The Webster Progress-Times

WALTHALL - A majority of the Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday in favor of hiring Terry Jones as Webster County's first E911 director.

The county board initially considered applicants for the position on Sept. 17. At that meeting, Emergency Management Agency Director Eugene Doss presented them with a letter listing recommendations from the 911 Advisory Committee for director and dispatchers. The board took the recommendations under advisement.

Doss stated during his discussion with the board that the committee had recommended Terry McCain for the director's job. He is maintenance superintendent at The Wood Institute, where the emergency operations center is located. McCain also serves as Tomnolen's fire chief and as assistant county emergency management director.

On Oct. 1, Charles Rivers (District 3) made a motion to hire McCain and Robert Hitt (District 1) seconded his motion. However, Rivers eventually withdrew his motion because of concerns about potential nepotism since McCain is the brother-in-law of District 2 Supervisor Mart Salley.

Board attorney Buchanan Meek Jr., as directed, obtained an attorney general's opinion on the question of whether the Board of Supervisor could appoint McCain as E911 director.

The AG's office, in a written opinion Meek shared with the board on Nov. 5, said the board may appoint the brother-in-law of one of the supervisors to that position. The letter stated that the position of "director" was not one of the prohibited classes of employment in the nepotism statute, which are officer, clerk, stenographer, deputy or assistant. The board voted to spread the letter upon the minutes.

Doss had urged the board last month to hire a director as soon as possible in order to become familiar with equipment being installed, and to speed up the hiring and training of dispatchers.

However, outgoing District 5 Supervisor Casey Weeks said following Meek's report last week, "I think it'd be better to wait until after the (Nov. 6) election to act on 911 stuff."

Board members agreed that it would be too late to wait until January, when the new term begins, but President Larry Crowley (District 4) eventually recommended that the matter be tabled until this Tuesday and no action was taken.

When the matter came up during this week's meeting, Crowley recommended that the board go into executive session to discuss the personnel matter, which it did vote to do. After coming back into open session 25 minutes later, the supervisors voted 5-0 to use a multiple nomination and majority vote format. Although the 911 Advisory Committee screened and interviewed applicants for director, the Board of Supervisors itself did not interview any of the three soon to be nominated.

When Crowley opened the floor for nominations, Weeks nominated Jones, who is maintenance supervisor and a bus driver at East Webster High School. Hitt nominated Jimmy McLemore and Rivers nominated McCain. The board then voted for the nominations to cease.

Taking each nominee separately, Salley and Rivers voted in favor of McCain; Hitt voted in favor of McLemore; and Crowley and Weeks voted in favor of Jones. Crowley then announced that a second vote would be necessary to choose between the two highest vote-getters - Jones and McCain.

Voting for Jones were supervisors Crowley, Weeks and Hitt; and voting for McCain were Salley and Rivers again. With three votes in his favor, Crowley declared that Terry Jones got the job.

Weeks was then asked to call Jones to confirm that he would accept the position for the starting salary of $25,000. Weeks did so and reported that Jones said he would. Jones also called Crowley later in the meeting.

The board agreed to make Jones' hiring effective Nov. 30, when he is scheduled to meet with supervisors to discuss dispatcher recommendations. That recessed meeting begins at 8 a.m.; the board agreed not to meet on Nov. 19, as it normally would on that third Monday.