The Warren County Commissioners created a commission to celebrate the nation’s upcoming 250th birthday, terminated a pandemic-related agreement and agreed to buy a Dominion ballot scanner while operating as the Board of Elections on Wednesday.

Commissioner Ben Kafferlin said the federal government created a commission regarding the nation’s semiquincentennial in 2026 and that the state followed in kind.

“They asked the counties to appoint someone to that commission,” he said, indicating that Joe McClellan was the county’s selection.

Counties are now being asked to form their own commissions and action taken Wednesday forms that commission.

Just who will serve on it is not entirely clear at this stage.

The commissioners also terminated an agreement with SBRG Holdings regarding COVID-19 testing at the jail. Kafferlin said the tests can run through the jail now and noted that the volume is nowhere near what it had been.

The commissioners as the Board of Elections approved the request for the ballot scanner at the request of Elections Director Krystle Ransom.

Ransom told the board that a Nov. 2021 recount was delayed waiting for a scanner. Laws governing recounts require a different scanner to be used for that specific purpose.

“We’ve used this scanner as our main (for) the last election because it’s a lot faster,” she said, noting that much of the cost will be covered by reimbursement funds. Any extra costs, she said, would be rolled into the county’s existing agreement with Dominion.