New district lines plan in works
Kemper County Circuit Clerk Shirley Jackson addressed the Kemper County Board of Supervisors during its regular Monday morning meeting requesting the time line of when the new supervisors voting lines would be drawn and approved.
She noted that by statute they had to be ready by December of this year, but that there was a school board election set for September, so it would be good if the lines would be ready by then.
The four supervisors present — Pat Granger of District 1, Johnny Whitsett of District 2, Chris Cole of District 5, and Scott Johnson of District 3 — said they were still waiting on Butler/Snow to present them with a proposal.
Later in the meeting it was noted that the upcoming school board election would likely have to be held under the current voting district lines.
The board also heard from a spokesman for the Newton/Kemper Regional Library explaining how the organization got its funding and how it was used. The library receives funds from six governmental bodies — Newton County, Kemper County, DeKalb, Union, Newton, and Decatur. It was noted that the town of Scooba had not contributed for the past several years.
In another matter Board Attorney Rick Barry noted that House Bill 1163 requires every county in the state to have a permitting department, which Kemper County does not at this time. He said the board would at some point need to discuss how they wanted to proceed on the matter.
The board also received bids on several items, including the refurbishing of the old Super Dollar Store which will become the courthouse annex. A bid of $885,200 from TerryMark Construction was accepted.
There was also discussion on possible changes on how tires were disposed of in the county. Much attention was given to the possibility that tires were being brought to the local landfill from outside of the county and that needed to be better policed in some manner.
The board went into executive session on a personnel matter. After then coming back into open session it was put into the minutes that pay increases had been given to four employees in the tax assessor/collectors office. One employee was raised to $15.20 per hour, while three others were increased to $13 per hour.
In a meeting held by the supervisors last week, 17 employees had their pay increased to $13 per hour. Twelve were in road and bridge, three in garbage and two were courthouse employees.
In other action during Monday’s meeting the Kemper County Board of Supervisors:
— Approved the Agenda with changes. (Vote 4-0, District 4 Supervisor Mike Luke absent) (All votes 4-0 unless otherwise noted.)
— Approved current claims and payroll
— Approved order accepting perpetual right-of-way easement for public road fromJ.C. Burkes.
— Approved 16th section pubic school trust land right-of-way easement granted to Joseph Breaux, Jr. and Tanya Whitney Breaux.
— Approved payment to Greenbriar for Kemper Crossing Off-Site Utility Improvements in the amount of $881,146.19 for payment No. 2.
— Approved payment to Engineering Plus for project 19-512 NAS Kemper County Surveys 2020 in the amount of $1,023.05.
— Approved payment to Engineering Plus for various appraisals in the amount of $928.59.
— Authorized the Mississippi Department of Public Safety accepting applications for Justice Assistance Grant Local Law enforcement Grant program in the amount of $3,750.
— Approved quote for 2012 Dodge Charger for motor replacement and quote for 2016 Dodge Ram Truck 1500 for motor replacement for the sheriff’s department.
— Approved payments to Appraisers Associated, and Barry Thaggard, May LLP for services rendered.
— Approved various travel requests.
— Recessed until June 6 at 10 a.m.