Nearly six months after the North Central Narcotics Task Force went bust, Leflore County is still on the hook for some of its bills — this time for unemployment benefits for former agents.
The Leflore County Board of Supervisors approved a $10,687 payment to cover the cost of jobless claims after a state commission ruled that the county was responsible for paying the benefits.
Chancery Clerk Sam Abraham said he tried to argue that Leflore County was simply the pass-through agency and didn’t employ the task force’s employees. Officials determined that, since Leflore County handled the task force’s payroll, it was responsible for unemployment payments.
The assets of the now-defunct drug task force, which have been turned over to Leflore County, will be auctioned off sometime this summer to help recover money loaned to the agency by the county, Abraham said.
“We’ll have to liquidate everything they’ve got to even get close,” he said.
The multi-county agency dissolved at the end of last year after struggling to meet payroll and pay its bills — and leaving it roughly $100,000 in the hole to Leflore County, which administered the task force’s finances.
The agency had been plagued by money woes after losing out on a state-administered grant that had provided the majority of its funding. To stave off the demise of the task force — which during the past year operated in Leflore, Holmes, Humphreys, Issaquena, Sharkey and Claiborne counties — the group had attempted to operate off $12,000 from each county and a federal grant to fight crystal.
Late payments, a lack of operating funds and at least one successful lawsuit against the agency all contributed to drive it under. Now, Abraham said it’s stuck paying unemployment claims by at least two former task force employees who haven’t landed new jobs.
“Since we paid it and we were the paying agent on it, it’s all under us,” Abraham said this morning. “That doesn’t mean these other (entities) aren’t going to be responsible at some point.”
In other business Tuesday:
• Board Attorney Joyce Chiles said it would likely be illegal for the county to co-sign a loan with Itta Bena, as was proposed during a meeting with officials from the cash-strapped municipality last week.
On Tuesday, Itta Bena Alderwoman Mildred Miller again spoke with the board about the town’s proposal to sell its share of the Itta Bena Industrial Park to the county. The Board of Supervisors requested an appraisal of the property but haven’t yet voted on a purchase.
“It might well be that we can’t afford it,” said District 1 Supervisor Phil Wolfe, who proposed the appraisal.
nBids were opened for road work on County Road 30 — also known as Milburn Farm Road — with the lowest bid from APAC coming in at about $769,000. The bids for the work on a two-mile stretch of the road came in slightly above the county engineer’s official estimate of $750,000 but well below an initial estimate for the work of $884,500.
• The board approved the donation of $1,500 to the Onnie Elliott Community Service Center in Greenwood under the guise of advertising county resources. The center, owned by Glenda Crain and located at the corner of Broad Street and Avenue H, provides tutoring to children.
The donation was approved 4-1, with Wolfe — who generally votes against donations of county funds — voting against the move.
• The Leflore County Volunteer Fire Department received two 750-gallon-per-minute diesel water pumps from the Mississippi Forestry Commission as well as two 13-kilowatt generators from the Federal Aviation Administration. The donated equipment was added to the county’s inventory.
• Contact Bryn Stole at 581-7235 or bstole@gwcommonwealth.com.
