Monday’s agenda covered 911 signs, paving, wiring, among items

By Jeremy Weldon

The Panola County Board of Supervisors waded through a lengthy agenda Monday morning at the Sardis Courthouse, approving some items and tabeling others.

Among the agenda line items addressed by the board, and actions taken included:

• ● A report from Emergency Operations Management Director Daniel Cole about FEMA and MEMA monies just released. The supervisors asked for more details and agreed the condition of damaged roads would assessed and the project funding prioritized.
• ● Agreed to spend $2,550 to upgrade electrical wiring and fixtures at Red Hill Fire Dept. Cole reported the station has naked wiring in places and is outdated. Panola Electric will do the work.
• ● Agreed to provide 911 sign assistance for the Town of Crowder and the Quitman County Board of Supervisors. The half of Crowder that is located in Panola County has proper signage and the residents of the half of Crowder in Quitman County are complaining, Cole said. The Quitman supervisors give Crowder little attention, and the hamlet is left to fend for itself on several fronts. Panola supervisors agreed to provide the signs if the town and other county will pay for the materials and make the installations.
• ● Gave approval to Road Manager Lyngunnah Bean to lend assistance, and rip-rap, to the Finch-Henry Job Corps Center to aid in the washing of a ditch on Hwy. 51 S., adjacent to the UPS building.
• ● Agreed to use county labor and equipment to pave about one-third of a mile equivalent for a parking area in Sardis at the Farmer’s Market area. Supervisors said if the Town of Sardis pays the $12,879.54 estimated costs of material, Bean could proceed with the paving.
• ● Gave Bean permission to remove concrete from a private lot at 431 Mossy Oak Lane. The property owner asked the county to haul away the broken pieces of concrete that was once the foundation of a burned home. The new owner is clearing the lot and will build there, reported Chad Meek, who permits construction projects for the county.
• ● Discussed in length the prospects of purchasing additional acreage at the Viney Creek gravel pit. Boring study results were presented by Bean, who also said he had visited with the landowner who is willing to sell the property on generous terms. The board will further discuss the matter later this month.
• ● Agreed by a 4-1 vote to begin leaving the doors to the Sardis Courthouse unlocked from noon to 1 p.m. each weekday to comply with a directive from a state agency that stopped there recently during lunch and found the doors locked. Chancery Court Clerk Jim Pitcock said the doors have been locked at lunch for the past 100 years or more and he saw no reason to keep them open during lunch, especially considering it would add payroll expense. The board decided to leave the front doors open, but keep at the business doors locked with notes explaining that business would resume at 1 p.m. Cole Flint voted no, saying he didn’t want people wandering around the Courthouse when employees were gone.
• Next Monday’s meeting at the Batesville Courthouse will see a continuance of discussion on a majority of the items.