For the second consecutive month, the Baxter County Quorum Court has breezed through a lengthy agenda, wrapping up business in less than a half hour.
Karen Hopper has the story.
Listen:
With newly appointed District Three Justice of the Peace Rick Steiner attending his first meeting, it took the quorum court just 25 minutes to move through 11 agenda items.
Prior to addressing the agenda, Judge Mickey Pendergrass presented Will Syfrett, Deputy Director of the Office of Emergency Management, with a plaque from the Arkansas Association of Counties. The plaque recognizes Baxter as one of 31 across the state’s 75 counties scoring above 100 to qualify for a 2017 safety award.
In reports, JP Colonel Bill Lucas advised two items were approved by the Personnel Committee for consideration by the full court, including approval to add the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday to the county’s current schedule. The county now observes 10 paid holidays. The request is scheduled for the court’s October meeting. The second item was placed on its first reading seeking approval from the court to change two items in the recently updated Personnel Policy Manual. Those two changes concern the percentage of compensation increase for employees promoted to vacant positions with higher pay grades and increases in the cap for lodging for county officials and employees traveling in and out of state.
In other business, the court gave its approval to a resolution to enter into a 36-month lease agreement for the procurement of three Caterpillar motor graders. Judge Pendergrass said a similar agreement three years ago allowed the county to purchase the graders at the end of the lease, with the county opting to procure one of the three. The new agreement does not contain a purchase option.
The court approved an ordinance appropriating $10,000 in grant funds from the Northwest Arkansas Economic Development District for expenses related to the courthouse waterproofing project. The project has a price tag of about $39,000. Approval was given appropriating $25,000 from the Mountain Home Rural Fire Protection District toward the cost of the new dispatching system software.
And resolutions were approved confirming three reappointments. Irvin Deatley was reappointed to the Baxter County Library Board of Commissioners and Ron Langston and Lisa Matusiak were reappointed to the Norfork Fire Protection Board of Commissioners.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI