approved by the Weakley County Commission, a copy of the resolution would be delivered to its state representative and state senator as a request to present an appropriate bill for consideration by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, in order to amend the general state law to allow counties to award bids to in-county bidders whose bids are within 2 percent of the out-of-county bid. However, as Commissioner James Westbrook stated, since current law already allows Weakley County to award bids to the “lowest and best bidder,” it is questionable how much good the proposed bill will do. Commissioner Westbrook remarked that the change in the law could even cause local bidders to increase their bids by another 2 percent, knowing that their local bid would probably be viewed more favorably than an out of county bid.
The committee voted to take the resolution under advisement.
Finance Department                                            Another item on the agenda was the Department of Finance budget, which included a $6,500 (325 percent) increase in the line item for “data processing equipment.” Weakley County Finance Director Shawn Francisco explained that an additional $5,000 is needed to replace a Tally printer that had broken that very day and must be immediately replaced in order to print out the budget and other paperwork requiring a high caliber printer. She stated that her department also needs to replace a five-year-old computer server, which is DOS based, with a new Windows based server. Since a new printer and server will last for several years, these will not be annual expenditures. The only other major proposed increase discussed by the committee was as $2,245 (4 percent) salary increase for the director’s position, and a $1,816 (1.7 percent) increase for accountants. The committee approved the increases, contingent upon approval of the budget by the Finance, Ways & Means Committee and full Weakley County Commission.
Surplus County Auction
The committee also approved the sale of surplus county property at auction from the Sheriff’s Office and various other county departments.
Board Appointments
The committee also reappointed officers with Commissioner Roger Stewart being named chairman, Commissioner Richard Phebus as vice-chairman, and Weakley County Finance Director Shawn Francisco as recording secretary.

Members of the Martin Police Department have been investigating a complaint that a former Martin man was having sexual relations with an underage girl last summer.
According to Martin P.D. Captain Scott Robbins, 37 year-old Phillip H. Sanchez, has been charged with one count of Rape Against a Child (under age 13). This charge is a Class A felony, and if found guilty, could be punishable by a sentence not less than 15 years and up to 60 years. Sanchez is currently a prisoner in Illinois for failing to register as a sex offender in November of 2004. Illinois Department of Corrections personnel served Sanchez with the warrant today. Sanchez is lodged in the Shawnee Illinois Correctional Facility.
During the investigation, it was learned that Sanchez lived in Martin from September of 2003 until mid 2004. It was during this time frame that Sanchez allegedly had anal sex with the child on a daily basis – sometimes twice a day. The victim recalls these offenses occurring since the age of six. Martin Investigators have also contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s, Crimes against Children Task Force in Memphis and they are currently investigating Sanchez for crimes involving child pornography over the Internet.
Evidence has also reportedly been found that Sanchez may have committed similar acts to those occurring in Martin with another victim in Waukegan, Illinois. Additionally, Calloway County in Kentucky also holds warrants for Sanchez for Failure to Register as a Sex offender and Violation of the Check Law.
What is unknown to investigators at this time is if this was an isolated incident or if there are other victims, as yet unidentified. If you have relevant information regarding Phillip Sanchez you are asked to call the Martin Police Department at 731-587-5355.