Wedding venue appealed
Larry Peters, who asked for a wedding venue at Marshall County Zoning in July 2022, came before the board of supervisors recently to appeal his denial of a permit at zoning.
District 3 supervisor Keith Taylor asked what the pros and cons were with regard to neighbors speaking out against it.
Zoning administrator Ken Jones said the property in question was on a private drive on Singing Trees Road. The owners live on a 60-acre property and one acre is zoned commercial at a cell tower
The owners had a permit to build a barn and now want to turn it into a venue. The zoning commission voted unanimously against the permit, Jones said.
Jones said zoning sent out 35 letters and got back only one approval.
The opposition was from residents in Oak Grove Subdivision who live near the property.
Larry Peters and Alyssa Maloney were present appealing the zoning commission’s ruling on their permit application.
Taylor asked a hearing be set for April 3 where a full hearing could be held. That date would give everyone interested time to receive notice, he said.
City attorney Amanda Whaley Smith asked for time to get all documents together for the hearing.
Jim Stackhouse with the Oak Grove Subdivision Homeowners Association, spoke in opposition to the wedding venue saying they will come back to the April 3 hearing.
Randy Hangey and James Robison Jr, tried to clear up a road and erosion bond required on Red Oak Estates Subdivision.
The subdivision was laid out six or eight years ago and the bond is set at $190,000 with 15 percent added on the bond. The present developer is James Robison.
The subdivision road comes out on Rabbit Ridge Road and Red Banks Road.
The board approved the bond.
Charlie Perkins, agent, and Becky Jones and LaDonna Burt, account managers with HUB International in Oxford, appeared before the board to advise supervisors on changes in property and casualty insurance rates. It is time to renew the policy through the Mississippi Association of Supervisors Insurance Trust.
“There’s not a lot of change in MASIT,” Perkins said.
Perkins said property values on all members was increased by 10 percent to guard against rising inflation and replacement costs. Cyber coverage covers up to $2 million in claims, general liability and torte covers up to $500,000 and professional liability up to $2 million.
Coverage on wind and hail is up two percent.
Perkins said MASIT has solid underwriters and mentioned Derrick Surrette, president of the Mississippi Association of Supervisors, who oversees the insurance program for the state. Individual counties can join the MASIT program or purchase on the open market.
He said county buildings were pre-inspected to determine the cost to rebuild a structure and cost of materials have gone up justifying the 10 percent rate increase.
HUB assessed the county buildings in 2017, Perkins said, and added the 10 percent coverage this year to make sure the county is not under insured.
The insurance is due for renewal April 1.
“The $80,000 increase?” Taylor asked.
Perkins said most insurance carriers are increasing deductibles. Cyber and property insurance saw the biggest increases in the cost of coverage in the industry overall, he said.
The board passed a motion to take the insurance renewal under advisement.
Leland Reed, fire coordinator for the county, asked to attend a class for training fire investigators coming up with a new class in April. He also asked for travel to the firechiefs and firefighters training.
The county can apply for more radios from Homeland Security grants. Costs are 100 percent reimbursable.
Reed asked how many radios the county wants to add under a grant.
One is wanted for the Road and Bridge department. The board approved applying for the grant.
District 4 supervisor George Zinn III asked if the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency has said whether there will be money for removal of limbs and debris that fell during the ice storm.
Reed said he doubts the threshold for the state will be met in order to get Federal Emergency Management funds.
“We are on our own when it comes to debris,” he said.
Dispatchers at 911 will attend certification classes on human trafficking and domestic violence in April in Hernando. All costs are reimbursable.
Jones reported on three clean-ups.
Tall grass should be removed on a property on W. 1st Street in Byhalia.
Several R.V.s parked in the Hyline Drive area have no sewer hookups.
Jones asked that some of R.V.s sitting on half-acre lots that have people living in them be removed.
“This looks more like a trailer park,” said District 1 supervisor Charles Terry.
“It’s a mess,” said Jones. “It’s one thing I am trying to resolve up there.”
Vehicles and trash needed to be removed on a property at 41 W. 1st Street, Byhalia. And a property at 3810 Highway 349, Potts Camp, also needs cleaning up.
Jones said a person built a house on Puppy Hill Road without obtaining a building permit. He recommended the builder pay for a permit and the county recover a fine of 10 percent of the permit fee.
The board approved a motion to require the builder to get a permit from zoning.
Circuit clerk Monet Autry reported a new voting place has to be found for Early Grove precinct. Some churches are being canvased, she said.
She warned about opening suspicious emails that appear to be phishing. Those emails can shut the entire email system down, she said.
“I’m having to watch it closely,” she said. “It stands a chance to shut down all county computers. I got about five (phishing emails) last week.”
A letter from Virginia Jones of the Mt. Pleasant area was read aloud. It pertained loss power for five days, causing loss of about $1,000 in food in the freezer and costing her close to $30 for lamp oil.
“If trees were totally cleared.... I’m not able to keep canning and freezing,” she wrote.
She complained about late fees charged by the Holly Springs Utility Department due to her getting her electric bill too late to pay it on time.
She said she blames the board of supervisors because she thinks they could force HSUD to clear the lines, and said she will be forced to look for another place to live, if the problem of frequent, prolonged outages is not corrected.
“We get blamed for everything else, even though we don’t have a dog in the fight,” quipped District 5 supervisor Ronnie Joe Bennett.
“So many of our rural citizens think we have some authority over HSUD. County constituents know we have no authority.
“It is managed by the board of alderman and mayor,” Bennett said.
“I want to echo what you said,” District 4 supervisor George Zinn III said. “I receive calls from people thinking the board of supervisors controls the utility department. I feel sorry for people who’ve been out. We have no control over it.”
Taylor said HSUD’s system is not equipped to take care of the burden of providing power by themselves and that other power companies could help.
“I encourage people to talk to state and federal officials,” Taylor said. “You can sort out whose fault it is later. If our voice can help get people to the table, I think we need to do it.”
The board voted to move forward on the plan to create ballfields at the Marshall County Fairgrounds.