The Greene County Commission's Records Committee was told Thursday that because of a missed deadline, the T. Elmer Cox Historical and Genealogical Library will not get the city and county funding needed to purchase a new microfilm reader/printer for the library.

The Town of Greeneville had promised to allocate $1,000 for the purchase of the reader/printer, but the one company that bid on it in December missed the deadline the town had imposed to receive bids.

That bid apparently came in 24 hours after the deadline, according to Don Miller, director of the genealogical library. The two other companies contacted by the city did not submit bids for the reader/printer, Miller said.

The Greene County government had already allocated $3,500 for the purchase of the new reader/printer for the library. Based on the commitment from the county, the city had agreed to "front" an additional $2,500 that they would later deduct from the city's budget for the genealogical library, in the next fiscal year, chairman Kevin Morrison said.

However, Morrison said he was hopeful that the Greene County Commission will reauthorize $3,500 for the reader/printer when they meet on Tuesday.

Following that commitment, Greeneville's Board of Mayor and Aldermen is expected to follow suit, approve its portion of the funding, and again send out offers for bids to three or more companies, according to Morrison.

Miller said that the sole bidding company he expected to win the bid "didn't get their information (a written bid offer) to the city by Dec. 29, so the city refused to honor the bid."

In separate action, the records committee approved two motions.

One motion stated that Register of Deeds Joy Rader would turn over to Miller "any and all remaining microfilm records of deeds and other documents."

Following that motion's passage, Rader turned over eight rolls of microfilm to Miller that she had kept in her office.

In a second motion, the committee agreed to request $1,000 from the Greene County Commission's budget and finance committee to purchase acid-free folders for the genealogical library.

Miller said the additional acid-free folders would be needed to store loose original circuit court records, most dating from 1860 through 1900.