The Sunflower County Board of Supervisors registered a "no sale" after a bid opening session on Monday yielded no takers for two 19-yard dump trucks that had been put up for auction as surplus property.
This prompted District 1 Supervisor Glenn Donald to state that Road Manager T.J. Fairley had informed the board that he wanted to keep the trucks anyway.
"These are the trucks that T.J. has repeatedly said to this board, 'I want to keep these trucks, I need them to keep gravel on the roads,’" said Donald.
During the discussion, County Administrator Fred Washington mentioned a note that he had received from Burroughs Diesel on Thursday requesting information on when the trucks would be sold, so that they would not miss out, but no offer was received.
President Riley Rice said he really just wanted to see how much the trucks were worth and mentioned that earlier on they were verbally led to believe that the trucks could yield $95,000 each.
District 3 Supervisor Ben Gaston suggested contacting Burroughs, letting him know that the trucks are available and suggesting that he come evaluate them and make an offer. However, Board Attorney Johnny McWilliams advised that since no one bid this time, the whole advertising process would have to be redone before any offers could be accepted.
In other business,
Based on an earlier request from a landowner, a public hearing was held and the county lawmakers decided to abandon Lipe Shop Road near Fairview Road in District 4 seeing as no citizens showed up to offer any objections.
McWilliams said no county maintenance has been done on the road in excess of 10 years and that property owners on each side will divide the section of roadway and the value would be added to their taxes.
The county leaders also approved Donald's request to reappoint James Sample Sr., and Glenda Shedd to the South Sunflower County Hospital board of trustees for 5-year terms.
McWilliams also reported the completion of the sale of the W-86 industrial warehouse building at the Indianola Industrial Park to CRC Property Management, LLC, for a sale price of $285,000. He explained that the building was previously leased to SuperValu Incorporated, but they had asked to be released from their commitment.
According to McWilliams, the building was originally donated as a gift to the county around 2009 and has been leased out to other companies, which has generated income for the county.
"It was a wonderful thing for the county because we got a really excellent industrial location for nothing and we have leased it now for about 10-11 years and made money that way," McWilliams said.
Nevertheless, McWilliams stated that this is a good time to sell the structure because he has been made aware of some maintenance issues that would require a county outlay, but now it's being put back on the tax roll without the county having to spend any money on it.
In addition, the results of a closed executive session resulted in an agreement by the county leaders to strike up a one-year lease agreement, with automatic renewals, with Delta Health Alliance.
The lease will allow them to rent the eastern parking lot of the Ludlow industrial building on Westside Avenue for $300 a month.
Washington said the attorneys for both groups still have some details to work on regarding the contract and DHA will use the space to park their buses.
The county has also reportedly just received around $290,000 in use-tax money from the state, which combined with the funds received previously, amounts to around a half million dollars that can be used on road projects, other than new construction.
At the request of Donald and after a brief discussion on the necessity, the county leaders agreed to add an agenda item for their February 15 meeting to make sure their road manager, county engineer, attorney and purchase order clerk are well versed on how the money is to be used.
"If this money gets misappropriated, you won’t get to use it, you'll get audited for it and you won't get any more money," Donald said.
Additionally, based on its previous approval, the board also agreed to allow Rice to execute the signing of an extension for the CDBG contract modification on a grant for Eastmoor Subdivision. Allyson Denson at South Delta Planning and Development District submitted the request.
Also, after reviewing the contract details for employee uniform rentals with Cintas, the county leaders decided not to sign the agreement because it deviated from their original understanding.
Although the members had agreed to allow payroll deduction so the employees could pay for the cost of rentals, signing the agreement as presented would obligate the county and not the individual employees.
Sunflower County would have to be responsible for the contractual amount and provisions of the contract for the next five years regardless of employee participation.
