Webster County supervisors have been working on the 2008-09 budget at previous meetings.
On July 7, proposed budgets were presented by Executive Director Cynthia Wilson for the Webster County Development Council, Jail Administrator Charles Clark for the Sheriff's Department and Director Terry McCain for the 911 Center. The county board had recessed meetings July 14-17 and Monday to work on the next budget.
Wilson's budget package included a listing of economic and community activities she has performed since January 2007 plus financial data including expenditures since then. The county's original pledged amount per year to the organization was $40,000; its current contribution is $15,000.
"Each year is has been necessary for the (WCDC) go to into the reserve to meet the budget," Wilson wrote in a cover letter. "I have been as frugal as possible trying to stretch the dollars we have as much as I can. I have taken advantage of grants whenever possible to cut the cost of getting the job done. Just as it does for the county, it gets harder and harder to stretch those dollars when operating costs continue to rise."
She also stated, "Last year it was very discouraging to find out that our taxes had been decreased by less than a mill when I was told the county couldn't afford to increase the contribution to the Webster County Development Council. If that amount could have been added to what is already budgeted for the (council) then we might have been able to get Eupora to increase (its) contribution by the same amount."
Wilson said if the WCDC has to continue to use some of the reserve each year, it will not be able to operate for many more years.
"This is why it is essential the funding for the WCDC be reinstated in part or in whole," she said. "It is important for Webster County's economic health that this commitment be made to economic and community development."
NCIC for 911 Center
TAC Officer/Dispatcher Tiana O'Briant addressed the board to request the addition of an NCIC terminal to the 911 Center. The National Crime Information Center is a computerized index of criminal justice information such as criminal record history, fugitives, stolen properties and missing persons.
O'Briant said having NCIC there would do away with "double dispatching," which occurs when an officer who has been communicating with the 911 Center at an incident must radio the police or sheriff's departments if he needs related NCIC information. This causes confusion, she said, adding that NCIC access would help 911 dispatchers do their job more effectively.
O'Briant said a grant is available to pay for equipment costs but that the county would be responsible for the monthly usage fee of $225. The board took her request under consideration.
Access Road Funds
District Planner George Crawford updated supervisors about his previous meeting with the Eupora Board of Aldermen regarding the need for more federal grant money to build an access road at Hawkeye Glove.
The Board of Supervisors, through which the grant money is being received, had previously sent a related letter of request for additional funds. The county board voted at Crawford's request to submit a formal application to the Appalachian Regional Commission office in Tupelo for another $86,350 to fully fund the project.
Sheriff's Department
That afternoon, board members discussed they're just learning that Sheriff Phillip Smith was attending the Mississippi Law Enforcement Officers Training Academy in Pearl, having started that day. Vice President Mart Salley, who was presiding, said questions had arisen as to whether or not the Sheriff's Department had a full-time certified deputy on staff, and the board expressed concerns about this because of liability purposes.
Wanting to clear the matter up, Salley first called Smith's cell phone number but did not get an answer. He eventually contacted Jail Administrator Charles Clark, whom Smith left in charge during his absence. Clark had been at the meeting that morning but the matter did not come up then.
Clark told Salley that the Sheriff's Department does have a full-time certified deputy, William "Bill" Denley. He said Denley previously worked with the Grenada County Sheriff's Department and Grenada Police Department, and has completed a required refresher course. Also available, Clark said, are certified part-time officers Dewyatt Winter and Devin Mixon. All certification papers are on file at the sheriff's office, he said.
Clark confirmed that officer trainees, or those who are not certified, cannot make an arrest without a certified officer being present. However, he said a certified officer is on call around the clock.
Smith will be at the training academy four days a week for 10 weeks. Referring to Smith's not letting any supervisor know he would be going to the academy, Salley and Supervisor Charles McClellan told Clark to relay to the sheriff that he should inform the board in the future before he does something major like that.
Salley said that although Smith did not have to receive board permission to attend the academy, he should have let the board know because it is ultimately liable and so it can make sure everything is all right in his absence.
Other Business
Also on July 7, Dock Gabbert of Willis Engineering appeared before the board, which voted to re-employ the firm as the county's State Aid and Local System Bridge Project engineers. Gabbert said a new law has increased the fee that engineering firms may charge from 10 percent to 12 percent of the total cost of a project.
Supervisors also voted to:
accept a bid from Double S Inc. for emergency bridge repairs, which was the only one received.
hire Jeremy Paul Kilgore as a part-time deputy.
approve budget amendments for the purchasing department, and road districts 1,3 and 5.
enter into a contract ($7,206) with North Mississippi EMS Authority for fiscal 2009 to provide training for local emergency medical services personnel.
July 21
The Board of Supervisors also met July 21. At Crawford's request, supervisors voted to officially request a budget modification from the Mississippi Development Authority to provide an additional $250,000 loan to Front Line Apparel Group.
He said FLAG has met required expectations after the original loan it received from the county, which was a Community Development Block Grant from MDA.
Jason Collum of Tupelo, a representative of Nick Floyd & Associates insurance firm, presented the board with an employee benefits proposal. Karen McGregor of Affordable Employee Benefits LLC reviewed it with supervisors later in the meeting; no action was taken.
Salesman George Lewis and district manager Jim Mansell of Performance Food Group met with the board about providing food for the county jail that would be shipped from Batesville.
The county now purchases food locally for the jail for preparation by trusties, with inspections by a dietitian. Lewis and Mansell were given an average week's grocery list for the jail in order to prepare an estimated cost for the county.
The board voted to add Tomnolen-Chester Road to the State Aid road system, and to allow Chancery Clerk Russ Turner to attend an associational convention July 22-25 in Biloxi.
Previous Meetings
In previously unreported business from June 2, minutes show the board voted to:
authorize the board president and clerk to sign a deed on behalf of Webster County for the Garan property based upon the description on a new survey by Cook Surveying and Mapping.
The board attorney was to hold the deed from Webster County to Garan Manufacturing Corp. until a deed from Garan to the county and city of Eupora was delivered to him for recording the following day.
Also, the motion noted that the county and city would deed to John Charles Stewart Jr. - owner of the Highway 9 Carwash property in the Garan block - disputed property to resolve a boundary line dispute. As previously reported, the deeds were filed later last month in Chancery Court.
accept a bid from Johnson Janitorial for janitorial services for 2008-09. The minutes state that owner Bobby Johnson's bid of $1,145 a month was marginally higher (by $45) than another submitted by Jeffrey Lewis Cooper of Walthall.
However, the board rehired Johnson Janitorial because, minutes said, Johnson has been janitor for many years and does his job "extremely well," and that Cooper has no experience and, according to his statement, has inadequate equipment.
approved a final tax exemption for Plymouth Tube Co. on new equipment following approval by the state Tax Commission.
Salley presided at this month's meetings in the absence of President Larry Crowley, who has been hospitalized. The Board of Supervisors meets again at 8 a.m. Friday and 9:30 a.m. Monday.
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