New vehicles for Sheriff’s Department approved

Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery’s campaign to secure funding for additional vehicles for his department led to a $156,000 appropriation from the quorum court Tuesday evening. The funds will be used to purchase four Dodge Chargers, a Ford SUV and a Chevy Tahoe for use by the Sheriff’s Office.The vote to move the funding from the proceeds from the sale of the county nursing home account to the sheriff’s office budget was unanimous, with Justice Marilyn Williamson absent.

Justice James Kerr, Jr. questioned how soon the purchases needed to be made and if utilizing funds from the nursing home account was the best avenue. County Judge Mickey Pendergrass responded saying the purchases needed to be made “yesterday,” and utilizing the funds in the nursing home account was the only way to pay for the vehicles. Funding is not available elsewhere in the budget.

Sheriff Montgomery noted earlier eight vehicles in the department’s fleet have more than 200,000 miles on them, while three others are nearing 190,000 miles. Mechanical failures have also plagued the department’s aging fleet.

The court’s appropriation will leave approximately $42,000 in the line item from the $400,000 balance from the nursing home sale about 12 years ago.

Judge Pendergrass also noted that consideration is being given to lumping these dollars, along with funds from the lease of Baxter Regional Medical Center, and county general investment creating a line item more appropriately labeled emergency reserve for the upcoming budget cycle.

In other business, the court approved transferring an additional $2,500 from the county nursing home account to the buildings and grounds budget to complete the purchase of property adjacent to the 9-1-1 Operations Center on Hwy. 62. Total cost of the purchase is approximately $65,000.

The court also appropriated funds leading to the creation of a new county position within the new 10th State District Court created earlier this year by legislative action passed in 2011. As of January 1, the 10th District covers both Baxter and Marion counties. The move not only increased the size of the district geographically but gave district courts greater criminal and civil jurisdiction.

In further action, the court placed an ordinance to adopt changes in the county personnel policy manual on its first reading. The 56-page document is available for review on the county Website at baxtercounty.org under the “employee documents” tab.

The quorum court adopted a resolution confirming the appointment of Will Gregory by Judge Pendergrass to the Mountain Home Rural Fire Protection District Board of Commissioners. Gregory will fill a position vacated with the death of commissioner J.B. Dewey.   The three-year term will expire in 2019.

Ordinances were also approved appropriating fees and reimbursements received in March to the Sheriff’s Department budget and funds in the amount of just under $36,000 from the special jail fees fund into the 2017 budget.

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