Agenda: Supervisors to address vacant administrator position, possible pay increase

Published 12:50 pm Friday, January 3, 2020

A vacant county administrator position and the possibility of a 3 percent pay increase for supervisors will make the first meeting of this Warren County Board of Supervisors a bit more interesting than normal.

The first meeting of the Warren County Board of Supervisors, in this four-year term, will be Monday at 9 a.m. in the Warren County Courthouse. The meeting will be the first meeting for four of the five serving on the board, with only District 2 Supervisor William Banks returning to his seat.

The new supervisors are District 1 Supervisor Ed Herring, District 3 Supervisor Shawn Jackson, District 4 Supervisor Jeff Holland and District 5 Supervisor Kelle Barfield.

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As with the first meeting of any term, supervisors will have a number of housekeeping items to take care of before getting into other matters.

Those items include the appointment of the county attorney, road manager, county engineer and county administrator.

In the case of the administrator position, supervisors will need to make a decision on how to deal with the December resignation of long-term county administrator John Smith, who recently has been dealing with significant health issues.

Given this current slate of supervisors has not held a public work session, there has not been any public discussion on whether supervisors will appoint an interim administrator, full-time administrator or anyone at all. There also has not been any discussion on the other positions that are appointed.

John McKee, with Stantec Engineering, has served a number of years as county engineer appointee, with Blake Teller serving as county attorney and Larry Flowers serving as road manager.

Supervisors will also take nominations and elect officers of themselves, selecting the board president and vice-president. Most recently, former District 5 Supervisor Richard George had served as president with former District 1 Supervisor John Arnold serving as vice-president.

Among the items is also a decision by supervisors on whether or not to accept a 3 percent pay raise that was part of legislation passed by the Mississippi Legislature last spring.

If approved, the annual salary for supervisors would move to $46,041.

One of the items held over from the past board is the ongoing discussion on how to handle nearly 250,000 cubic square feet of debris in the Eagle Lake community left behind when Team Rubicon demolished 24 flood-ravaged homes in November.

The former board tabled the decision on whether or not to place dumpsters in the area for county crews to place debris. The estimate for the dumpsters — after bids for the service were opened on Dec. 23 — was in excess of $130,000.

One of the agenda items scheduled to be discussed would be the awarding of debris disposal to a vendor and cap any expense at $100,000. In the Dec. 23 meeting, Vicksburg Warren County Landfill, LLC was the low-bidder for the dumpster service.

The measure would require board approval.

About Tim Reeves

Tim Reeves, and his wife Stephanie, are the parents of three children, Sarah Cameron, Clayton and Fin, who all attend school in the Vicksburg Warren School District. The family are members of First Baptist Church Vicksburg. Tim is involved in a number of civic and volunteer organizations including the United Way of West Central Mississippi and serves on the City of Vicksburg's Riverfront Redevelopment Committee.

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