The Walker County Board of Commissioners acted on several housekeeping items at its first meeting of the new year, electing a vice chair and revising their meeting schedule.

The Board unanimously selected District 2 Commissioner Mark Askew to continue to serve as vice chair for 2026. Askew previously served in this position in 2021, 2024 and 2025. The vice chair presides at meetings of the Board in the absence of Chairwoman Angie Teems.

Commissioners also settled on a new meeting schedule, moving the start time back 30 minutes to 6:30 p.m., beginning with the March meeting, due to previously advertised planning and zoning items for February. (A meeting calendar is posted below)

Board meetings will continue to be held on the first Thursday of each month, with the exception of July, due to the Independence Day holiday weekend. All meetings take place at Courthouse Annex IV, which is located at 201 South Duke Street in LaFayette.

The Board also set the qualifying fee for each county office to be filled in the 2026 general primary and general election. Fees are 3% of the minimum salary for the office. District 1 and District 2 seats on the Board of Commissioners will be on the ballot this year, as well as District 2 and District 3 Board of Education seats.

The qualifying fee to run for the Board of Commissioners is $592.80, while the qualifying fee to run for the Board of Education is $36.00. Candidate qualifying for county offices begins at 9:00 a.m. on March 2, 2026 and ends at noon on March 6th.

Along with these three required actions, the Board extended the county’s ambulance service contract with CHI Memorial Hospital EMS for another year, awarded a contract for complete interior work on Walker County Fire Station 4 in Hinkle, adopted a revised procurement policy and made several committee appointments.

MEETING CALENDAR for 2026:

• January 8 @ 6:00pm
• February 5 @ 6:00pm
• March 5 @ 6:30pm (meeting time changes)
• April 2 @ 6:30pm
• May 7 @ 6:30pm
• June 4 @ 6:30pm
• July 9 @ 6:30pm (instead of July 2)
• August 6 @ 6:30pm
• September 3 @ 6:30pm
• October 1 @ 6:30pm
• November 5 @ 6:30pm
• December 3 @ 6:30pm