The Marengo County Commission met Tuesday morning and awarded the contract for the upgrades to the former National Guard Armory in Linden to Assurance Services.

With this step out of the way, work can begin at the armory to make it a small business incubator for Marengo County, which will be called the Marengo County Business Development Center.

The commission also approved a contract with the Alabama Department of Youth Services dealing with juvenile detention.

Darren Glass, juvenile probation officer with the Alabama Department of Youth Services, said his department pays a detention center for one bed, and for the last three years, the Dallas County Jail in Selma has been chosen for Marengo County to use. The commission agreed to the contract, which guarantees a bed in the facility for 188 days.

“In the last 10 years, the county has only gone over the allotment a couple of times and had to pay out of pocket for extra days, and we will keep an eye on it to make sure that doesn’t happen,” Glass said.

County engineer Ken Atkins told the commission that county trucks had been ordered, and that a new trackhoe was being used for a demo. The commission gave Atkins permission to go ahead and purchase the trackhoe, because it is something the county needs.

Probate Judge Laurie Hall addressed the commission about changing the voting locations of Hoboken and Cornerstone. Hall said the Hoboken voting had been taking place in a storage facility, and that lighting and power had been an issue in the last election. There was also a problem with handicap access. She suggested that the voting be moved to Nicholsville Baptist Church, who she has been in contact with.

For the Cornerstone location, she asked that the voting be moved to the new small business incubator, which will be completed in December. The next elections are in June.