A new policy on texting and cell phones was put in place on Monday for county employees.

The new policy requires employees to pull off to the side of the road to text, and it affects both personal and county-owned cell phones.

Several other counties around the state face lawsuits stemming from employees texting while on the job, and this move will help protect Crenshaw County, commissioners said.

“This will relieve us of some liability, and hopefully it’ll positively affect our insurance,” said commission chairman Ronnie Hudson.

The commission also discussed the most recent development in repairs around the county being funded by FEMA.

“We’ve made some really good progress,” said county engineer Benjie Sanders.

Some 53 projects are complete and 36 are in progress, which means that 89 out of the 125 sites identified have had work done on them.

However, Sanders said that he expected work to slow down on several projects.

“We’ve put off some of the bigger ones, and now we’re moving on to the projects that will be more time consuming,” he said.

Despite the projects being funded by FEMA, the county is still awaiting federal funds.

“We haven’t heard anything from FEMA, but all the funding comes from above them in Congress,” Sanders said.