Board stresses property cleanups

The Marshall County Board of Supervisors, in a recent meeting, continued to push for cleanup of properties and issuing tickets for shooting of firearms in unsafe locations.

Zoning director Ken Jones reported the need for cleanup of properties in the following areas – Waites Road, Cody Lane, Johnny Walker Road, Cook Circle and Lee Creek Road.

Some orders related to uninhabitable mobile homes, illegal storage of junk cars on property, and lots covered with tall grass or wood materials.

In larger cleanups, attorney Kent Smith said it could be easier to take the problem before a chancery judge. In other cases, tickets could be issued.

Tickets on littering should be issued as a criminal citation that would be served by a sheriff’s deputy, Smith said.

District 1 supervisor Charles Terry asked whether a fine could be issued that would accrue a fine daily until the issue is cleared up.

District 3 supervisor Keith Taylor said lots of orders are issued at justice court but the court does not collect the fines so well.

Smith said most of these fall into the category of misdemeanors, so cleanup orders would be taken care of in justice court.

“We have a plan to do it,” he said. “Some judges will back it up with jail time and others will not.”

In other zoning matters, Jones said there is an influx of people building large metal buildings and using part of them for a residence and part of them for a shop, turning them into a business on permits that say no business allowed.

Jones said one group had left a dilapidated mobile home and he needed a board order to have the trailer removed. It was being inhabited without a permit.

The board approved a motion to start a cleanup order on the mobile home.

Jones said in spite of the current climate of the economy, people are coming in requesting permits to build a house.

“The housing market is going strong,” he said.

In fairgrounds business, Jones said it should not be reopened until the governor allows events to open back up. Charges for lease of the hayfield would be twice yearly, half in the spring and half in the fall.

Some year-old hay bales that were not bought could be disposed of to get them off the Fairgrounds property.

Justin Hall, executive director of the Marshall County Industrial Development Authority, requested ad valorem exemptions for existing industries and for four new industries – Amazon, Corelle, Kellogg’s and Cooper Tire and Rubber.

Some existing industries are requesting exemptions on newly added equipment. Those include McCormick Foods, Volvo and ABB (Thomas and Betts).

The new Marshall County Workforce Center is ready for occupancy but the county and North west Community College are holding off on fully opening to the public until a decision is made on a plan to open that would be issued by the governor, pending the status of the COVID virus pandemic. Some meetings can be held by Zoom and training by industries can be limited to eight trainees at a time, Hall said.

He added that Nike is getting ready to hire workers.

County administrator Larry Hall said the center needs a thorough cleaning before it opens completely. Housekeeping had been slowed down due to the pandemic that was postponing the opening of the center, he said.

In other business, the county administrator said justice court is being held outdoors with the judges seated in the doorway while the pandemic is on the loose. And it will be hard to keep youth court clients at the proper social distance on the sidewalk, he said.

The county is ready to attract high school graduates to the workforce center so they can be readied to take jobs in the industrial sector, the IDA director said.

In the supervisors’ report, District 2 supervisor Eddie Dixon said residents are complaining about trucks on Cayce Road.

“The sheriff is writing tickets by the droves,” he said.

Taylor complained about trucks ignoring no trucks signs.

“We have it posted one end to the other,” Taylor said.

Dixon said the county needs signs saying no trucks allowed. Larry Hall said those signs must be requested from the Mississippi Department of Transportation and the local law enforcement (sheriff) will monitor.

Taylor said the sheriff needs additional officers to both enforce the truck traffic rules in the north and also for security in the courthouse.

He reported flood waters running down the middle of Red Banks Road and water about to wash out a driveway on Moore Road.

Terry asked for the clearing of a culvert of bushes on McAlexander Road. Excess floodwater is running off the main road near the railroad tracks, he said.

Zinn voiced concerns about a shooting death in the parking lot at a convenience store, people driving too fast on Bennett Circle, and a culvert that needs to be repaired on Levi Bell Road. He asked if speed breakers could be put on Bennett Circle.

Larry Hall said it was about dry enough to pour concrete in the bottom of the culvert.

Taylor reported a pipe under the road at Sweetwater Road has eroded away. And he asked for repairs on Strickland Road where loggers damaged the road surface. Another washout was spotted on Slurry Loop under the pipe.

Hall asked for approval to pay Progressive Construction and Belinda Stewart Architects for work completed on the courthouse. A new boiler has been installed in the basement at the courthouse, he said.

Ergon was the sole bidder on asphalt and emulsion.

Smith reminded the county it has to document any expenditures in order to recover money under the CARES Act which sets aside $1.25 billion. The Mississippi Association of Supervisors were reporting on the program to counties.

The county would qualify for reimbursement of expenses related to the Act, including administrative costs, combat pay for supervisors of departments, and expenses such as advertising related to the pandemic.

Hall said there is $58,000 set aside for Marshall County and also for the City of Holly Springs.

“We’ve already accumulated $70,000,” he said.

That includes supplies, sanitizers and masks given out to employees, and cost to sanitize surfaces at the various county facilities.

Smith said regarding citations for littering, shooting firearms on five-acre lots or less in subdivisions, and dog issues, all would have to be served by sheriff’s deputies.

“I want to do it in one ordinance for it all and add to subdivision guidelines,” Smith said.

Taylor said the National Rifle Association has gotten on his case for opposing discharging of firearms on lots of five acres or less in subdivisions.

“We all agree, you could completely eliminate it in platted subdivisions except for self defense,” Taylor said.

Terry agreed.

“The Constitution says we have the right to bear arms, but not about shooting,” Terry said.

Zinn recalled a complaint once about neighbors complaining about a person who was shooting in his pond and the projectiles were ricocheting off his neighbor’s roof.

“And the guy said I was trying to take his guns away,” Zinn said.

“It’s really no different than no shooting in a municipality,” Terry said.

Smith said he is studying how to implement a requirement for a site plan for pads in subdivisions.

Hall said the engineers should designate the site plans.

“The subdivision developer will have to pay for the site plan,” Smith said.

Smith said he will talk with the sheriff and county prosecutor about issues at the dog pound.