The Beaufort County Board of Commissioners took action on several items on its agenda at the board meeting Monday. In other action, the board:

• Voted unanimously to approve budget amendments for the Health Department and the County Manager’s office. The amendments included a reduction of $13,681 in county appropriations for preparedness expenditures by the Health Department following an increase in state funds for preparedness purposes.
• Voted 6-1 to approve an agreement among Beaufort, Hyde, Martin, Tyrrell and Washington counties establishing a public defender’s office within the 2nd Judicial District. Under the terms of the agreement, Beaufort County will pay 50 percent of the cost of leasing a building to house the office, at a cost of $1,325 per month. In a related matter, the board approved a lease of the Carowan Building at 107 Union Drive to house the public defender’s office. Commissioner Ed Booth cast the sole dissenting vote.
• Voted unanimously to hire an additional lawyer to work with the county on various projects at a cost not to exceed $2,000 a month. The board picked David Francisco to do that work, according to County Manager Randell Woodruff.
• Voted 6-1 to approve $2,018.33 in travel expenses with Commissioner Hood Richardson casting the sole dissenting vote.
• Voted unanimously to approve the relocation of the Eliza Ann Moore Cemetery, located on property owned by PCS Phosphate Co. Inc. in Bonnerton, to the Moore’s Chapel Missionary Baptist Church.
• Unanimously approved a plan by the Chocowinity Volunteer Fire Department to refinance $445,000 in debt on the construction of the fire station on N.C. Highway 33 in Chocowinity. The interest rate on the new loan will be reduced from 5.8 percent to 2.9 percent, saving the department over $100,000 over the life of the loan, according to information presented to the board.
• Made the following appointments: Commissioner Richardson to the Beaufort County Board of Health, replacing Robert Cayton; Commissioner Robert Belcher to the RPO Transportation Committee, replacing Cayton; Commissioner Gary Brinn to the Local Emergency Planning Committee, replacing Jay McRoy; Commissioner Jerry Langley as the voting delegate to the Legislative Goals Conference; Robert Cayton, Julian Goff and Al Kutzing to a committee to study the feasibility of a countywide tourism authority; Tony Keech to the Long Acre Township Planning Board, and Steve Carawan to the Pantego Township Planning Board.