The county has had to rethink just exactly how they will finance some road and bridge projects.
This comes on the heels of the head of State Aid’s refusal to allow transfer of funds from another county. Simpson County’s engineer, Buddy Wolverton, advised the board that the plan had been rejected by State Aid.
The project to be funded was a bridge on Jake Barnes Road, but there is another way to secure funding. Wolverton asked the board to rescind previous board action requesting the funds and said he would apply through a different process.
Wolverton informed the board that the Heed Neely Road Bridge Replacement Project was ready to be let for bid. All that needed to be done was for the state to assign a project number and the county could start the process.
In other business the board approved an annual contract renewal in the amount of $1,920 for the annual maintenance agreement for their Access Control Group for fingerprint control access to the jail.
The board approved the re-hire of Landon Ates as a part-time certified deputy and the new hire of Kat McMillan as a certified deputy. They approved allowing Fred Williams to attend the American Jail Association Conference.
The board approved the extension of an emergency road and bridge repairs provision for the county. The action was necessary because the repair company is currently on-site in Simpson County and if the bid process had to be re-started they most likely would not get the same company because of the time required for the bid process. This would mean losing it to another county.
The board accepted the lowest bid quotation for Warren Inc. for the purchase of three new dump truck bodies. The bids came in at $16,250 each for a total of $48,750.
The board okayed the extension of a contract with AVG Cloud Services for anti-virus for computers for the county in the amount of $28 annually for each machine.
The board tabled a request to allow seismic surveys of county property out of concern for potential damage done setting up for the surveys. Concern was also expressed about damage to well systems. Supervisor Randy Moore had problems the last time this was done to his water well.
A local audit revealed that a total of $44,916.83 was due to members of the Sheriff’s Department for overtime pay. The jail staff is due $43,235.22. The totals have been computed but penalties have not been assessed by the Department of Labor. Since the oversight was self-reported, it is hoped that penalties will not be excessive. However, it is not unusual for costs associated with audit to be part of the totals.
According to County Administrator Rhuel Dickinson, the funds will come from the sheriff’s budget as well as the jail budget to pay the shortfall.
The next meeting of the board is Friday, March 15, at 9 a.m.
