CARROLLTON — The third time was not the charm for Bobby Grantham to get approval for firefighting equipment he wants to order.
Grantham, Carroll County’s fire coordinator, had appeared twice earlier before the Board of Supervisors with a list of needs for each of the county’s fire departments and twice had been asked to go back and talk to each fire chief.
Grantham told supervisors Monday that he has talked to each chief, but that did not satisfy Beat 1 Supervisor Terry Herbert.
After conferring with the state’s fire coordinator, Larry Barr, and learning that fire rebate funds must be spread among the entire county and not separated out into beats, Herbert told Grantham he now wants just to make sure that all the fire chiefs have approved the list from Grantham.
“I would feel better if you would sit down with each one and let them sign the list showing that they have asked for everything they need. I’d hate to have them come back later and say they didn’t get everything they need,” Herbert said.
“Isn’t that what you have now?” Chancery Clerk Sugar Mullins asked the board.
“I can get the chiefs to sign. That’s no problem,” Grantham said.
He reiterated that he had talked to all of the fire chiefs, including Beat 1 Chief Tim Casiday, who attended Monday’s meeting. Chiefs from Gravel Hill and Black Hawk departments were at the last supervisors meeting.
Beat 2 Supervisor Honey Ashmore agreed with Herbert that getting signatures would allow the board to be sure each fire chief had asked for everything they need.
“Get them to hand sign so they can’t say later, ‘I wanted this and didn’t get it,’” Herbert said.
Ashmore quizzed Grantham about how the money could be used and whether it could be used for paying payments on fire trucks. Grantham told him it could be used to purchase equipment but not to pay for trucks or tires.
A motion by Herbert and second by Rickie Corley to table the request until the chiefs sign their request list passed despite Marvin Coward’s no vote.
In other action, supervisors:
• Agreed to renew an agreement with Parkwood Behavioral Health System in Olive Branch to house people with a mental illness crisis until they can be transferred to the state hospital at Whitfield.
The daily rate for Parkwood is $550, Mullins said. He told the board the county tries to collect from private insurance whenever possible. “A lot of the time they don’t have all that,” he said.
• Heard Robert Willis, engineer with Willis Engineering Services, discuss speed limits on state aid roads.
“Every road has a designated speed. It varies from 30 to 40,” he said. “Speed bumps can be useful in neighborhoods, but where speeds are 35 miles per hour and above, they can be dangerous,” he said.
Herbert asked board attorney Kevin Horan what can be done about loggers from other counties damaging county roads.
“You can make them post a bond and can recapture the cost of damage to the roads,” Horan said.
Willis told him that supervisors have better luck with routing. “(Truckers) should come to you for routes,” he said.
“If you catch them going off route, then make them pay an additional bond,” Horan said.
