BLYTHEVILLE— The Mississippi County Finance Committee met Monday afternoon and heard several budget proposals for the 2024 budget; including the 2024 budget for the Office of Emergency Management (OEM) and 911 from newly hired coordinator John Willard.
Committee members present were Chairman Michael White, Harbans Mangat, Cecil McDonald, and Neil Burge.
Also present were justices Rick Ash, Betty Hepler, and Tobye McClanahan. Elected officials present were Treasurer Candi Denny, county clerk Janice Currie, county Assessor Brannah Bibbs, and county collector Susan McCormick.
Before Willard presented his two budgets he introduced himself and informed the justices present how busy his first month has been.
“First of all I just want to say I am enjoying the position. This is my fourth week on the job and there’s a lot to it,” explained Willard.
Willard continued, “Once we get caught up on the 911 addresses… it’s down a little bit. Anyways, I'm still doing a lot of learning… Overall, I’m pleased and happy to be here.”
Willard stated he is on call 24/7 as was the previous OEM coordinator Wayne Reynolds.
He added there are two individuals - Steve Crosskno and Brian Dunham- in the county who help out in case Willard is unavailable due to vacation or out of town meetings.
Willard stated he left the overtime line item blank; however, after discussions chairman White stated to move the 2023 budgeted $7,000 to the 2024 budget.
As of Oct. 31, the OEM “overtime” line item has spent $4,204.23 of the budgeted $7,000.
Willard mentioned that Reynolds position was a 32-hour work week whereas his position is a 40-hour.
The only other change was a $75 increase in the line item “printing/supplies” from $200 to $275.
When discussing the E911 budget, Willard noted an increase on the “service contracts” line item; which increased from $350 to $90,000.
According to Willard, the 91, located at the Mississippi County Sheriff’s department, is updating equipment with a five-year life span which is seven-years old.
A question asked by McClanahan was directed at the line item “telephone” whereas the 2023 budget was set for $9,600 and as of Oct. 31 the office had spent $12,799.65.
The request for 2024’s budget was at 12,100, but after discussion chairman White stated to move it up to $15,000.
The last discussion from Willard came on the $10,000 request to spend from the Local Assistance Tribal Consistency (LATC) Fund for Hyper-reach software.
Willard stated the program has “great potential”, but hasn’t been used to his knowledge.
The LATC Fund had a 90-percent of fund balance of $81,000 as of Oct. 1.
McClanahan, who chairs the Sanitation and Solid Waste committee, gave the proposed 2024 expense budget for the Landfill.
Discussion was held on salaries and employees working overtime.
There was further discussion on possibly closing a cell at the landfill, Burge stated may cut the cost of hauling leachate, which is currently at a request of $89,000.
McClanahan stated she’ll be in discussion of getting the “ball rolling” on closing the cell.
Also discussed was improving the health departments in Blytheville and Osceola with wall signs and decor.
The proposal was for 47 signs at the Blytheville health department for $570.77, and 23 signs for the Osceola health department for $278.05.
McClanahan proposed spending up to $2,500 of the funds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP) to the health department for the wall signs and decor.
White stated to use the ARP money but if more money was needed they’d amend the budget.
Lastly, White addressed concerns which quorum court members received after Judge Nelson’s chief of staff proposals.
White explained once an article was printed in the newspaper about proposed $70,000 salary for a new chief of staff position, there were several questions from the public.
White continued, “So there was a lot of miscommunication or maybe misunderstanding. It was just a proposal. It was not a decision that was made. So there wasn’t a final determination on that.”
White stated the Personnel committee will be meeting Nov. 13 to go over the total proposal from job title to job description.
According to White, the salary will stay at $48,734.40 that is currently slated for “public affairs director”.