It was all about the money during Monday’s meeting of the Leflore County Board of Supervisors.
The supervisors heard requests from the United Way, from a public school support group, from a newly elected judge wanting to redecorate his office, from its fire coordinator wanting to buy new equipment for volunteer firefighters, and from one of its own who wanted to reinstate a bridge to the list of projects in need of repair.
United Way of Leflore County Executive Director Courtney Kimmel left with a promise that board members would consider a $2,000 donation during its next budget year.
Lula Moore, president of the Parents for Public Schools of Greenwood and Leflore County, was directed to meet with Chancery Clerk Christine Lymon to see if funds were available in the county’s advertising budget to help fund a Voice of the Students program planned for Feb. 9 at the Leflore County Civic Center.
The event is designed for 500 students from first grade through high school to come together and voice any concerns about the pending school consolidation. The Greenwood and Leflore County districts are required by state law to merge by July 1. Moore said the money was to buy T-shirts, pizza, drinks, cookies, pencils and cellphone wallets for the children.
Willie J. Perkins Sr. asked the county for money to buy new curtains, flooring, office chairs and a new desk for himself as the newly installed judge for the 7th Chancery District. Perkins didn’t name a figure but in general asked for “the allocation of funds.”
The supervisors asked for a list and how much he wanted to spend.
“Is there a certain amount he needs?” said Board President Wayne Self. He moved that Lymon meet with Perkins to determine what he wanted and how much he proposed to spend, then to present that amount to the board for consideration.
“I’m not against it; I just want to see what kind of money we’re talking about,” District 1 Supervisor Sam Abraham said.
Lymon said she would shop with Perkins to make sure the furniture would fit within the county’s budget and present a figure for the board to consider at its next meeting.
County Fire Coordinator Bobby Norwood asked the board to approve his spending $19,425 from his budget for the purchase of personal protective gear for volunteer firefighters. Norwood coordinates seven volunteer fire departments that operate from eight stations. The board OK’d that expenditure.
Norwood found debate when he asked for an additional $38,254 in unbudgeted funds as the county’s part of a $420,800 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which he said was the largest such grant awarded in the state in 2018. The money in the grant would purchase 62 self-contained breathing apparatus units and 120 bottles of pressurized air. The apparatus helps firefighters from being overcome by smoke while fighting fires.
The request by Norwood resulted in confusion over whether the board had previously approved the $38,254 and from where the money would come. Norwood and Abraham disagreed over whether Abraham had told him the fire department’s budget had room for the expense in the $221,000 carried over from the previous year’s budget.
“That doesn’t mean you’re going to spend it without board approval,” Abraham told him.
District 3 Supervisor Anjuan Brown suggested the board adopt a procedure that would formalize such requests, rather than discussing matters with individual supervisors. It would require department heads to bring requests for funds to Lymon’s office so she could determine whether and where the money was included in the budget and make a recommendation to the board on whether it should be approved.
Abraham then moved and the board approved the $19,425 for the new protective gear and the $38,254 for the breathing equipment.
County Engineer Shane Correro told the board new state inspections found seven county-owned bridges to be in worse shape than their posted weight limits, requiring new signs to be posted setting new restrictions.
Correro said the bridges were scattered throughout the county, on County Road 546, County Road 507, County Road 59, County Road 550, County Road 515, County Road 523 and County Road 296. He said the county would eventually be faced with repairing all seven bridges.
The bridge discussion prompted District 5 Supervisor Robert Collins to ask that the board reinstate $160,000 in repairs to a bridge in his district. Collins has asked last week that the project be removed from the budget after he found his district’s share of funds from a 2017 bond was nearly exhausted. The board approved Collins’ motion to reinstate the money.
•Contact Gavin Maliska at 581-7235 or gmaliska@gwcommonwealth.com.
