A discussion about which items the county should purchase as part of a proposed loan resulted in the Sunflower County Board of Supervisors deciding to hold a work session to hash out some differences of opinion.
At a previous meeting, County Administrator Fred Washington had been asked to review the list and report back with his recommendations.
On Monday, Washington said that he had reduced the road department loan amount from nearly $1 million to just $571,353.96 by removing some smaller items that were originally included on the list, plus deleting some road department equipment that he said could be repaired instead of replaced.
"I took off the chipper spreader. I took off the tar truck, because those are items that we rarely, rarely use and the equipment that we have can be refurbished. We can upgrade the equipment that we currently have," he said.
Even though he removed several items, he also added a few additional items such as a heavy-duty trailer and a lowboy trailer that he said would be used to prevent the operators from driving the heavy equipment from location to location.
Washington asserted that the equipment was not designed for road travel and that hauling it instead of driving it would reduce the maintenance costs on the equipment.
He provided the county lawmakers with a detailed list of his adjustments. "That's what I am recommending to the board that we include in this loan, I forwarded that to Attorney McWilliams and he said that all of those items seem appropriate for the loan," Washington said.
However, the removal of the chip spreader from the list of equipment did not sit well with District 5 Supervisor Gloria Dickerson. She first questioned whether the current piece of equipment was working properly and Washington expressed that there are some concerns about it, but said that he plans to have it transported to Memphis and repaired for a cost considerably less than what it would take to purchase a new one.
Dickerson then voiced her dismay citing that repairs to the machine had already been attempted several times and the machine remains in constant disrepair and as a result, the roads are not being fixed.
Washington attempted to explain that the machine is only used a few times a year because the county does not have the funds to operate it, but Dickerson rejoined, "We've got funds, we just need to figure out how much we've got—on paper. Put it on paper, then we can see what we've got," she said.
Dickerson reminded him of the recurring and escalating Use Tax from the state and maintained her opinion that the deleted equipment is vital to road repair. “We need the equipment that we need in order to get our roads fixed,” Dickerson said, “I don't know what all of this is about, but there's some hidden agenda somewhere. But, we need the chipper spreader before we start buying any of this other stuff or thinking about buying any other stuff."
Dickerson inexorably stated her case for purchasing the equipment. “I don't know why you took it off or who told you to take it off, but I think it needs to go back on there and that's my opinion on it,” she said.
Washington responded, "The bottom line is we can't afford it, Mrs. Dickerson." He proceeded to tell her about the costs related to repairing the roads and then stressed the number of people it takes to operate that machine. But, she interrupted him and said, “Where are you getting all of this stuff from? Somebody is telling you to go in that boardroom and say this.”
Washington denied her allegation and stated that his information was based on his own observations during his time in office.
At that point, Board President Riley Rice interrupted the exchange and declared that they should hold a work session to further discuss the matter. "Rather than airing our grievances before everybody, what we are going to do, after January 4, is to have a work session and we're going to decide what to put in that loan," he said.
District 1 Supervisor Glenn Donald then requested permission to speak and voiced his support for following the county administrator’s advice. However, Dickerson objected to his statement and insinuated that the county administrator works for the board and that the entire board should have some input and not just one supervisor.
In other business,
The county leaders approved the purchase of two drones to use in conjunction with search and rescue efforts in the county.
E-911 Director John Thompson reported that the new emergency system upgrade is about 95% complete and that he, the sheriff and the dispatchers have all been trained in the functions and operation of the new equipment.
The county lawmakers once again heard a request from a representative of Moon River Foods to rescind a previous tax penalty assessed against the company, but were again told by Attorney Johnny McWilliams that they are not authorized to waive or reduce any penalties if the tax assessor/collector's office has not made a mistake, and it had not. He said any such reduction or waiver would constitute a donation, which is not legal.
In other matters, since the county lawmakers have already adopted a floodplain-zoning ordinance, they conducted a public hearing on Monday on the adoption of a new flood insurance rate map that was adopted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency last year.
McWilliams said the map indicates which areas are in a flood zone and which areas are not. FEMA is requiring the county to update and adopt a revised flood damage prevention ordinance and the county lawmakers elected to do so. McWilliams said the approval and adoption of the map was required in order for people to purchase flood insurance.
The county leaders also heard a request by Justice Court Clerk Patricia Strong to install safety glass in the Justice Court courtroom. Two quotes were received and Cleveland Port City Glass Company submitted the lowest bid of $1,518.30. Greenville Paint and Glass Company's bid was $1,650.
County Engineer Ron Cassada presented the County lawmakers with the final bid tabulations along with requests to use Local System Bridge Program money to supplement funds for the Emergency Road Bridge Repair projects proposed at the last meeting.
The Tindall Road bridge will cost an estimated $1,042,105.10 and was awarded to McBride Co LLC. The county also had to approve the use of $361,403.72 of its LSBP money to complete the payout.
The Kemp Road project was awarded to low bidder J.J. Ferguson Sand & Gravel at a cost of $788,634.63. That project also required a $286,757.82 LSBP match. Cassada said the county currently has $1,284,364 available in his LSBP funds.
