Supervisors Meeting – MSU Commits To Fill Extension Agent Vacancy
Cummings
By David Howell
Editor
COFFEEVILLE – Mississippi State University has committed to filling the extension service’s county director vacancy in Yalobusha County following the retirement of longtime agent Steve Cummings in July.
Mississippi State Univer-sity Extension Service Northeast District Head Dr. Bill Herndon attended the “first Monday” supervisor meeting on Dec. 6 to seek input for the position and updated county officials about the job. Dr. Herndon oversees 22 counties in north Mississippi including Yalo-busha.
Cummings retirement followed almost 30 years of service in the county. The Yalobusha vacancy, like others across the state, resulted from an early retirement incentive offered by Mississippi State.
MSU Extension Service Nutrition and Food Safety Area Agent Pamela Redwine is currently serving as interim county director. Dr. Herndon also advised supervisors that the Univer-sity has a policy to only utilize an interim director to fill the position for no longer than 12 months, which means they would like to have a permanent director hired by July, 2011.
“Basically I would like to open a dialogue between Mississippi State University and the Northeast District and the board of supervisors,” Dr. Herndon reported.
“I am here to try to work with you the best I can to try to fulfill the needs of Yalobusha County and its extension service,” Dr. Herndon told supervisors.
“Will it be any people transferred from somewhere else to fill this position?” District Five Supervisor “Frank” Bubba Tillman asked.
“Could be. We are planning on opening the position internally first, that’s a possibility,” Dr. Herndon answered.
“All of that will go through Mississippi State?” Tillman also asked.
“Yes,” Herndon answer-ed.
“Is there a consideration of maybe us sharing an agent with another county, or are we pretty well in line for an agent of our own?” District Three Supervisor Butch Surrette asked.
“Again, the commitment is that we will have an extension office open in every county and at least one agent in every one of those counties,” Dr. Herndon answered. “One of those agents, be it the 4-H Agent or the county director, whatever we end up calling that person, they will be your position. There will be at least one (in the county),” he added.
Dr. Herndon also pointed out that other positions in the county’s extension office could be shared with other counties.
“Right now Pamela serves 11 counties in her area agent role,” Dr. Herndon added.
“I would have to say that Pamela has had her wagon loaded. She is wearing two or three different hats and we appreciate the load she has carried. She probably needs some help,” District One Supervisor Tommy Vaughn commented.
“She is doing a great job,” Surrette added.
“She is doing a great job and she has a good team there at the office,” Dr. Herndon said.
Supervisors agreed to meet with Dr. Herndon in three months, giving them time to identify needs for the county’s new extension service director.
Other business conducted at the Dec. 6 meeting includes:
• Accepted a bid from Hood Equipment Company in Bruce for $65,612 to purchase a 580 Super N Case backhoe for District One.
• Approved a request from Yalobusha County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) Director Frank Hyde to apply for Round 10 of the Rural Fire Truck Acquisition Assistance Program. If awarded, the state funding could be matched by county funding to purchase a new fire truck for the county.
Hyde also reported that the 2005 three-quarter ton Dodge pickup used by the EMA office had an engine problem that Chrysler has refused to fix under warranty.
“It is going on now near two months that I have had some engine problems with it,” Hyde explained. Chrysler cited contaminated fuel as the culprit, he added.
“You can’t get anywhere with Dodge. I have never seen anything quite like it,” Hyde said. Fuel samples taken both from the truck’s tank and the county’s diesel tank were sent to Mississippi Department of Commerce, who determined there was no contamination in the fuel.
The Cummings diesel motor had just under 50,000 miles when the problem surface and Hyde said a significant number of similar vehicles had the same problem. The truck was purchased with Homeland Security funds.
“We have to keep it for seven years,” Hyde said, citing federal regulations. “They didn’t say it had to be running.”
• Approved the claims.
• Decided not to advertise for bids to feed the county prisoners. Instead, supervisors agreed to continue using the hospital for this service.
“The hospital has agreed to do it for the same price they have done in the past,” Vaughn said. “We don’t have to go out for bids on that, it is hard to find somebody to beat the price that the hospital charges us,” Vaughn recommended. The hospital charges around $6 per day per prisoner.
• Agreed to advertise for bids for serving as the county depository. Each year the county banks its money in the local bank that offers to pay the highest interest rate. Typically Renasant Bank and Mechanics compete for this business.
• Approved applications from logging companies to exceed the posted weight limit while hauling logs on county roads. The permits approved were for:
Harrison Logging on County Road 132 and 215 in District One, Harrison Logging on County Road 215 in District One, Vaiden Timber Co. on County Road 201, 8 and 5 in District Five, Lavonre Logging on County Road 139 and 215 in District Five and Harrison Logging on County Road 68 and 156 in District Five.
