The Leflore County Board of Supervisors voted Monday to request minutes from Greenwood Leflore Hospital’s board meetings every month.
The supervisors have been receiving updates from the hospital annually. In light of a recent discussion about the hospital’s charity policy, Board of Supervisors President Robert Collins asked Monday to be updated more frequently.
“I was reading about some of the changes they may make in the paper,” said Collins. “And I just think we should know what’s going on over there.”
Collins went on to say that the supervisors should receive minutes from appointed boards across the county more regularly.
The vote on the issue was unanimous. Supervisor Robert Moore was absent.
Also Monday, the board:
• Agreed to provide $20,000 in matching funds to Milwaukee Electric Tool. The company is well on its way to a $13 million expansion in Mississippi, and with phase one of that expansion it is poised to create 32 new jobs in Leflore County. The company has requested a match of $90,000 from the county and city. The city of Greenwood agreed to give $70,000.
• Accepted a bid from Thompson Machinery for seven new motor graders.
• Approved a DUI grant for the Leflore County Sheriff’s Department. Deputy Cody Vanlandingham said the grant would provide the funds needed to hire one more deputy and cover the overtime pay of a few others.
• Discussed the maintenance of the Carroll County road that leads to Greenwood-Leflore Airport. Supervisor Phil Wolfe said he thought Leflore County was responsible for keeping the road in shape, according to a contract agreement, but Chancery Clerk Sam Abraham said he could not verify any such understanding.
“I’m not contradicting what they said last night,” Abraham said today. “I’m just saying I can’t verify that we have the responsibility to keep up with that road.”
Abraham added that the airport is the greatest asset of both the county and the city of Greenwood and that the board will continue to work to make sure that the road leading to the airport is maintained.
Angela Curry, executive director of the Greenwood-Leflore-Carroll Economic Development Foundation, pointed out that the road will be the first things people see when flying into the county.
Abraham said the board has always worked with Carroll County and its supervisors to take care of the road.
• Approved a motion by Wolfe to request monthly updates on the county’s GPS devices. The tracking system has brought heavy criticism by some members of the board, most notably Wayne Self, who has protested the cost of the devices. They cost the county about $4,000 a month.
With a smile, Self began to ask a question about the devices, but Supervisor Anjuan Brown interrupted him with other county business.
• Contact Jeanie Riess at 581-7235 or jriess@gwcommonwealth.com.
