[06/28/01] A newly created position in the Warren County permit office was filled for a second time by the Board of Supervisors Wednesday.

Sidney H. Neal, a jailer at the Warren County jail for five years, was awarded the $21,000-a-year post as a permit investigator after Warren County Deputy Sheriff Richard M. Jordan did not take the position.

Jordan, who has been employed by the sheriff’s department for 14 years, was first selected to fill the position in May for $23,000-a-year, about $7,000 less than he made at the sheriff’s department. He was initially supposed to begin the job on June 1 but rejected the offer and chose to stay on with the sheriff’s department.

Neal will be making almost $5,000 more a year than at the sheriff’s department and is expected to begin the permit investigator position Monday. Sheriff Martin Pace said Neal’s last day at the jail will be Friday.

“He’s been an exceptionally loyal and effective officer,” Pace said. “He’s very hard-working, and good with people. Although we regret losing him, I’m very confident he will do a great job for the permit office.”

Neal will be responsible for making sure the Warren County flood plain management ordinances are being followed and that building and driveway permits required in and out of flood zones are valid. He will also inspect property that Warren County acquired during the flood buyout program.

The buyout program is coordinated by the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency and helps cities and counties in the state’s flood plains buy property that has suffered repetitive losses because of flooding.

Warren County permit officer Peggy Crist issues permits and works with the public through the permit office in the Warren County Courthouse. The two will work together, but the investigator will be out in the field, L.W. Callaway, director of the Warren County Emergency Management Agency, said.

In other business, the county:

Held a public meeting to address the application for a $500,000 Community Development Block grant to do road work at the Ceres Research and Industrial Interplex. The work will cover the four-lane entrance and the loop around the water tank. The park in Flowers is home to Tyson Foods, Simpson Dura-Vent and Union Corrugated and will soon be the location of a new Mississippi National Guard facility.

Agreed to pay $117,929.84 to Lampkin Construction for a sewer project at the River Region Hospital site on U.S. 61 North.

Approved an additional $39,000 to do road work on Castle Road. The road was included in the county’s resurfacing project, but county engineer John McKee said the road needs more work. He said all of the other roads in the initial list of the project have been completed.

Accepted bids for a tandem dump truck for the county’s road department. Seven bids were received, but three were rejected for not providing the specified bid form. The bids ranged from $52,899-$71,511, with Blackwell Chevrolet submitting the lowest bid of $53,539.60 of the four eligible bids.

Authorized county engineer John McKee to draw up plans for an access ramp on the U.S. 61 North bridge replacement in conjunction with the Mississippi Department of Transportation and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife and Fisheries. The bridge crosses the Yazoo River at Redwood and the access ramp is expected to be on the north side of the river, west of the existing bridge. In April, the board accepted a petition from 955 Redwood residents asking for the construction and maintenance of a public boat ramp.

The Board of Supervisors will meet again Monday at 9 a.m.