The Leflore County Board of Supervisors voted Monday to accept and fund a proposal from Central Mississippi Inc. to establish a pandemic/disaster relief center with the help of funds from the federal government’s most recent COVID-19 stimulus package.
The board voted 3-1 to accept and fund CMI’s proposal, which costs about $250,000 and will come out of District 2 Supervisor Reginald Moore’s share of the $2.7 million the county received earlier this year from the federal government’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan.
Signed into law earlier this year by President Joe Biden, the package allows counties and municipalities to use the federal funds for a wide variety of purposes. Money disbursed to county and municipal governments is split into two portions. Leflore County received its first earlier this summer and will receive its second a year after the first.
The supervisors voted earlier this summer to split the $2.7 million among the five districts. The board has until 2024 to spend all of the funds.
The pandemic and disaster relief center will be located in the same building on Browning Road that houses CMI’s Greenwood office and is expected to open by early October.
Moore, who is also the board’s president, said the site will have an array of functions.
A registered nurse will be at the center to help the county’s efforts to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 by conducting tests and performing other tasks, Moore said.
The center will also create a program that will work with at-risk youth who may be prone to behavioral issues or violence that may have been caused by pandemic-related lockdowns and quarantines, he said.
“That’s why the center will offer behavioral and mental health (resources) as well as provide a community outreach program,” which would assist clients with accessing various social services, Moore said.
District 3 Supervisor Anjuan Brown abstained from Monday’s vote. District 1 Supervisor Sam Abraham, who questioned why the county should give its federal funds to another entity rather than have the county spend the money directly, voted against it.
Brown asked whether the county would have to continually fund the center. Moore said no and clarified that the $250,000 allotment is “seed funding” to help the center get established. CMI would then rely on grants, the nonprofit’s main source of funding, to help the center continue to run, Moore added.
In other business:
- The supervisors unanimously approved a motion to authorize Fred Randle, the county’s emergency management director, to work with Greenwood Leflore Hospital or another entity to test the county’s employees for COVID-19, with the county reimbursing the employees for the costs.
The motion was approved after District 5 Supervisor Robert Collins said he had been told by a county employee that he had to pay out of his own pocket to get tested.
- The board unanimously approved a motion to have each of the county’s department heads develop a procedure as to how each department would operate in the event of an outbreak within that department.
“Every department needs a backup plan,” Randle said.
- Randle updated the board about the county’s efforts to assist homeowners whose homes were damaged by June’s flooding.
Later this week a volunteer will be out to see how many homeowners need assistance with gutting and fixing their homes.
The county is eligible to receive up to $250,000 from the state’s disaster relief fund to purchase building materials for homeowners. However, as of Monday, the county had not received any state funds, Randle said.
- Contact Gerard Edic at 581-7239 or gedic@gwcommonwealth.com.
