The Fulton County Quourm Court passed a series of ordinances and hired a new road foreman during their recent meeting Tuesday, July 15.
With all justices present, Judge Ken Crow moved on to the approval of minutes from the previous month’s meeting, clerks and treasurer’s reports which were all approved.
The judge then offered an update on the ongoing disaster relief efforts.
Crow said “Jeremy [Langston] and I went to Pocahontas and met with FEMA and the public assistance folks. It was a very productive meeting. What we’re waiting on now is site visists. And then the question is when will we see some of those reimbusements.”
After site visitts have been completed, Crow said reimbusements would take place approximately 30 days following, however; there was still no set time for when those visits would take place.
Crow said the initial $200,000 appropriated for roads had been spent and he intended to request another approriation of funds in the amount of $100,000 for roads to finish out certrain projects.
“With that being said, things are progressing pretty good. Our roads still need a whole lot of work and some of our bridges. We’ve got some contracts, cement contracts to solicit some bids to get the cement work done.”
Fulton County Office of Emergency Management Director Jeremy Langston said 85 roads are back in working order. Ther are 34-36 culverts that are listend and should be eligible for repair with 17 bridges and the high water and low water included in that.
Langston said, “The initial report was like $1.1 million worth of damage that we’ve reported. To put that in persepctive it seems like a lot but game and fish had $4 million just up here. So it’s quite a few dollars and not in just one spot. It’s a process. I have more inspections to get us up to date quicker. I’ve been in Mammoth [Spring] but on our end, once they did their side and tell us what they’ll pay for we can go in and start using our money on some of that.”
When asked how much the county might receive in aid, Langston said approximately 75 percent of whatever the county spends.
Moving on to new business, Judge Crow recommended the hiring of Jeremy Langston as road foreman while also retaining him in-part to assist with OEM duties.
After a breif disuccsion, the court voted unanimously to approve the changes.
The rehiring of a former road department employee was approved, as were motions to allocatte and/or reallocate funds for court security; funds for new sheriff’s department vehicle made possible through a fines and fees account; tires for the sheriff’s department through a LLEBG grant; reimbursement through insuranec in the amount of $21,087.94 from when the roof of the old sheriff’s department had blow away to be placed in general; appropriation of $100,000 for disaster management/road repairs and transfer of funds to repair road graders.
Following the business for the evening, the floor was opened for public comments with one resident voicing concerns regarding low pay and the county’s difficulty in retaining employees.
Judge Crow noted the concerns and stated he was in agreement, but stated the county offered an excellent benefits package which helped negate the lower rate of pay.
Two candidates running for circuit judge in the 16th judicial district, Kimberly Edington and Maureen Harrod also addressed the court regarding their respective proposed changes to the district if elected.
The Fulton County Quorum Court meets the third Tuesday of each month at 6 at the courthouse in Salem.
Lauren is a an award-winning journalist who decided after 10 years of newspaper experience to venture out. Hallmark Times was born.
