Due to the dry conditions of Drew County, Drew County Judge Damon Lampkin has issued a Burn Ban for the county..
No outside burning will be permitted until sufficient moisture makes it safe to do so.
According to Drew County Judge Damon Lampkin, Barkada Road, 1/2 mile east of I-530 will be closed this Friday, September 3rd, from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. for a pipe replacement.
According to Drew County Judge Damon Lampkin, the courthouse and road department will be closed on Monday, SEptember 6, for the Labor Day holiday.
All garbage pickup will be delayed a day next week. That means the Monday’s schedule will be picked up on Tuesday, the Tuesday schedule will be picked up Wednesday, Wednesday route will be run on Thursday and Thursday route on Friday. The special 1st Saturday pickup will be run this Friday, September 3.
At Monday night’s Quorum Court meeting, county attorney Cliff Gibson told the group that Senator Blanche Lincoln informed him last week that an earmark for $500,000 has cleared the committee process, and is in line to be included in the appropriation portion of the budget.
The money is designated for medical equipment, and should be available next summer.
This year’s Drew County Farm Family of the Year title has been awarded to James and Rene Knowles. Both were raised in farming families and made the decision to keep that tradition alive in their own family, that now includes two sons and a grandson.
“I’ve been farming all my life,” James said as he recalled growing up in Valley Community. “Dad (Pharris Knowles) was originally a cotton farmer; when I was old enough to help farm he was a commercial hay farmer. He sold hay all over southeast Arkansas.” James’ mother is Marjorie Knowles Craig.
James graduated from Drew Central High School, is a member of the Arkansas Cattlemen’s Association, and a member of the American Quarter Horse Association. He worked on the farm with his father until he was married to Rene.
Rene’s dad (Bob Person) owned a hog farm and raised cattle over the years. Rene’s mom was the late Joyce Person, “but dad’s wife, Mrs. Judy, has been ‘mom’ for over 20 years.” Rene graduated from Monticello High School and completed 3 years of college. Rene is a Drew Central School board member and was just re-elected to her second term on the Quorum Court. They are active members of Shady Grove Missionary Baptist Church.
24 county road signs that were taken, have been recovered by the county.
20 of the missing road signs were found near the intersection of Plantersville and Mt. Zion Roads. The other 4 were located near Plantersville Road and the Lake Monticello Access area.
Theft and/or vandalism of the road signs in a criminal act, punishable by up to $1,000 per sign.
Another factor to consider, as pointed out by County Judge Damon Lampkin, is the safety issue; since these signs are used as markers for first responders to emergencies.
Anyone with information is asked to call the judge’s office at 367-6211, or the 911 co-ordinator at 723-6911. Your name will be kept confidential.
Shortly after 6 o’clock this morning, a fallen tree was noticed across Wilson Lane, just north of Monticello on HWY 425.
A Drew County Sheriff’s deputy arrived, and called for a Drew County back-hoe to remove the tree from the road. They realized that a power line was down, because of the tree, and Entergy was called.
Moments later, a pick-up was coming around the curve and swerved to miss the tree, and collided with a gas meter, prompting Centerpoint Energy and the Monticello Fire Dept. to be called to the scene.
Someone at the scene commented, “there were more people involved in the morning activities on Wilson Lane, than probably are residents that live on Wilson Lane.
Bill Horn updated the Quorum Court on the Tornado Warning System Monday night.
The MEDC was to administer the grant for the warning system, but that grant has since been moved to SEAD, in Pine Bluff.
As a result, the grant application process is being reviewed. The grant must be turned in by September to the State, so that it can continue on to FEMA by October.
UAM has requested that a siren be placed on campus, and Bill Horn suggested that Monticello and Drew Central schools have one in place on their campuses as well. (more…)
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The Quorum Court, Monday, passed a resolution to allow Drew Memorial Hospital to go ahead with loans, made an adjustment to the number of days to make a referendum petition for or against an act of the court from 90 to 30 days, resolved to adjust the wording in Article 7 of the Library Ordinance from special to general election, and resolved to separate the Drew County Sheriff and the Drew County Tax Collector for efficiency of services to the people of Drew county. The Court also approved of Judge Lampkin’s request to pursue $150,000 for renovations of the west end of the county court house from Rural Services for community Enhancement.
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Kim Patterson of the Regional Library gave a financial report to the Quorum Court Monday night.
$5,000 was paid for air conditioning work out of Library millage, and Library reserves are still recovering.
Patterson also mentioned that the Regional Library was one of two regional libraries, the other being in central Arkansas.
Arkansas Archaeological Society members are on the square, this weekend, doing a “digg” to find the corner point of the Old Drew County Courthouse and the clock tower.
Ms. Farmer of Pine Bluff and two members of the Society who live in Monticello, are working the project.
They have found three small bags of items, some dating as far back as the civil war.
