Nevada County Quorum Court discusses jobs, approves two spending ordinances and refinancing of equipment

The Nevada County Quorum Court met Tuesday at the courthouse, which is currently under renovation. That meeting can be seen in its entirety above. The court approved two appropriations ordinances, a refinancing motion and heard reports.

The meeting began with a motion to allow Justice of the Peace Chris Fore to preside over the meeting in the absence of County Judge Mike Otwell, who would join the meeting later.

After the invocation was said by JP Willie Wilson, the pledge of allegiance to the flag was said and the JPs approved the minutes from the previous meeting on July 11th.

The first item after that was discussion of the county’s financial statements. JP Patricia Grimes had questions about a couple of accounts that are used to quickly receive funds and to spend them as soon as received. County Treasurer Ricky Reyenga explained that these were not irregularities.

The court then heard a report from County Extension Agent Katelyn Kirkham who said two students had gone to the state O’Rama in Fayetteville, one of whom placed in the top five in the state. Kirkham also said she held a wellness day at the Senior Citizen Center that had gone well. A group will be arriving Thursday from Louisiana to see Extension Agent Stacey Stone’s goat farm.

JP Patricia Grimes reported on attending a Southwest Regional event in Judge Otwell’s stead. She said she had seen Clark County’s presentation in which it was announced that an additional factory was being built in that county for McKenzie Farms Excavating and Trucking and said she felt disappointment that Nevada County had turned down the chance to host a location for that company. JP Wilson added that a co-worker had told him “how many young folks that are here in Prescott in particular are out of school about [age] 18 to 25, and they’re having to get on the highway to go to work.”

Grimes said she also learned that the expanding Love’s Truckstop in Prescott is going to hire “maybe 100 people” but that she still felt “sick” that the county missed an opportunity regarding McKenzie Farms.

At this point, County Judge Otwell arrived and took over the presiding role in the meeting. Reyenga gave a report from Sheriff Danny Martin, saying “Their income is down due to the end of the year for the state. And our housing is going to be down a little this next month because they’re having air conditioning problems and they hadn’t been able to take on as many prisoners” from other jurisdictions.

Turning to Old Business, Otwell mentioned inspecting a road the county has used that is a through-road that a nearby property owner has complained about being used by joy-riders. Reyenga responded that Otwell needed to ascertain what the Circuit Court has decided before making any decision on it. JP Wilson suggested Otwell contact current prosecutor Ben Hale to find out more.

An ordinance was then read by Tammie Rose that amended the Road and Bridge budget to appropriate $56,148 for the replacement and salvaging of a truck driven by Otwell which was totaled in an accident May 6th. It was passed via a succession of suspension of readings.

The court then voted in favor of an appropriation of $4,000 to fund activity by the county’s Broadband Committee to communicate with residents about the Arkansas Broadband Plan, which is a plan to connect all residents of the state with access to broadband internet. The funds would be managed by the county treasury and any unused funds would be returned to the county.

Otwell announced that refinancing of two pieces of equipment, a trash-truck and a motor grader, would save the county $7,000. A motion was made to approve the refinancing through the Bank of Delight and approved unanimously.

In the citizens’ comments part of the meeting Adam Beck criticized an unnamed official for interfering with his right to use his yard to display his political opinions about local and state government.

The court then went to a 40-minute executive session for personnel issues and returned to announce no action had been taken. The meeting was then adjourned.