Desha County Quorum Court met June 17, 2021 at 1:30 p.m. at the Desha County Courthouse.
OPENING PRAYER: JP7, Ronnie Norris
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: JP 4, Gene Weser
Roll Call: County Clerk, Valerie Donaldson.
JP MEMBER PRESENT ABSENT 1 Joe James, 2 Lynn Weatherford, 3 Patricia Watkins, 4 Gene Weser, 5 Hollis Mankin, 6 Richard Smith, 7 Ronnie Norris, 8 Dollie Wilson, 9 Norris Sims.
I. MINUTES The June minutes were approved as mailed with a motion to accept by Mr. Weser and seconded by Ms. Wilson. All were in favor, Motion passed.
II. TREASURER'S REPORT A motion to approve the Treasurer's report was made by Mr. Smith and seconded by Mr. Weser. All were in favor. Motion passed.
III. OLD BUSINESS None
IV. IV. NEW BUSINESS Ordinance 2021-7 An Ordinance to amend and increase the E911 Budget by $60,000.00. County Clerk Valerie Donaldson read the ordinance in its entirety. A motion to suspend the rules and read by title only for a second reading was made by Gene Weser and seconded by Ronnie Norris. The roll was called, all were in favor. The Ordinance was read by title only for a third reading with a motion to accept made by Mr. Weser and seconded by Mr. Smith. Roll was called. All were in favor Ordinance 2021-7 Passed.
Jermaine Victor Lee, employee of the County Judge with the County Road Dept., addressed the court with the following complaints:
Desha County Sheriff's office for trespassing on his farm taking pictures of him training a 14 year old kid how to drive the tractor.
Mr. Lee said that he had called the County Judge several times but no action had been taken against the foreman. Mr. Lee informed the court that the foreman carried a pistol in the County Truck and he had pictures to back up the allegation.
Mr. Lee pointed out that a lady in Quorum Court had a video of the foreman in the road dept. truck given to her by several employees. These employees ask her to speak on their behalf due to fear of losing their job.
Mr. Lee said he was training a 14 year old boy to drive a tractor on his farm when he noticed the foreman on his turn row videoing him. Mr. Lee said that he had a no trespassing sign which he ignored.
Mr. Lee filed charges of trespassing and harassment with the County Sheriff's Dept. Mr. Lee also preceded to say that he had a letter that the Judge sent to him stating that he had talked to Mr. Lee's doctor in which he was told, Mr. Lee's hip wasn't injured.
The Judge read a leader to the Quorum Court that he sent to Mr. Lee. Mr. Lee noted that the name of the doctor on the letter he read was not his doctor. Mr. Lee also stated that the letter was not the same letter that he received from the Judge. He brought forth the letter he received from the Judge and binder of his personal records. He read the letter allowed which he said he had received and passed it around the Quorum Court members.
The Judge read notes to the Quorum Court of meetings he had with Mr. Lee when he was first elected. Mr. Lee and the majority of the road dept. attended the earlier meetings to back the accusations.
The Judge said that Mr. Lee had complained about the former road supervisor as well. Mr. Lee said to the Judge, "that all the things you just read off, you told me were confidential." The Judge said that was not true.
The Judge also said that his experience with Mr. Lee was if his mouth was moving he was probably telling a lie. A concerned citizen said that they didn't know what the Quorum Court could do about this, but Mr. Lee did things in the proper order. The citizen said this was a serious matter and should be documented in the minutes in case a serious situation arose.
The citizen also stated Mr. Lee contacted the Judge several times, filed police reports, and now is bringing this to the attention of the Quorum Court. The Citizen said that somebody should be responsible for putting out these fires before it reached the Quorum Court. Another Citizen asked if things were serious enough that a road supervisor needs to carry a loaded firearm in the vehicle?
Ms. Watkins said it sounds like a problem that the Road Dept. employees felt like they had to bring to the Quorum Court concerning the gun and other things through another person with the fear of them losing their jobs. She also stated that it needed to be resolved now before it got out of control. Ms. Watkins said maybe the Judge didn't know there was gun in the County Road Dept vehicle before now, but it needed to be addressed. Patricia Collins spoke and said there was an Ordinance passed in 2017 that stated that Quorum Court members were allowed to carry a gun to their meetings. It said nothing about employees carrying a gun on the job. The Judge said that Ms. Collins was interpreting it wrong. She then passed the ordinance 2017-4 to members of the court to read. In 2017 the 91s t General Assembly of the State of Arkansas passed Act 1090 to allow Quorum Court Members to carry a concealed handgun on county property during Quorum Court session only.
The Judge said " if the Foreman has a gun in the truck I will tell him he can't have it."
