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At Thursday’s Board of Supervisors meeting, a resolution for the C & G Regional Rail Authority was the first order of business.
A public hearing was held April 24, with only one question raised.
“Is there a possibility of taxes being raised,” asked Anner Cunningham, secretary of the Clay County unit NAACP.
Nine counties — Clay, Leflore, Lowndes, Montgomery, Oktibbeha, Webster, Sunflower, Washington and Carroll — are involved in the Regional Rail Authority. All nine counties must agree to the resolution.
CRG Acquisitions LLC paid a bond of $179,000 on the property formerly owned by Sara Lee.
A few months ago, Sara Lee Corporation sold the property and building to CRG Acquisitions LLC and was ordered by the city and county to leave all personal property at the facility until property taxes for 2008 were paid.
With the payment by CRG Acquisitions, the auction of the property will continue.
Laddie Huffman, Clay County sheriff, asked the supervisors for the removal of asbestos in the jail.
There is a leak in the main waterline,which is located in the basement of the jail, causing water to come through the floor.
Huffman said the city is trying to reroute the lines, but to do so some lines contaminated with asbestos must be removed.
The first bid Huffman received more than five years ago when the asbestos was first discovered, for removal was $11,450; a second bid by Environmental Evaluation Control was for $4,928. The bids were taken five to seven years ago when the asbestos was originally found. The board agreed to accept the bid Environmental Evaluation Control to remove the asbestos.
To offset the cost of the removal of asbestos, Huffman recommended selling old copper lines, boilers and other metal no longer used. The board agreed to sell the scrap metal and apply the moneys received to offsetting the cost of removing the asbestos.
Jesse J. Ivy, a concerned citizen, raised the issue of minority representation on the 911 Commission. Ivy’s concern was that the representation of the commission was not representative of the population of the county. Ivy feels there should to be more minority representation on the commission considering the racial makeup of the county.
The commission will hire the staff for the new 911 Emergency system. Shelton Deanes, District 4 supervisor, is the only minority member of the commission.
Board Attorney Lee Coleman said he didn’t think the 911 Commission had a restriction on sex, race or county; the commission’s job was to hire the best qualified.
“I will fight to find someone within the county,” said Lynn Horton, District 1 supervisor and president.
However, Horton is not on the 911 Commission and hiring of the Director is entirely up to the Commission — not the Board of Supervisors.
In other board business, a request for travel was made by the constables for April 25 to travel to Biloxi to help setup for a convention; this travel is not mandatory.
Luke Lummus, District 2 supervisor expressed his concerns with the budget, as a recent trip for the constables to attend a non-mandatory national conference depleted their travel budget for the entire year.
“I vote no. If they had it in they’re budget, it would be different,” said Lummus.
The constables also went over their budget by $89 traveling to the national convention.
Floyd McKee, District 5 supervisor, disagreed with Lummus.
“They need to go. They’re setting up a convention,” said McKee, who was a constable before being elected as supervisors.
The board voted to authorize the travel; although Lummus’ voted against it.
Another request for travel came from Alvin Carter, county coroner for a summer conference in Biloxi also. Lummus asked how his budget looked. Robinson said it was okay. The Board of Supervisors approved his travel.
“As long as they have it in their budget,” said Lummus.
Bill Blankenship, Clay County fire coordinator, requested for travel on May 9. Blankenship said he has money in his budget and the fire coordinator’s meeting was mandatory. The board approved his travel.
The board went into executive session on a personnel matter regarding job performance in sanitation. |
