The Board of Supervisors opened their first meeting of June with a full agenda. District Two Supervisor Lorenzo Carter asked about what type of changes can be made to the dangerous section of County Road 280 and Highway 45 South. Another fatality occurred last week at that location and supervisors are concerned with the safety of motorists. Rumble strips were put into place months ago by Mississippi Department of Transportation but wrecks continue to occur at that location.
MDOT Engineers were at the location on Monday looking at the problem to come up with a safer solution for drivers. Some options could be the placement of warning lights and additional stop signs with lights placed further back to allow drivers ample time to prepare to stop.
Jennifer Reed, Director of Mississippi State Parks and former board of supervisor Tony Fleming went before the board to update the county on improvements being made at Clarkco State Park.
Fleming was recently hired by Mississippi Department of Wildlife Fisheries and Parks and will serve as the new Park Manager at Clarkco State Park. Some of the needed improvements were sand added for the beach area for swimmers, de-limbing around the lake, landscaping in front of the buildings and the popular Splash Pad is now open daily for children.
The board appointed Sonya Lafferty to serve as a board member for the East Mississippi Regional Library on the recommendation from Library Director Josh Haidet. Haidet also advised the board that state budget cuts will affect East Mississippi Library and they anticipate asking for an increase in local budget from the county in the range of $3,000 - $6,000.
In other business, the board;
• The board acknowledged they would provide a letter of support for a grant application by Outreach Health Services for the possibility of putting a health clinic in Stonewall.
• Approved a request from Southern Linc to put a new cellular phone tower in the DeSoto community
• Received three bids on the Phase 2 Environmental Study for the USA Fabrics Building at $12,200, $18,900 and $29,000. No action was taken
• The board approved the hiring of Edward Kramer as a part time 911 dispatcher and Anthony Bohannon to work at the County Landfill.
Approved a motion to get a mat and seal road project for County Road 6721 completed this week
• Donated a finishing mower to the City of Quitman to be used for maintaining the grass at the shooting range located in the industrial park
• Approved the board to hire 10 individuals for the Summer Youth Work Program. Each supervisor will be able to hire two youth from their district. Twin Districts Work Force pays for this program
• Approved the claims docket with the exception of $133,600 for the purchase of new vehicles for the sheriff’s department. Board members discussed the option of switching to a lease agreement on those vehicles.
