Part of the good news to come from the Simpson County Board of Supervisors meeting this week is the fact that the county will be getting inmate labor back to help with services, according to Supervisor Danny Craft.
Inmate labor was suspended for their protection during the height of the coronavirus crisis.
This announcement followed a conversation at the board meeting about the need for help at the D’Lo Water Park to assist with the handling of boats. This aspect of the park has not reopened to the public yet, but the park staff hopes that service will soon be operational. Craft said if things go as planned help will be available as soon as next Monday.
The renewal of inmate labor will impact several other areas of governmental operations including sanitation, grounds and facility maintenance. In addition, those services should also be available soon for the county’s municipalities.
The first order of business from the County Administrator Rhuel Dickinson was to accept a resignation letter from Charlie Valadie as fire coordinator for the county.
This led to discussion about the five rural fire chiefs wanting to replace Valadie with Jason Busby, chief of the Braxton Fire Department. The board heard from Phillip Magee, assistant fire coordinator, who told the board that this was all “back door politics” and reeked of “old South ways.”
Magee said he took the job as assistant because Valadie was experiencing health issues and the work load was more than one person could handle. Valadie is the fire marshal for the City of Magee, and Magee is the assistant fire chief for the City. The two rotated attendance at City of Magee fire meetings as well as at the various county fire meetings.
The City of Magee dropped their membership in the county association of firefighters as did the City of Mendenhall. Magee told the board that it was a conflict of interest, in his opinion, for Busby to be the chief of Braxton Fire as well as the fire coordinator for the whole county. Once the departments in Magee and Mendenhall pulled their memberships, the other five departments in the county voted to put Busby in charge.
They also made the decision that an assistant was no longer needed, despite the fact that Magee had agreed to continue to serve as assistant fire coordinator for the county. Magee said that Busby was not a good choice for county coordinator. He said that part of his responsibility is keeping records current for the various local departments, and when he started working on the Braxton records, they were seven months in arrears.
Despite the fact that Magee did not agree with the decisions that were being made, he assured the board that the Magee Volunteer Fire Department would continue to respond and help with fires in the county as needed.
The board discussed funding for the county’s fire departments in the future and said that despite the fact that Magee and Mendenhall are no longer part of the county association they would continue to get funding. However, according to Dickinson, the manner in which the funding is given may change in the future.
Currently funding for county fire departments is done through State Fire Insurance rebates to the county. Those funds are then split equally among the seven departments in the county. The supervisors alluded to the fact that management of those funds would fall back to the county and the amounts may be distributed based on population and/or calls.
The board allowed Magee to address them about other issues with county fire service. Supervisor Randy Moore told Magee that the rural departments in the county felt that they were not getting fair representation from Valadie and that was what had caused the problems. Magee responded that Valadie had offered to be available any time he was needed. Other departments had questioned Valadie’s attendance at actual fire scenes. Magee said it was not possible for him to attend every fire because he was already responding to Magee Fire Department calls, which was the lion’s share of calls in the county. There have also been comments that Valadie was not helping other departments with grants as he does for the Magee department.
In other business the county extended the emergency order regarding the pandemic as well as the emergency bridge repair order.
The county denied a claim for water usage of Mildred Jean Carter for $769.68. Carter alleged that county equipment broke her water line, which caused her bill to be so high. The board had approved a claim from Carter last year, but county workers stated that they have not done work within ten feet of her meter.
The board approved a grant through the Sheriff’s Department for $6,000 with a 25 percent local match. Sheriff Paul Mullins said he was planning to use the grant for the departmental uniforms.
The board accepted qualifying papers for the position of election commissioner from the following: Calvin Edwards, District One; Eugene Blair, District Two; Donna Magee, District Three; District Four, Diane McPhail; and Wanda Bridges for District Five.
The board made the decision with the approval of the county road manager that they would consider hiring the people who have worked part time with the county in the road department because of the shortage of employees during the pandemic.
The next meeting of the board of supervisors is set for June 15 at the Chancery Court Building.
