During Monday’s meeting of the Sunflower County Board of Supervisors, the county lawmakers voted unanimously to accept a proposal from Waste Pro USA to serve as the citizens' solid waste collection service at a rate of $13.83 per month.
The issue came up at two previous meetings and since Arrow Disposal Services Inc failed to include a provision for picking up trash from the dumpsters at the 11 county-owned buildings they were allowed to re-submit a proposal by Monday.
ADSI proposed $14 to combat Waste Pro's original projected figure of $14.39.
However, after opening the process up to accept alternative bids from each company, Waste Pro reduced their amount by $0.56, thereby making them the lowest bidder at $13.83 per month at that point ADSI declared that the $14 price was as low as they were prepared to go.
In other business,
The leaders voted to pay $14,432 to Delta Electric Power Company to relocate the utilities for an emergency road and bridge project on Lusk Road.
They also discussed the purchase of culverts and voted to amend the county’s statute that complies with the state law, which says they can buy culverts only through advertising. “Our first statue just said that we have to advertise everything,” said District 1 Supervisor Glenn Donald.
“So what we're doing now is amending the statute so that it would provide for them to buy culverts for individual road barns as long as the price does not supersede the $50,000 limit.
The road manager’s current request exceeds that amount so, Attorney Johnny McWilliams emphasized that the purchase would have to be advertised instead of just having two quotes.
The lawmakers also discussed the possibility of assisting Ruleville with street repairs based on a letter requesting a MOA submitted by Mayor Shirley Edwards and the City Board. Even though President Riley Rice indicated that they were willing to help, no action was taken because McWilliams said the request did not specify which streets.
Sheriff James Haywood asked to speak as a citizen and stated that the members should consider that the City of Ruleville does not support the county jail by sending its detainees to the facility before making a decision on whether to lend assistance to them.
Donald stated that the citizens of the town pay taxes to the county and are thereby entitled to receive the county's assistance.
The leaders also approved an $11,000 purchase of a bus to transport Parchman inmates to work for the county. Donald made a point of stating that the bus they were purchasing is used, a 2006 model, when they could have gotten a 2020 van for $26,000.
Reverting back to a previous discussion about used dump trucks, he said, "If it ain't what y'all want, y'all raise all kinds of hell about it. This is 14-years-old, it might last one day, but we are buying it." The motion passed without a no vote..
At the behest of local Pastor Pete Roncali, the board voted unanimously to submit a resolution to Central District Transportation Commissioner Willie Simmons asking for $300,000 to specifically repair Skeleton Road, Fairview Baptist Road and Choctaw Road.
Roncali said those roads run past five churches in that community and if consideration was to be given to any road it should be one that leads to God’s house. "We've got potholes out there that you can't even get to church on."
They also received three quotes from fence companies to erect a fence around the new Sunflower County Search and Rescue building and storage. A $5,755.44 quote was received from Sharp Fence Company of Indianola, a $4,250 one from Abundant Life Church of God, care of Jimmy Smith out of Kosciusko and Frontier Contractors of Grenada submitted a price of $5,868.45. However, no decision was made pending further clarification of the specs for the fence.
County Engineer Ron Cassada opened bids on two bridge replacement projects, one located on Tindall Road and the other on C. Kemp Road. Both proposals came in several hundred thousand dollars over the engineer's estimate.
The estimated cost for the Tindall Road bridge was $864,254 and the price from McBride Co. LLC was $1,201,441 and Dozier LLC submitted a price of $1,244,951.
The estimate for the C. Kemp Road project was $766,050, but the bids from the same two companies came in over $300,000 over the estimate. McBrideCo bid $1,087,148.45 and Dozier's price was $1,084,645.95.
Cassada said the large gap between the estimate and the actual cost was due to specification changes imposed by the Mississippi Department of Transportation and they will discuss how to proceed in a work session scheduled for March 24 at 9 a.m.
In addition, Emergency Management Director Denny Evans briefed the county leaders on the latest local actions with regards to the coronavirus outbreak. He said he was working on a comprehensive emergency management plan.
And although there have been no reported possible cases of the coronavirus in Sunflower County, the Board of Supervisors moved ahead with declaring a state of emergency, so that it will be in place in case a situation arises.
Evans said the hospitals and nursing homes are following the national Centers for Disease Control guidelines for the virus and limiting visitors.
Citing possible health issues among some members present, District 3 Supervisor Ben Gaston suggested that the county administrator also look into alternative ways to hold open meetings in the boardroom including electronic options for video teleconferencing.
County Maintenance Director Daniel Kent reported on his findings with regard to the county health department and submitted his recommendations for the necessary repairs based on reportings recorded at an earlier meeting from the staff at the U.S. 49 building.
One of the major concerns was that mold was present in the building, but Kent said an inspection by himself and Indianola City Inspector Elvis Pernell did not reveal any mold. Despite their conclusion, the county leaders voted to hire an outside professional firm to test the site to be absolutely sure.
Pernell also confirmed that the structure was not in as deplorable a shape as had been previously reported. He said there were no safety issues at the health department.
The county leaders also voted 4-0, Gaston was absent at the time, to purchase a new maintenance department vehicle under state contract at a cost of $27,088. Donald suggested getting the money from funds that had been previously set aside for new trucks for the supervisors, which was voted down at a previous meeting.
