Editor's note: This is an expanded version of the interview with Probate Judge Melvyn Salter that appears in the Jan. 23, 2012 print edition of The Post. Portions of this interview did not appear in the print edition because of space and time limitations.

CENTRE — State law won’t allow Melvyn Salter to seek another term as probate judge. But the desire in Salter’s eyes to keep the county moving forward is plain to see whenever he talks about the goals he set for himself, and Cherokee County, when he took office five years ago. 

“Some people wonder how I could say there were things I was concerned about when I wasn’t in politics,” Salter said last week during an interview with local media. “But I have been involved in the community since I came to Centre in 1976.” 

Salter, 69, has run up against a state law that prevents anyone in the state judiciary from running for reelection if they turn 70 the year of the election. Salter’s birthday is next month. His six-year term will expire in January 2013. 

Salter said he hopes whichever of the four probate judge candidates wins in November will consider continuing his policies. He said sustained growth depends on having someone in the probate judge’s office who will use the chairmanship of the County Commission to push for action on important local issues. 

“One problem we have, from a fiscal standpoint, is that we cannot continue to operate on old money,” Salter said. “We are still operating our budget based on the way it was 30 years ago, and using reserves to cover increased costs.” 

Salter suggested overhauling the county’s business license policy and establishing countywide building codes as ways to generate additional revenue, and modernize the county in the process. 

“All the surrounding counties have done this with their business licenses,” Salter said. “I don’t want the mindset here to be that we’re 15 years behind. That outside perception of Cherokee County has always bothered me.” 

Salter said he is optimistic about future economic growth, provided county officials don’t try to financially strangle the organizations most capable of taking advantage of the unique qualities the county has to offer. 

“That is something that could happen,” Salter said. “But it’s important that we never cut the throat of entities like the Chamber of Commerce, the Industrial Development Authority, and tourism. We’ve got to put as much as we can into all three of them. They are the future of this county.” 

Salter said he would like to see the county move to its own garbage pickup service, a change he tried and failed to convince the County Commission to make four years ago. 

“Cullman County started their own service a few years ago and last year they put a half million dollars into their general fund,” Salter said. “And their monthly service is cheaper than what we get charged now by a private company.” 

Salter also ran down a list of the county’s accomplishments he has been most proud of during his time in office. 

“The 100-year flood plain was something I knew we needed to attack,” Salter said. “I feel like that has been a good accomplishment, not by me but by the commissioners and Johnny Roberts.” 

Before Salter was elected, local officials had ignored FEMA mandates regarding stricter enforcement of the flood plain for nearly two decades. Now, the county’s program, supervised by Highway Engineer Corey Chambers and utilizing comprehensive maps from the revenue commissioner’s office, is considered a model for the entire state. 

“We’re really proud of that,” Salter said. 

Salter said the untapped tourism resources of Cherokee Rock Village were another concern of his for many years. 

“I could see that it was a thing of value for Cherokee County and I’m thankful to see the beginning stages are taking place,” Salter. “I imagine that, 25 years down the road, it will continue to be developed in some way. It will be a draw for our county, like the lake has been.” 

Regarding Weiss Lake, Salter said one of the issues he has fought most vehemently to move on is to pass an ordinance to prevent the illegal dumping of sewage into the reservoir. 

“I’ve been hearing about that issue since I first came here,” Salter said. “It’s something I feel very passionate about.” 

Salter has been working with state Health Department officials and Alabama Power for over a year and said he hopes to have an ordinance to present to the commissioners for a vote by March or April. 

“I hope, before I leave office, that the Commission will adopt a good ordinance dealing with the issue of sewage,” Salter said. 

Salter said the fact that Cherokee County is one of 18 in the state to pass a self-governance act means there will be no one else to blame if no action is taken to clean up Weiss Lake. 

“We can’t complain about not having the authority to rule ourselves in certain areas,” Salter said. “A sewage ordinance is one of those situations where we can make a difference because we can make the law.” 

Salter said another issue he hopes his successor will strongly consider is the option of splitting the probate judge and commission chairman’s position into two jobs.  

“That division needs to be there,” Salter said. “There are only 14 counties remaining in the state that have the jobs combined. Those two offices together make a very powerful position in the county. That power ought to be divided into two arenas.” 

Salter took a thrashing in public in 2010 when he tried and failed to get the County Commission to allow voters to have their voice heard on the matter. Opponents of the move charged that Salter was trying to split the jobs and create a separate chairman’s position that he could run for after his term as probate judge expired. 

“That was the furthest thing from my mind,” Salter said. “I was trying to do what was best for Cherokee County. “But the commissioners didn’t want to present it to the people for a vote.” 

Salter also hopes the next probate judge will take a hard look at changing the pay scale for county employees. He said a decision by the County Commission in 1996 to run the county “like a business” regarding salaries was a mistake that makes it hard to, among other things, encourage younger employees to make a career out of government service. 

“I would really like to see somebody who comes in who would pick up the ball and really run with it in terms of trying to restructure the personnel manual that the county operates under,” Salter said. “I think that was one reason why we had so much public criticism when all those salaries were printed [during the last election cycle],” he said. 

Salter admitted the public release of those salaries created some morale issues within the walls of the County Administrative Building in 2010. But he said the information also revealed a truth about discrepancies in policy and show why the pay scale needs to be made more consistent across-the-board. 

“Yes, some people have worked for 30 years and done really well,” Salter said. “But here are these other folks starting out down here, and what challenge is it for them to move up the ladder, unless they know [pay increases] will be the same, year after year?”