BENTON – The Franklin County Board Tuesday appointed former Franklin County Treasurer John Gulley to the board replacing Tom Vaughn who recently resigned for family reasons.

Franklin County Board Chairman Randall Crocker says Gulley will fill the remainder of Vaughn’s term which runs until 2020. Crocker says Gulley will have the opportunity to run for the seat if he so wishes at that time.

Gulley resigned from the county treasurer’s position early last year to become controller at Rend Lake College in Ina.

Vaughn held one of the three seats from District 1 for eight years.

In other business from Monday’s meeting, the board approved the tax levy for 2018 payable in 2019 and the county budget. Crocker says the budget is $7.6 million and has stayed around that total for the past couple of years.

Board members approved an ordinance establishing an I-57 enterprise zone within Franklin County. This will be made up of parts of the cities of Benton and West Frankfort along with the village of West City and a portion of Franklin County. The board also approved a resolution abating property taxes on new construction in the county’s portion of the enterprise zone.

Crocker says paperwork for the enterprise zone has to be turned into the state by the end of this year. The county hopes to hear back from the state regarding the enterprise some sometime after the first of the new year.