At the last quorum court meeting of the year, Justice of the Peace Noreen Watson delivered an emotional farewell. Watson said she is leaving because of family medical reasons, but offered the hope that she may make a return in the future.
“At my last meeting, I’d like to say it’s been a really wonderful experience,” she said. She had special thanks for County Clerk Jamie Correia. “She has helped me in so many ways,” Watson said. “She’s a real star in working for the employees of this county.”
Watson also praised Lamont Richie, who resigned his position on the quorum court last month. “He’s been my mentor, and he’s very special to me,” she said. “He’s a real example of what it means to be an active participant.” Watson said Richie’s leadership on the quorum court “will be remembered as exemplary.”
County Judge Sam Barr thanked Watson for her efforts. She has worked to bring wages for county employees up to the levels of similar counties, and she took the lead on revising the county employee manual.
At Watson’s last meeting, she sponsored an ordinance creating a catastrophic sick leave bank. “This is a new procedure where employees who have used all their sick leave can use hours donated by others,” she explained. Watson said many other Arkansas counties have adopted this policy.
The quorum court approved the ordinance, which will allow a county employee to use up to 10 weeks of donated leave time in a 12-month period. Watson explained some of the details, and said, “This gives us an opportunity to really help people in a time of need.”
Watson has also served on the budget committee, and the committee’s recommendations for 2019 came to the full table Monday night. JP Jack Deaton, who also served on the committee, asked the other JPs if they needed more study before passing the budget. “This is the toughest budget I’ve worked on in six years,” he said. “The committee worked hard, and took a lot of heat over this.” The budget includes major raises and salary adjustments for the county’s office workers, with similar raises promised for the sheriff’s office and the Road Department next year.
“Every employee will get seventy cents, and salaried employees will receive a five-percent raise,” Deaton said. JP Larry Swofford pointed out that the raises “sound like a lot,” but county workers have not received raises recently.
Watson said she compared wages in Carroll County with 15 counties of similar size. She also compared revenues, and she found significant disparities. “In most cases, Carroll County was paying less than the average,” she said. “This will bring them up to average.”
While discussing the budget, JPs returned to the question of funding the Carroll County Airport. The budget committee offered a last-minute increase in funding from $40,000 to $50,000 after members of the Carroll County Airport Commission made public statements suggesting that the airport would have to shut down without adequate funds.
“If they’re going to threaten to shut down and leave us holding the bag on grant money, I’m going to be slow next time they ask us for matching money,” Swofford said. He acknowledged that the current commission has generally performed well. “The people on the commission now try harder,” he said. “There was a ‘good old boys’ club out there.”
Swofford said the former commission kept fuel prices at or below cost “so everybody could fly cheaper.” The present commission has raised rates, and now the airport receives some revenue from fuel sales.
JP Chuck Olson asked what legal obligation the county would have if the airport closed, and Swofford said the county accepted government grants to be used for specific purposes. Watson said, “I want to state my opposition to the tactics they used, and I’d like to see a better attitude from them next year.”
Barr said he would attend the next meeting of the airport commission, at noon on Friday, Dec. 21.
In other business, JPs approved commissioners for the Inspiration Point Rural Fire Protection District. Art Klass will serve a one-year term, and Ed Thompson and James Black will each serve three-year terms.
JoAnn Griesenauer was reappointed to the East Carroll County Ambulance District for a three-year term.