Supervisors select Terry as president during new year
The Marshall County Board of Supervisors, at its first regular meeting of 2022, approved Charles Terry as president and Ronnie Joe Bennett as vice-president.
The board rotates the positions the first meeting of each year.
All appointments were renewed, including:
• Board attorney – Smith Whaley Law Firm
• County administrator Tim Powell
• Road manager – Mario Jeffries
• Comptroller/payroll clerk Tim Powell
• Buildings and grounds supervisor – Chuck Thomas
• County engineer – Larry Britt
• E911 coordinator – Stacey Reed
• Public defender – Lori Shaw and Robert Lomenick
• Justice court clerk – Heather Childress
• Zoning administrator/fairgrounds director Ken Jones
• Veterans Service officer (to be named)
• Fire/emergency management coordinator – Leland Reed
• Inventory clerk – Donna Cooper
• Purchasing clerk – Renea Childress
• Receiving clerk – Terica Moss Wicks
• Arson investigator – Royce Pegues
• Information technology (IT) director – Terry Byrd
• Consultant – Gary Anderson (new contract).
Engineer Larry Britt presented a list of road and bridge projects for supervisors to program for repair. Those included:
• Early Grove Road
• North Red Banks Road between Highway 302 and Highway 72 (half mile overlay or micro seal)
• North Red Banks Road from the Coldwater River to Highway 302
• North Red Banks Road from Old Highway 78 to Red Banks.
• Watson Road
• Hernando Road
• Marianna Road
• Bethlehem Road to Waterford
• Bethlehem Road to Highway 349
• Potts Camp Road
• Strickland Road (one-half mile of overlay)
• South Red Banks Road from Highway 78 to Lees Crossing.
Britt said the county has about $2.8 million in State Aid funds to do the work with the possible exception of Strickland Road repair. Those on the list will use up all those funds, he said.
District 4 supervisor George Zinn III said he would like Lees Crossing to Marianna Road on South Red Banks Road to be laid with micro seal all the way.
District 1 supervisor Charles Terry said he does not want to take one segment of work off the list to add another.
“I want this part of the four-year road plan to be completed before election year,” Zinn said Funding to replace Goat Bridge and Tippah River Bridge on Bethlehem Road has already been approved at $12 million.
A pipe under Hernando Road can be relined using State Aid dollars, Britt said. The lining will save having to dig up the old pipe and disturb the road bed, Britt said.
Some projects the board hopes to get funding from the legislature in this session include installing overhead bridges at the railroad tracks in Byhalia and Potts Camp and construction of a bridge at Blackwater Road.
Britt said he is working on a set of plans to find funds to raise the bridge at Blackwater using Federal Lands Access Program (FLAP) funds. FLAP projects apply federal dollars to provide access through federal lands such as forests.
Those monies come from federal coffers to the Mississippi Department of Transportation, not through State Aid, Britt said.
One such proposed project is to make improvements on CCC Road, designated as a scenic route that passes through the Holly Springs National Forest in District 5.
Bennett said people living on CCC Road do not want the road straightened or vegetation cut back off the roadsides, especially in curves, to improve vision.
Bennett suggested FLAP money could be applied to the Blackwater Road bridge project instead of to the CCC Road. The board approved the change.
Terry brought up concerns that big trucks are not abiding by signs on county roads that say no trucks. He asked the board attorney if fines (tickets) could be written and warning signs be posted about fines.
Attorney Amanda Whaley Smith said the county can post no truck signs and fines.
Bennett said State Aid roads were set up as farm to market roads.
The board authorized the county road manager to procure and post signs warning of $1,000 fines for trucks not following the law.