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Drew County Quorum Court passed several appropriations to help pay for the county's expenses on Monday, November 9 during its regularly scheduled meeting. They also pushed back on an ordinance that would control utility work in county right of ways.
The meeting began at 6 p.m. with County Judge Jessie Griffin calling the meeting to order. All justices of the peace were present except for Donna Usry.
Many of the items discussed were about where the county stands with their monies as the end of the year approaches. Appropriations were passed to allow more money to go towards fuel, gravel, employees and services being contracted out.
Several ordinances were passed to allow the county to have more money for departments to run through the rest of 2026.
The Road department took up much of that conversation. With how much fuel they are burning through and needing more money to last them until December.
The road department spent about $40,250 on their latest diesel fill. Gas has been about $3,000 a week. Those numbers were used to figure out how much more they would need to get through the end of the year. The Road Department asked for an additional $106,000 to make it to the end of 2026. The Court approved the appropriation, and approved an additional appropriation order for $5,506.25 to allow the Road Department to purchase additional gravel.
The road department only had about $154 left for gravel as of the end of October. There is also an invoice that needs to be paid of about $2,560 that is due from September. They wanted to make sure they had enough money to pay that and be able to purchase gravel until December.
The landfill also ran out of money to buy fuel. They had about $2,200 left as of the end of October which they have used up. Ordinance 2026-51 will allow for more fuel to be bought at the landfill after approving an appropriation for an additional $25,000.
More fuel was approved for the Sheriff's Office with Ordinance 2026-54.
It was stated that deputies need to be available at all times whether it's a holiday or not.
The county contracts with Flat Creek Services and they approved Ordinance 2026-50 to help with fuel that will be spent. The appropriation was for $90,975.
Ordinance 2026-49 was also passed to address employee stipends.
Although there are many things the county will need more money to spend on. Sales tax collection came in higher this month than the last.
The county took in about $329,000 in sales tax in the month of August. That was an increase of about $267,000 from last year at that time. That's a 23 percent increase and the highest month the county has seen.
These numbers are currently about 9 percent ahead of last year so far. Much of the increase has been attributed to the workers associated with the Weyerhaeuser project.
There are about $8 million in reserve for the county. There are still some business that haven't paid their property taxes. The county continues to collect those.
Justice Zachary Hill asked about overtime that's being spent in the road department. He said a couple of employees have racked up most of that overtime. Judge Griffin said that they are needed at all times when there's issues with roads. Whether that be on weekends or holidays. They have about $75,000 budgeted for overtime and will probably be around that by the end of the year.
After representatives from a local electric co-op asked to be exempted from the ordinance. It was pushed back to December. The ordinance would require any company doing work in the county's right of way to obtain a permit and bond.
This ordinance was in its third reading. County attorney Cliff Gibson said it came from recommendations from the Association of Arkansas Counties. To require companies doing work in county right of ways to do certain things. He said there are many counties that do this in Arkansas. More than two thirds actually.
David Vondren from C&L Electric Cooperative told the court that they would like to be excluded from the ordinance because they are a non-profit. Any money they spend will be paid for by the people that use their service. Which means the cost could go up on power bills if they had to pay for bonds and permits. They also are local so if there's ever an issue you can call them directly.
Some justices asked if only C&L should be excluded or if all locally owned non-profits that provide utilities should be excluded. Gibson told the court if they wanted to change anything on the ordinance they may need to start over with readings.
The court decided to push the ordinance back to December and give themselves time to look over if they want to exclude any other non profit utilities.
Judge Griffin also gave an update on the county's landfill. There are still some issues that need to be taken care of when it comes to the overfill and closing it. He went over several years of correspondence and work that's been done on it. Including what was sent to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) in the past.
The county was notified in September that they were non compliant with the overfill. Some work has already been done on it and pictures were shown to the court.
SES will be coming out to survey it more and help decide what needs to be done to get it up to code. But they will need more appropriations before some of that work can be done. That will be brought back to the court in December.
He also said they have been able to collect on some of the delinquent sanitation bills. Some still owe.
Judge Griffin informed the court that crews are currently working on Airport Road. He spoke with the state about it at a conference recently and told them how it's beneficial to people that use our airport.
The state said that they would pave it for the county at no cost. Griffin mentioned that since it's a municipal road it will have to be determined who pays for upkeep on that road in the future.
He also wants to see US 530 finished. It would benefit Southeast Arkansas as a whole.
The court passed Ordinance 2026-47 which will allow for 2026 taxes to be levied. Nothing changed in the tax rates except the Chicot-Desha and Drew Watershed rate.
The justices were given the 2027 budget to look over. It will be brought back to the court in December.
With the election having just happened, Judge Griffin gave an update on what's to come in the next few months. He said he wants everyone to work together with incoming County Judge Robert Akin. Griffin also encouraged everyone to be flexible and open to change.
Griffin said he will give the court an update in December on what he was able to accomplish in his four years, and what he thinks the county should do with roads and bridges etc.
Griffin also said he will also try to work Akin to get everything transitioned smoothly.
Griffin thanked everyone that helped run the election. He was disappointed in voter turnout in Drew County which was 51 percent of registered voters. The county was in the top 10 counties in Arkansas for turnout based off of people that are registered to vote, but he hopes we can see more people voting in future elections.
