With just a few short weeks to go in the 2020 Census campaign, Sunflower County's numbers seem less than impressive, and on Monday, citizen Charles Modley asked the Sunflower County Board of Supervisors to help get the word out.
He suggested that the county pay to implement newspaper advertisements. However, District 1 Supervisor Glenn Donald suggested contacting local pastors within the county and asking them to make announcements during their livestream broadcasts or whatever means they're using to minister to their people.
Attorney Johnny McWilliams told the group they could use county resources to emphasize and advertise. However, he cautioned them to make sure that the money being spent is spent wisely and should not be tied to anything political.
Municipalities are reporting that a low percentage of their residents have completed the questionnaires. Nevertheless, McWilliams and others assert that there may be another issue. “I tried to get counted and I couldn't do it,” McWilliams said. He explained that he never received any forms in the mail and he had to make several attempts online before he was able to complete the form.
Even after getting the questionnaire filled out online, McWilliams said he is still not sure if he was counted because he never received verification.“I had to try pretty doggone hard to get counted, and that bothers me,” McWilliams said.
In addition to the request made by Modley, resident Trudy McGee told the county leaders that she is getting 16,000 citizen's records to try to reach out to residents to encourage them to complete the questionnaires.
In other business,
In an apparent reference to the numerous and prolonged fireworks activities over the weekend, District 3 Supervisor Ben Gaston asked if the county has a fireworks prohibition ordinance and was told that it had been repealed.
McWilliams explained that even if the county had an ordinance to enforce, it would not affect the individual municipalities; it would only affect residents outside of the city limits.
Gaston then asked if an ordinance could be enacted to set time restrictions and McWilliams indicated that it could, and they can also re-instate the previous ban if they wanted to. The matter was tabled for further discussion.
Haywood notified the board that he was returning a $1,600 grant check from the TRIAD program since they were unable to properly spend it due to the coronavirus.
Haywood said he was advised that the best option would be to return the money and the county would not be penalized for not using it.
McWilliams asked the county lawmakers to set up a special account because some of the Moll Road residents wanted to donate their personal funds towards the repair of their road.
He said the money would have to be deposited into a special account and could only be used for that road's repair and the residents can get a tax receipt for their contribution.