Mr. Rancifer spoke again saying he came to Quorum Court a year ago and had requested gray rock gravel out on Wolfe Project Road where he lives. The residents received red gravel which was mostly mud in his words. The Judge said red gravel was cheaper on the county. Mr. Rancifer said that he was bringing the matter up because blue rock was put in a drive way of a private citizen by the county and he had pictures to prove this. The Judge said he would like to see the pictures and it wasn't his policy to pave driveways of private citizens.
Mr. Lee also stated that the Judge was having meetings with farmers and he was not invited along with other black farmers. The Judge replied he never invited anyone. Mr. Lee stated everyone should have known about the meetings with a notice informing the public in the newspaper. Mr. Weatherford asked the county attorney if these matters should be discussed since Mr. Lee said ng a lawsuit. Mr. Gill, said that it could have effects in several different ways. Mr. Gill, said the Quorum Courts duty is to legislate and the County Judge is to administrate his employees in which this wasn't in the scope of what the Quorum Court should be hearing. He said secondly meetings are usually recorded and that could potentially be used in court. He said if Mr. Lee has complaints, the Judge is obligated to deal with the problem whichever way is legally correct.
Ms. Patricia Collins asked to speak. She said four citizens had asked her to address the quorum court with road issues since they could not attend the regularly held meetings at 1:30 p.m. which are during work hours for them. The Judge said "No ma'am we are not doing that in here." She was not allowed to address the issues.
Mr. Lee's mother spoke and said she wanted something to be done about the gun because she didn't want to receive a call that her son had been killed. She said she has also called several times about the road on Vickers lane because she has a sick elderly aunt that lives there. She stated she has left several messages with no response.
Ms. Watkins asked who has been employed the longest at the road dept. The Judge replied Mr. Lawson has been with the department 12 or 13 years. Mr. Lee said he would be the second with the longest experience.
Ms. Watkins reminded the Judge to read the letter sent by Mayor Simon of Dumas. The Judge said it wasn't on the agenda. He said he thought the Mayor of Dumas was asking if any of the million dollars the county just received from the American recovery act could be released to help the citizens affected by the flooding. The Judge said that he could not do that. He was advised by people on the State level to sit on the money for a while. If he spends the money on things he was not supposed to the County would have to pay it back. Ms. Watkins ask if there was a need for the committee, that the Judge is appointing, on how to spend money from the American Recovery Act then? The judge replied not yet.
Ms. Norman asked if there was an emergency disaster plan in place so if there is a disaster in the future the people would be better prepared to handle the situation. The Judge, said that Ricky Terry was the head of emergency management and had been for many years. He stated there was a plan in place and Mr. Terry is the manager. He said there are people in Dumas that work with him (police, fire, emt's) and the same in McGehee.
The Judge announced that Mr. Howard Bottoms called to let him know that he would use his trackhoe to clean some county ditches at no charge.
The Judge announced that the county had received 12,500 dollars plus an additional 15,000 dollars from the local farmers to help the county purchase a ditcher. He said it will cost about 30,000 dollars but hopefully the county will only have to make up the difference of about 3,000 or 4,000 dollars after farmers donate. He then said the county was currently repairing wash outs and had installed 12 culverts the day before. He said the road dept. is trying to grade where it is dry. The county has hauled 967 loads of gravel so far this year which are 309.00 dollars a load. There will be 2 new lots with gravel on them. One will be located in McGehee and the other in Dumas. The gravel per load will cost 50.00 dollars less per load.
The County lost a dozer. The engine blew up in one of the dozers and the Judge said he could purchase a used one in Little Rock for 17,500 dollars that was military grade.
The Judge announced that he was required to go to a flood plain school for 4 days the following week in Little Rock.
Mr. Weser announced we had a celebrity among us, Ms. Dollie Wilson. She was in the County lines magazine representing Desha County.
He also stated that the month before it took 11 days for the Quorum Court to get their packets through the mail for their monthly meeting. He said it wasn't the fought of the County Clerk or the Post office for the delay. The postal service is 60 million dollars in the red. They are calling it redistricting which means the US Post Office is combining Arkansas and Oklahoma. All mail is sent to Oklahoma and then back to Arkansas to be delivered. The postal service is going up 3 cents in August per stamp. The Governor spoke in Jonesboro and said that Desha County and one other county had 50% vaccination rate. He said that Desha and the other county were the top two counties with the highest vaccination rate.
Ronne Norris announced that this would be his last Quorum Court Meeting. His resignation will be effective approximately in ten days. He and his wife are moving closer to family members is the reason for his resignation.
A motion to adjourn was made by Gene Weser and seconded by Ronnie Norris. All were in favor. Meeting adjourned.