They would like to talk to anyone who remembers what the inside of the old court house.
MonticelloLive on Vimeo.
At Monday night’s Drew County Quorum Court meeting, the court voted to increase the proposed library tax rate, that will be decided by voters in the November election, to 1/2cent, up from the earlier 1/4 cent, in order to reduce the length of the tax (if it passes) from around 13 years to 6-7 years, and cut the amount of interest on the bonds from $2 million to $1 million.
Carey Smith, with Stephens, Inc. told the group, ” the tax will end when the bond is paid off,” and that the 1/2 cent bonds will be more likely to sell than the 1/4 cent bonds, unless there in a change in the federal interest rates. (more…)
An elderly Drew County man was reported missing to Monticello Police Dispatch around 7:30 Sunday evening.
The Drew County Search and Rescue Team was paged out, and responded to the Scrough-out community, just south of the Midway Route-Wilson Mill Road intersection, to assist the Drew County Sheriff’s dept,
Around 8:10, the call came over the radio that the man had been safely found.
Neighbor’s and AG&F officer also helped with the search.
SEEMS responded to the scene, but further medical attention wasn ‘t needed.
At Monday night’s quorum court meeting, under the topic of new business, Judge Damon Lampkin updated court members on the status of several grants, including a $12,000 for the Rosenwald School, a $10,000 grant for Options Women’s Shelter, and a remaining balance of around $10,000 from a recent courthouse restoration grant, which will be used to restore the south entrance to the courthouse.
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Members of UAM"s American National Government class, who attended Monday night's Drew County Quorum Court Meeting
Judge Lampkin also show the group the new county road signs, which are marked with the words, “$1,000 Fine for Sign Theft”.
He estimated that the county is losing around $1,000 each month, due to having to replace stolen and missing road signs, and also pointed out safety issues, when missing road signs may have affected an ambulance responding to a recent call.
The fine is approved by a state stature. Cameras will possibly be used in the future, to monitor sign theft.
Kim Patterson of the Monticello Library updated the Drew County Quorum Court on increased library usage, and introduced Bill Spivey, bond council for the library for the upcoming library tax election. There were 11,259 library visits at the Monticello library in the past 3 month.
Spivey presentation included information about the upcoming $5.5 million dollar library tax vote, including how a tax is approved, how a tax is levied, the bond process, the estimated time-frame, credit regulations, and interest rates.
MonticelloLive on Vimeo.
MonticelloLive on Vimeo.
The many contributions of the late James T. Jordan to Monticello and Drew County were recognized with an official proclamation honoring his memory during Thursday night Monticello City Counil meeting.
Another item on the quorum court agenda was to decide on the possible separation of the sheriff and tax collector’s offices for the county.
Sheriff Mark Gober addressed the court, “Population is up, so crime is up and that’s why we need to separate.”
Forty-seven other counties have already separated the two offices.
The voters will decide the issue during the November general election. If passed the two separate office will be filled during the 2012 election season.
This will create an Elected Official position that serves two-year terms.
Drew County Treasurer Shirley Hancock paid for her own health insurance for three and a half years (2003-2006), when the county was under the Municipal Health coverage.
A request to re-imburse Hancock $18,039.20, which would have been the cost of the county provided insurance from the same time frame, was presented to the quorum court at Monday night’s meeting.
The court went into executive session for 35 minutes and then voted to reimburse Hancock the amount in question.
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The Quorum Court discussed Social Security and Supplemental Insurance Monday night. The court mentioned group insurance is not always the best because numerous claims can make rates skyrocket. One way to maintain the lower rates is to move people 65 and older from the group plan to Medicare.
There was a motion to cap the group rates at $350 since the average cost per person is $300. The motion was cancelled and a new motion was made to cap payments at$572, which is the current monthly insurance expense per employee, and that motion passed..
The Drew County Conservation District on Beaver Management requested a renewal of funds at Monday night’s Quorum Court meeting.
The program has caught 393 beavers to date using 26 clients. The recent high water has slowed work but all is working well and with good results for farmers.
The Court again approved $3,000 in funds for this program.
From MonticelloLive on Vimeo.
During the hospital report to the quorum court, Monday night, Mike Layfield, DMH CEO, gave an update on the Washington trip.
U.S. Representative Mike Ross met with representatives of Drew County’s “Twenty for the Future” group in his Washington, D.C., office Wednesday, during their visit to the nation’s capital to meet with federal legislators.
Ross, as well as our other elected Washington delegation members, met with the group to discuss Monticello and Drew County’s economic challenges and needs and how best to facilitate economic growth in the region.
Items on the agenda to be covered included:
University of Arkansas at Monticello, for funding of projects for the Arkansas Forest Resources Center, the School of Nursing, and to replace the university’s current phone system.
Drew Memorial Hospital intended to request funding for an electronic medical records system, a nurse call system, a digital mammogram machine, a 64-slice tomography scanner, and a telemetry system for the E.R.
