At Monday night’s meeting, the quorum court rejected a proposal to make the Office of Emergency Management a full-time position.
Justice of the Peace Jack Deaton said this topic had come up several times in recent years. “The job requires more time,” he said.
JP Craig Hicks said, “It’s going to be hard to find someone as good” as Nick Samac, who currently fills this office in a part-time capacity. If the job becomes full-time, Samac would not be able to take it.
Deaton reminded the others that a part-time radio technician working with the OEM will soon leave. He said putting a full-time person on the job now would allow that person to learn more about the radio system. Hicks answered that he was in favor of making the position full-time when the JPs were talking about placing 911 and central dispatch under that office.
The proposal failed, with four opposed and two absent JPs, whose absences counted as “No” votes.
No one batting cleanup
Earlier in the meeting, a resident of Carroll Road 454 asked for help in getting a neighboring property cleaned up. He said little progress has been made in removing debris from a fire, and the property is overgrown. He asked about county regulations that might help him deal with “a mess and a health hazard.”
JP Duane Coatney asked if the county could hire someone to clean up a property and then attach a lien. Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Thomas Allgood, who advises the quorum court, said he would check but did not think the county could do that. JP Harrie Farrow suggested contacting the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, and others suggested a possible civil suit. After a long and rambling discussion, JPs offered sympathy but little else.
In other business
- By law, the sheriff must designate an interim chain of command in case he is unavailable in case of an emergency. Carroll County Sheriff Jim Ross set his chief deputy as his successor, followed by the criminal investigations lieutenant and the patrol lieutenant.
- JPs approved the members of the Green Forest Library Board. Like some other library boards in the county, this board has been operating without going through proper procedures. Nominees for those board positions must be approved by the county judge and the quorum court must also vote approval. The staggered four-year terms for these board members extend as far as 2025.
- During JP comments at the end of the meeting, Coatney showed pictures of a section of a road which serves 24 houses. The road, behind Eureka Springs schools, begins as a city street but becomes a county road. Coatney said the section of road was overdue for maintenance.
- JP Chuck Olson said the building committee met last week and will soon begin seeking bids to remodel the lobby and front of the Berryville courthouse. He also said the personnel committee will meet in two weeks to discuss issues related to Covid.
- At the close of the meeting, Farrow urged all county residents to get vaccinated to help stop the spread of Covid.