FARMINGTON — Franklin County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to hire Diane Dunham of Temple as the new finance manager.

Dunham is currently the Wilton town clerk and registrar of voters.

She replaces Vicky Braley, who took on the duties of interim county clerk earlier this month.

Dunham has 10 years of municipal experience, Braley told commissioners. She will start on Dec. 6 at a wage of $21.31 hour and will work a 37 1/2 hour week.

In another matter, commissioners voted 2-1 to give employees a $1,000 bonus each from the American Rescue Plan Act funds for working through the COVID-19 pandemic. There are 62 full-time county employees and five part-time employees.

Once a person is hired to oversee the county’s nearly $5.9 million in ARPA funds, commissioners agreed to give employees another $1,000 in January. Chairman Terry Brann of Wilton and Commissioner Lance Harvell of Farmington voted in favor, while Commissioner Clyde Barker of Strong opposed the vote.

In other business, commissioners set a public hearing for 3:15 p.m. on Dec. 7 at the county courthouse on a proposed $1.5 million unorganized territory budget for 2022-23. Commissioners need to accept the budget before Dec. 31, so it can be sent to the state Legislature for consideration.

The proposal represents an increase of $131,836 over the current budget. Most of the increase is attributed to $50,000 being added to the paving reserve account and a $42,000 increase in the cost of snow removal for Washington and Perkins townships.

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