A motion by District 5 Supervisor Gloria Dickerson to go ahead and vacate the seat of the District 3 appointee to the Mississippi Delta Community College board of trustees, effective July 1, was temporarily rescinded at Monday’s Sunflower County Board of Supervisors’ meeting, but will be back on the table at the lawmakers’ next meeting.
Former Chancery Clerk Paula Sykes is the District 3 appointee, but her term ends June 30 and for the second time, in as many sessions, District 3 Supervisor Dennis Holmes, who is not seeking re-election, has held off on naming his choice for the MDCC trustee position.
At Monday’s session, Dickerson asked if the position could just be declared vacant until Holmes makes his decision. However, Holmes did not appear to be in favor of that idea. “Whoever is in office can serve until one is appointed,” he responded.
Dickerson then inquired about the proper course of action and Attorney Johnny McWilliams said, “I don’t know, I’ll be glad to research it for you. But, I don’t know whether this is a position that would hold over or whether it would be vacated.”
However, McWilliams did indicate that the position could not be declared vacant before the term expires at the end of the month. County Administrator Gloria McIntosh said according to policy the current appointee can be left in the position for the remaining six months of Holmes’ term or the board could vote to vacate the slot when it expires in 10 days.
Dickerson then indicated that she wanted to make a motion for the position to become vacant as of July 1. “I don’t think you can do that,” Holmes said, “The way I understand, whoever’s in the office, who’s holding that position, will hold it until the end of my term and then the new board… or I will make that decision before the end of my term,” he said.
McWilliams suggested waiting until July 1, which is the next scheduled regular session, the day after the appointment ends, because by that time he will have researched it to see what the lawmakers could do. So Dickerson elected to rescind her motion until the first Monday in July.
In other business,
Emergency Management Director Denny Evans said one county resident has lost their life due to a house fire since his last report. The fire took place at a house in Moorhead. Evans also said there was one grain bin rescue. A man’s shirt got caught on one of the mechanisms and he had to be cut free after being trapped in the bin for a period. And gladly it did not result in an injury or a fatality.
President Glenn Donald then inquired about assistance for the county residents from the state and the federal government as related to the recent flooding. Evans said although the county was eligible for aid, the general public did not qualify. Evans declared that he has surveyed the affected properties, but they didn’t meet the requirements.
Donald and Attorney Johnny McWilliams asked about those guidelines that determine eligibility and Evans said, “FEMA has four different levels of damage, they classify them as affected, minor, major or destroyed.”
He said you have to have a large number of major and destroyed for the federal agency to consider assistance. “FEMA will not even look at the ‘affected’ ones and a lot of the times they will not look at the minors,” Evans said.
Also during the departmental reports, E-911 Director John Thompson said the emergency system failed to respond properly immediately following a scheduled weekly test that simulates a power outage. However, he was able to get it back operational after having the communications company replace the backup batteries.
He said the E-911 systems typically become obsolete after five years of operation and the county’s unit may need to be replaced at a cost of over $200,000.
Thompson said even after the system came back up he spent nearly three hours troubleshooting it to find out why there was no audio before he realized that someone had also turned the volume down. He said the dispatchers told him “They couldn’t bear all of the noise.”
Supervisor Dennis Holmes asked if he had notified the sheriff about the incident and Thompson indicated that he had.
