The August meeting of the Drew County Quorum Court was held on Monday, August 14. Judge Jessie Griffin called the meeting to order and the roll was called with all of the Justices of the Peace present. The agenda was approved with an amendment that would allow County Collector, Tonya Loveless to speak. The July minutes were also approved.
Charlie Searcy, County Treasurer, gave his treasurer’s report. He said the General Fund currently has a balance of negative $1.1 million, the ARP account is negative $1.4 million, the one cent sales tax account has $1.3 million. The Circuit Clerk Expense account which covers payroll was negative $83,000, OEM account has $12,000, Sanitation is currently at negative $150,000. The General Operating account has a balance of negative $1.4 million compared to the negative $700,000 at this time in 2022. Part of this increase is due to the courthouse remodel coming out of this account. There has been $687,000 in checks written since January. All factors considered, the account is negative $396,000 compared to being negative $438,000 last year.
“We are actually in a little better shape than last year,” Searcy said.
Searcy added that the quarter cent sales tax account has $5.3 million and the General Excess Reserve has $1.2 million. There is still approximately $500,000 that needs to be paid on the courthouse renovations.
“I need the media to get this out there. The people that are driving on Drew County roads need to obey the speed limits,” Judge Griffin said. “There are people flying up and down our roads tremendously fast. If the Sheriff’s Department would write a few tickets I would greatly appreciate it.”
Judge Griffin continued his comments by stating that the county’s bush hogs are up and running, and that the county employees have also been doing spraying around the county. He also said that he has been contacted to form a group to discuss whether or not Drew Co./Monticello needs an event center, and if the project is actually feasible. He said he would be reaching out to people soon. The old road department building recently got a new roof, and the interior was cleaned up.
Judge Griffin also mentioned that he has been in talks with some of our local loggers to come up with a safe truck route to get the logs in and out of local mills. They will look into using the bypass and staying off of county roads as much as possible. Griffin said that despite the cost of fuel and everything going up, the cost of adding miles for the loggers can’t outweigh the safety of the citizen of Drew. Co.
Griffin added that the County’s new website should be operational by September 1.
Finally, Griffin said that County Attorney, Cliff Gibson and Charlie Searcy need to get together to figure out the final details of the purchase of the OEM building. Griffin said that as soon as they get their stuff figured out, the county is ready to write the check.
In the Sheriff’s report, Tim Nichols said that nothing new has really happened. The jail passed it’s inspection and met state standards. They have finally decided on a contractor to do the roof repairs. Funds still need to be appropriated for the job.
In new business, Judge Griffin said that the contract with Big Smith Waste Services has been reviewed by both parties, and if no one objected he could have it signed the next morning. Griffin said he hopes to have Big Smith servicing Drew Co. by October 1, but that may be contingent upon them having trucks to bring to the county.
In other new business, Diana Harton was appointed to the Equalization Board.
