The Sardis Community Unity Fellowship Center played host to a town hall meeting Thursday night that featured county political and business leaders.

The meeting gave people a chance to hear from leaders first hand about what is going on in Dallas County, whether it was crime, education or the state’s General Fund budget crisis.

“I certainly want to recognize all of these leaders, both political and business, that are up here on the stage, and I want to recognize all of the people who helped put this together,” said Senator Hank Sanders. “It is so important that we be able to communicate face to face from time to time.”

After the rules were laid out, Sanders spoke first, addressing the special called session and the proposed budget that calls for $156 million in cuts to Medicaid.

“This is a poorly planned special session. In order for it to work, the Governor and the legislative leaders have to get together and work something out,” Sanders explained. “That didn’t happen, so we’re in a special session that may not be productive.”

Sanders shared his stance on Medicaid cuts, saying he would stand against it.

“If you cut Medicaid $156 million, rural hospitals all across the state are going to close. That cannot be done,” Sanders said. “It will be coming up in the Senate, and we’ll be fighting that in every kind of way. They have cut, and cut and cut. You can’t cut any more.”

Judge Robert Armstrong was next up on the agenda, speaking on the decline of juvenile crime in Dallas County.

“Juvenile court used to take me all day. Every week I would have a whole day. It would be packed out with people. We’d have 25 cases,” Armstrong said. “I’d come in there, and I’d be beating on the bench saying we’re going to get a handle on this. Now, we do juvenile court every other week. We have eight cases every other week.”

According to Armstrong, Dallas County was the worst in the state for juvenile crime, in 2005 but since then the rate has fallen by 72 percent and has cracked the top 10 counties in Alabama.

Probate Judge and Dallas County Commission Chairman Kim Ballard focused his time on the half-cent sales tax that was intended for the county school system but is now being split between the city and county.

“It’s not the county commission’s obligation to fund the city school system,” Ballard said. “We thought we had worked out an agreement where we were going to relinquish 10 percent of the tax to the city system, and for political reasons it didn’t pass.”

The tax raised more than $1 million a year, but after it was discovered the tax was levied illegally, it was split between the two systems.

Dallas County Schools Superintendent Don Willingham also touched on the tax and the county’s graduation rate. According to Willingham, Dallas County schools have a 93 percent graduation rate, which is the second best for Alabama county schools.

Sheriff Harris Huffman’s time centered around gang violence. Huffman made note of a YouTube video that features gang members holding up high-powered rifles and bags of marijuana. Huffman said the gang was called “DTE War Gang.”

“You can see what we’re up against, and it’s scary,” Huffman said. “They’ve got more guns than I’ve got.”

Huffman said it is going to take the eyes and ears of the community to stop the crime that is going on in Dallas County.

Citizens also heard from representatives from Pioneer Electric, South Dallas Water Authority and ClearWater Solutions.