Budget Talk, Other Topics Surface In Meeting

WATER VALLEY – Budget time is approaching for county officials and supervisors heard their first request for the 2017-18 fiscal year with a dire need for more funding from Yalobusha County Library System Director Patty Bailey. 

Bailey requested an additional $14,000 in county funding to offset cuts from state funding that flows through the Mississippi Library Commission to pay the employees who work at the libraries in Coffeeville and Oakland that comprise the Yalobusha County Library System. Blackmur Library in Water Valley is not part of the county’s library system. 

Without the increase, Bailey explained that the already reduced hours at the two libraries will get slimmer. Currently the Oakland library is open 21 hours a week and the Coffeeville library is open 29 hours a week.  In the current fiscal year Bailey told supervisors that local funding for the library included $52,427 from the county and $8,000 from the two towns.

Bailey also cited the importance of the libraries, especially with internet access, with a recent example of a library patron taking advantage of computer access to fill out a job application and landing a job at Dollar General. She said another library user had received two online degrees using the internet at the library.  

“We will take this up in our budget process. We received your request, we will come up with something and let you know,” Board President Cayce Washington said.

“$15,000?” District 5 Supervisor Gaylon Gray asked, referring to another $1,000 requested by Bailey that included $200 to cover an estimated increase for the expense of utilities, $300 for an estimated cost of telephone services and $500 to cover increased tech support costs.

“I would take more than that, too,” Bailey answered.

“If we can find it, we will sure give it to the library,” Gray added.

“But we can’t make any promises,” Washington said. 

During last year’s budget, the county’s library system was one of few departments in the county receiving increased county funding during the current fiscal year, which started last October, when supervisors added $5,000 to offset earlier state cuts. 

Supervisors will weigh more budget requests during a recessed meeting Friday at the Water Valley courthouse as they move toward finalizing the budget for the 2017-18 fiscal year that starts in October.

Other business discussed at Monday’s meeting included:

• Heard a request from Coffeeville Mayor William Shelton for the sheriff’s department and Coffeeville Police Department to improve communications.

“If we have something going on that we need to know, tell us about it and we will try to do what we can,” Shelton said. “A few things have happened that didn’t sound too good, but it happened. We don’t expect it to happen again. A newspaper article, it said something was true. But we need to collaborate a little better and not let it get out like that,” Shelton continued.

“One of my goals is to make Coffeeville better,” Shelton also told supervisors.  “Whether Oakland or Coffeeville does not grow and Water Valley does grow, that means the county is still at fault,” he continued, noting the importance of the entire county moving forward.

“If you have something that is going on, don’t just throw it out there. When it is in the air, it is like a grain of sand, you will never get it back,” Shelton continued.

“One last thing is standard procedure for relationships between the county and the city. For example, if you have checkpoints within so many miles of Coffeeville or so many yards from the city limits, should our police be informed?,” Shelton continued. “We need to know if we need to be available,” Shelton said. “Little things like that, we need to keep communicating, keep collaborating.”

In closing Shelton reiterated the importance of working together.

“I am willing to meet with anyone anytime to discuss this.  My chief and I have been working close together since I have been there. We have some improvements to make. But I want to make myself clear to the county that I won’t to do whatever I need to do to make sure we are working together,” Shelton said. 

 
Board President Cayce Washington was first to respond to Shelton.

“I want you to know you have the full support of this county Board of Supervisors. We represent the entire county. One of the things we have talked about behind closed doors is that we are not us and them, or me and you. Whether it is Oakland, Coffeeville, Water Valley or Tillatoba, we are all in this together. We one hundred support everything going on in every community. It is very important for everyone to work together. In the case of law enforcement, we would encourage our sheriff to work closely with your chief as he does with Oakland and Water Valley and for those guys to collaborate,” Washington said.

“At that board table we don’t get specific with department heads about what they can and can’t do. We basically set their budgets and ask them to do a good job. The elected people really do that,” Washington continued. 

