Justices with the Mississippi County Quorum Court were unable during their regular meeting Tuesday night to pass an ordinance which Bill Nelson suggested during Monday's finance meeting, because there had been no attorney available to draw it up in time.
Nelson suggested Monday that the court pass an ordinance rescinding a portion of the 2014 ordinance which allowed the county do to business with relatives of certain county employees, in order to remove Hollister Industrial Drive from the county's list of vendors. The county's landfill equipment repair spending with Hollister has come under investigation by the Arkansas State Police following a legislative audit report.
Justice Michael White told the court Tuesday night that the ordinance would not be ready to be voted on until the October meeting, because county attorney David Burnett had not been available to draw it up on such short notice. White stood in for County Judge Randy Carney, officiating the meeting.
Nelson questioned the ordinance's absence from the agenda.
"I'm just wondering why it isn't here, we've had other ordinances drawn up at the last minute before, and we haven't had an attorney to write one for the past nine months," he said.
"I will not argue with you on that point, but that's the only reason we couldn't have this one. It's rescinding a vendor, and Terri [Brassfield, Carney's executive assistant] simply isn't responsible for that. It needs to be just right," said White. "It would have had to have been prepared today and Judge Burnett is not available and we didn't have time to get an alternative way to have it written. I don't think there's any opposition to it at all, it's just getting it done."
The court did pass an appropriation ordinance, which made provision for an economic development grant of $350,000 to go to Five Star Hydraulics, which are relocating their Indiana headquarters to Blytheville and creating 35 new jobs.
The ordinance also included an appropriation of $40,000 for a soil study to be done on a site in the south of the county, which is currently being considered for another large industrial project.
"This new project Clif is working on could be 1,000 new jobs," said Nelson. "We have learned that we have made another cut, we are now in the top three sites being considered. And we want to be ready to conduct this soil study to present to them if we make another cut, if we're in the top two, to say we have money set aside for this. Clif proposed them $11,000 per job for every employee living in Mississippi County over a five year period; we have talked about moving that up to $15,000 each, which would make that a $7.5 million grant for them. We don't think it will get that high because we don't think they will ever find that many local employees, but that would be the cap...but we feel good about the project."
Nelson added that the county's $14.5 million commitment to Big River Steel will soon be completed with a final payment of $350,000.
An ordinance was brought before the court to appoint Brian Wilson of Osceola as a special official of the court to solemnize marriages within the county, but will be tabled for discussion and a second reading in the October meeting.
The ordinance states that Wilson is available and willing to perform marriages, and that a need for an official exists in the Osceola area. County clerk Janice Curry told the court that if approved, Wilson be available on Tuesdays and Thursdays for residents to schedule marriage ceremonies at the courthouse.
Nelson asked that the motion be read a second time next month, when a resume and more information about Wilson could be reviewed before approval.
Also included in the appropriation ordinance were $300 in office rent and $300 in utilities for the office space of Osceola circuit judge Ralph Wilson.
"We've been paying Judge Wilson the same amount of office rent and utility expenses for years, and now that Dan Ritchey has come onto the circuit, we're paying more for his space, and Judge Wilson has just asked that we equalize those amounts," said White. "We share the expense with six counties, so the cost is minimal."
White also reiterated to the court that they are re-evaluating the bids received on construction for the new landfill cell and leachate collection system. The court was expecting a cost of around $2 million for the construction of both as a package, but three separate bids came in at nearly double that cost. The cell must be constructed per state mandate, but the leachate collection system is not mandated and will be the first of its type in the state when completed, saving the county approximately $200,000 a year in leachate transportation and setting a new standard for sustainable collection practices, according to White.
sspears@couriernews.net