The Marengo County Commission accepted a bid from Assurance Service Group out of Thomasville for the upgrades to the old National Guard Armory in Linden.

The bid was for $148,000, but architect Eddie Griffith said he will work with Assurance Service Group to try to bring the bid down closer to the $129,000 that was budgeted for the project.

The commission considered bidding the job out again, but decided it was best to go with the current lowest bid.

“We need to just go ahead and do it,” Commissioner Fred Armstead Sr. said. “It will end up costing us more if we go through this whole process again.”

The commission will be responsible for around $50,000 of the project, which is to turn the armory into a small business incubator for the Marengo County Economic Development Authority.

During Tuesday morning’s meeting, the commission also approved the hiring of Victoria Brown at the county jail.

Probate Judge Laurie Hall addressed the commission Tuesday about setting a number in the fund for covering insufficient checks. Following a recent audit, the auditor advised that they set aside $5,000 for this, and anything extra will be paid back to the commission. There has been a fund for this in the past, just without a set amount in the fund.

County engineer Ken Atkins presented the commission with bids on asphalt, piping, fuel, stone aggregate and gravel in which the commission accepted the lowest bid for each. Atkins planned to go over the numbers Tuesday afternoon to find out which companies would have the bids accepted.

The commission also approved the 2013-14 budget for the county during the meeting. The total budget is $13,544,089.15, and the commission has planned $10,677,293.04 in expenditures.

In other business, the commission also did the following:

•Approved tobacco tax and EMA CD rate of .75 percent for six months with Sweet Water State Bank

•Approved the grand jury report

•Accepted a resolution to continue collecting taxes for Demopolis City Schools for their QZAB loan

•Approve a change to the county handbook to extend probationary period for new hires in the county to 180 days from 90 days

“I don’t think 90 days is enough time to get to know a person and to know what they can do,” Armstead said.