Later in the meeting when Sheriff Lance Humphreys was on the agenda, he commented on Shelton’s input.  

“I would like to thank Mr. Shelton for being here. I can assure him along with every board member that we are doing everything that we can do to work with all the cities. If somebody calls, we are coming,” the sheriff added. 

• Discussed a petition filed with the county to clean up the property owned by Troy Self on County Road 436. Board attorney John Crow explained that the petition had one signature.

“It has to be signed by the majority of landowners on 436, in that area,” Crow advised, adding that the petition is not in compliance with the state statute that would allow the county to act on the request. 

“We have dealt with him before in regard to the junkyard ordinance,” Crow also advised about the situation with junk cars outside of a fenced area.  

Washington said he had talked with Self about the junkyard ordinance and he has already started cleaning up the property around his junkyard.

“I shared with him that we weren’t interested in putting an undue burden on him but he has a responsibility as a business owner to manage it. He was very receptive,” Washington also said.

After further discussion, Washington said he would make sure the property owner had a copy of the junkyard ordinance and it would be enforced.

• Discussed cleanup at the former county jail located on Calhoun Street in Water Valley after District Three Supervisor Lee McMinn said the property needs attention.

“This brings to mind our county jail, sitting right in the heart of downtown… I would like to see if we could get together and have a work day,” McMinn said about using the county crews from each beat for a cleanup.

“For me, it is kind-of hard for us to tell other folks how to keep their property and here we are right in the middle of downtown,” McMinn continued, adding that the county could set a good example with the work.

“There has got to be something we can do with that building. I would like to have an opportunity for us to get it cleaned up a little bit and basically have an open house.  Anybody who wants to come through it and look at it, maybe a really neat idea would come forth,” McMinn added. 

The cleanup got underway Tuesday after inclement weather hampered road work for the county crews.  

• Modified the rental agreement at the Multi-purpose Building to no longer allow four-hour rentals for private parties. Instead the building must be rented for a full eight-hour period, and the fee was increased from $35 to $100 for the rental. The change came after supervisors heard a recommendation from Extension Service ANR Agent Kyle Jeffreys, who explained at Monday’s meeting that on weekends it was difficult to make sure the building was only utilized for four hours. The change also came after county officials compared the rate charged for the Multi-Purpose building in Coffeeville to similar venues in neighboring towns.

• Heard allegations from a former employee of the sheriff’s department regarding her recent termination. E’Dris Shelton told supervisors that she had endured discriminatory treatment and harassment from her supervisor at the jail where she worked as a dispatcher and nothing was ever done when she reported it to Chief Deputy Jerry Ferguson and the sheriff.

She also said she had not received paperwork explaining her termination, but was told it was for insubordination. She also reported she had audio recordings of how her situation was mishandled, including allegations she wasn’t doing her job as the department’s tac officer handling the National Crime Information Center for the sheriff’s department when she was terminated.

Her offer to play the recording was declined by supervisors.

“If you have legal questions, I need to turn you over to our counsel because we really don’t have any say in it,” Washington explained. 

E’Dris Shelton then explained she requested to the on the meeting agenda after contacting the Attorney General’s office.

“When I called the Department of Health and the Attorney General’s office, I was told to address everything with the Board of Supervisors first,” E’Dris Shelton explained. 

“I sent you a letter out Thursday or Friday,” Crow added, in response to E’Dris Shelton’s statement that she had not received anything in writing about her termination.  

Crow also reminded E’Dris Shelton that supervisors do not control hiring and firing at the sheriff’s department.

“The only thing the board controls is the budget. It is mandatory to fund a budget of a reasonable sum of money to operate law enforcement in the county,” Crow continued. 

“This is not something that just started, this has been going on for months,” Humphreys said in response to the allegations, adding that she had not been able to get along with multiple employees.

• Set a recessed meeting date for Friday morning at 9 a.m. at the Water Valley courthouse. Check next week’s Herald for more coverage of Monday’s board meeting and coverage from a meeting scheduled Friday at 9 a.m. at the Water Valley courthouse.