The City of Monticello planned to point out the benefits of a potential Monticello community center.
Other topics to be discussed were: I-530, the Southeast Arkansas Regional Library to build a new library the local Intermodal Facility, and nearby Yellow Bend Port.
Meeting were held Wednesday, and the group is returning to Monticello, today.
At Monday night’s Drew County quorum court meeting, the Monticello Regional Library, represented by Kim Patterson, Director of the Southeast Arkansas Regional Library, made its case for a county library $5.5 million sales tax. (more…)
During the hospital report to the quorum court, Monday night,, Mike Layfield, DMH CEO, announced profits were up due to the dedicated physicians and employees.
The Hospital also found out that they are eligible for $12 million in U.S.D.A. loans for their new building. The new building is expected to cost $14 million in phase one and an additional $8 million in phase two. The Hospital expects it will spend $40 million over the next five years for total modernization.
If all goes according to plans, they could break ground as early as September or October.
At Tuesday night’s Quorum Court meeting, after a short invitation to the Intermodal Facility Meeting to be held Wednesday morning, County Judge Damon Lampkin told the group about Delta Environmental’s attempt to add a surcharge of $310 per outbound load of trash being transported out of the county for final disposal.
Drew County Clerk Lyna Gulledge, Tuesday evening, presented updated figures from the county’s 2010 budget, showing what she felt to be a possible way to cover the portion of the health insurance cost increase, that was to be passed along to county employees, which will be $25 per month, following a recent quorum court decision.
After hearing Gulledge’s presentation, insurance committee chairperson Gay Griffith addresses the issue, “we took the information we had, and made the decision that we made, that we thought was appropriate at that time, and I stick by what we decided.” Another court member agreed.
The court then voted not to make any changes to their earlier vote.
The Drew County Courthouse and Road Department will be closed Monday, January18th in observance of the Martin Luther King holiday.
Sanitation routes will NOT be run on Monday. Monday AND Tuesday routes will both be run on Tuesday
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Monticello City offices will be closed Monday, January 18, as well.
Trash routes will not run. The transfer station will also be closed.
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The Monticello Branch Library will be closed Monday, January 18 to observe Martin Luther King Jr’s Birthday. The library welcomes patrons during regular hours.
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Many businesses, banks, and other offices will be closed for the holiday, as well.
Local insurance agent, Tommy McLemore, who had placed a bid for the contract for the Drew County employees insurance contract, filed a complaint with the county’s insurance committee.
McLemore’s complaint was that bids were allowed to be modified after they were originally presented to the county.
In last week’s quorum court meeting, the JP’s voted to accept the services of the Hatcher Agency of Little Rock, over McLemore’s local agency. (The Hatcher Agency also has the insurance contract for Drew Memorial Hospital.)
The essence of McLemore’s complaint is that Lambert’s agency should not have been able to reduce his agency’s fees to match McLemore’s. Other items that were modified and/or discussed after or during the earlier insurance committee presentations by the agents included Cobra compliance, employee insurance handbooks, and life/vision/dental coverage.
Tuesday’s meeting included County Clerk Lyna Gulledge reading a letter from County Attorney Cliff Gibson, which stated that legal statutes don’t require counties to follow the bid process for insurance for employees. It was also pointed out that the advertisement for bids was very general and non-specific.
Judge Damon Lampkin opened the program for both McLemore and Hatcher’s Drew Lambert to comment on the situation. McLemore informed the court that this was now a “if you lose, you lose: and if you win, you lose.” situation. He added that ” it’s in the best benefit of the county and the employees, with such short notice, that I’m withdrawing my consideration from the bid process.” (McLemore’s statement is at the 15:00 point in the video above.)
Bobby McDaniels recently retired after 20 years of service to Drew County.
At the annual Christmas luncheon, Mr. McDaniels was presented a plaque of appreciation by Drew County Judge Damon Lampkin and Road Foreman Wayne Evans.
He was also given an engraved knife and gifts by members of the road department
Christmas 2009 is gone. I hope everyone had a merry one! What a beautiful, sunny day it turned out to be. It was made even more beautiful by the two days of heavy rains before it. From Wednesday morning to Friday morning we received 10.3 inches at my house. Many of the roads were flooded to some extent too. Others took a beating. We’ll get them back in shape as fast as we can. (more…)
According t o Drew County Judge Damon Lampkin, the north end of Plantersville Road has been closed following Thursday’s heavy rains caused a culvert to wash completely out.
As this photo sent in by a MonticelloLive.com reader shows, another culvert was washed out on East Jackson Street, in Monticello, but that has been patched by city crews. Drivers are urged to maintain slow speeds when crossing the repaired area.
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During the regular December meeting, Quorum Court adopted a new insurance agent and approved the 2010 budget.
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