Board seeks property to expand facilities
With many county offices and other facilities crowded, the Marshall County Board of Supervisors looked at possible purchases of property to fill its expanding needs now that revenues from industrial development are rolling into the county coffers.
Most acquisitions of properties will likely begin this year since restrictions on some expenditures are placed on counties during election years.
Candidates for county offices will run on the ballot with candidates for state offices in 2023.
The board of supervisors approved signing a letter of intent to purchase a property to be used by the county road department. The county will close the shop, now located on West Woodward Avenue after new property is purchased.
Historically, the City of Holly Springs has sought to get the county to move off West Woodward Avenue because trucks with heavy loads of gravel, dirt, and other materials keep the street torn up.
Other properties are being considered to move 911 offices and zoning offices to free up space at the old justice court for use by other county offices, including the sheriff’s office.
The board discussed a building in downtown for possible purchase. If the county buys the building, it may be used for extra office space/parking. No action has been taken on that option.
And a new Medic station is in the process of being planned to house ambulance, law enforcement and fire equipment, and personnel in the Chickasaw Trail Industrial Park next door to the Marshall County Workforce Training Center. Supervisors are reviewing the facility design for Medic Station #1 plan.
In other business, the board of supervisors:
• approved sale of four used backhoes to auction.
• authorized a resolution to apply for a floor repair grant for Isaac Chapel Rosenwald School.
• heard a request from circuit clerk Monet Autry for a public address system for use in the courtroom. Loud fans that circulate air must be cut off in order for judges and jury to hear courtroom proceedings, Autry said. She said a system for use when seating a jury is needed so a microphone can be passed to members of the jury pool when being questioned by the attorneys.
Chancery clerk Chuck Thomas said the county had purchased a sound system that included microphones, but perhaps they never were installed.
The board approved a motion by District 1 supervisor Charles Terry to engage the information technology specialists on staff to look into the matter of existing sound equipment.
Autry said if the existing sound system is put in working order, she wants herself and other administrators be trained on operating the equipment.
• heard a salary increase request of about $51.25 a month for staff attorneys at the request of Chancery Judge Larry Little of the 18th District.
• approved training for Tony Vascaro and coroner James Richard Anderson in Batesville.
• approved purchase of a tanker car for use as a culvert.