Desha County Quorum Court met June 16, 2022 at 1:30 p.m. at the Desha County Courthouse.
OPENING PRAYER: G. Lynn Weatherford.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Gene Weser.
Roll Call: County Clerk, Valerie Donaldson.
JP MEMBER PRESENT INCLUDED:
1 Joe James
2 Lynn Weatherford
3 Patricia Watkins
4 Gene Weser
5 Hollis Mankin
6 Richard Smith
7 Amanda French
8 Dollie Wilson
9.Norris Sims
MINUTES A motion to approve the Minutes with corrections as mailed was made by Mr. Weser and seconded by Ms. Wilson. All members present agreed .
TREASURER'S REPORT A motion to approve the Treasurer's Report as mailed was made by Mr. Weser and seconded by Mr. Weatherford. All members present agreed.
OLD BUSINESS
IV. NEW BUSINESS:Several members from the American Rescue Recovery Board were in attendance to answer any questions the Quorum Court may have had.
ORDINANCE 2022-9 - The Ordinance was read by County Clerk Valerie Donaldson. A motion to suspend the rules and read by title only for a second reading was made by Mr. Weser and seconded by Mr. Weatherford .The roll was called, all were in favor. A motion to suspend the rules and read by title only for a third reading was given by Mr. Gene Weser and seconded by Ms. Dollie Wilson .
The roll was called, all were in favor. A motion to accept Ordinance 2022-9 was given by Mr. Weser and seconded by Mr. Sims, All were in favor. 9 For and 0 Against. Ordinance 2022-9 passed.
ORDINANCE 2022-12 The Ordinance was read in its entirety by Desha County Clerk, Valerie Donaldson. The Judge then passed out a flier describing job duties for summer youth workers and requested additional money to be added to the Ordinance. He then asked Charles Killion, Chair of the ARPA committee to explain it further. Much discussion ensued among the members. A decision to table Ordinance 2022-12 and amend it was made by Ms. Patricia Watkins and seconded by Ms. Dollie Wilson, All were in favor.
The Jude spoke about Davis Lane and asked if the County would consider making it a county road again. He stated that people were living in their cars on it and other people are verbally petitioning the county to make it a county road again.
It seems that it was abandoned as a county road in the past. Mr. Weser asked if it was not the Judge's decision to abandon the road or use it as a county road. The Judge stated he didn't want to make that decision because he wouldn't be here in the future and didn't want to pass that on to someone else.
No decision was made by the Quorum Court.
Ms. Watkins asked if we had received a four million dollar grant.
The Judge said " I didn't say the county had received a four million dollar grant. I said that over a period of time the County had received four million dollars in grants". The Judge said that "she could have been wrong" (She meaning the lady claiming she had gotten the money for the county) He said that "she probably counted the 250,000 to each hospital, the 1.1 million the county received for covid (American Rescue Fund Grant that all counties and cities received) and the 1.1 million the county is supposed to receive due to covid.(American Rescue Fund Grant that all counties and cities received) but hadn't yet received.
Ms. Watkins asked the Treasurer if we received the 4 million dollars in grants. The treasurer replied that she had received 3 million dollars in grants.
She said 400,000 dollars came from former Judge Jack May on the Desha County Arkansas Historic Preservation Grant. The last 1.1 million dollars was officially gotten by the Treasurer, County Clerk, and the Judge on behalf of the county, and not by the lady stating she had gotten it for the county. (This grant was in process, but had not been received yet). She was anticipating it any day.
Ms. Watkins discussed employee overtime. She said that an employee from the Road Dept. stated that not all of the employees had been given the opportunity to obtain overtime on certain projects. The Judge stated that every employee working for the Road Dept was given the opportunity to work the suggested overtime.
ADJOURNMENT A motion to adjourn was made by Mr. Gene Weser and seconded by Mr. Norris Sims. All were in favor. Meeting adjourned .
