Board Prez Steps Down/911 First Responders Issues/WCCF Now Smoke Free

Winston County Supervisor Larry Duran stepped down from his role as Board President on Monday. During an executive session in the regularly scheduled meeting, Duran informed the Board of his decision. Due to recent health issues, Duran felt that he could not continue in the role.  Duran is the District 5 Supervisor and will continue to serve in that capacity.
During the same session, the Board voted in District 3 Supervisor, Mike Peterson as President and District 2 Supervisor Luke Parkes as Vice President.

The Board dealt with numerous issues on Monday, here are the highlights:

• Approved a grant application to establish a waste tire collection site at the landfill. If approved, individuals and small businesses with less than 10 tires per week could dispose of them at no cost at the facility.
• Received payment in lieu of taxes from the Department of Interior in a total amount of $79,401.
• Dealt with a heated exchange with a local property owner concerning the Board's previous decision not to close the Whitten Road in District 4. A public hearing had been held in November of 2011 for public input concerning the privatization of a section of this road. The property owner felt that proper procedure had not been followed and requested that another public hearing be conducted. County Attorney Hathorn indicated that he believed the Board acted properly and no further action was warranted. While Board members were in agreement, District 4 Supervisor Tunipseed did agree to discuss the matter further with the property owner.
• Was briefed by Jimmy Kemp of Kemp & Associates concerning numerous highway and bridge projects in the county including the near completion of the Lobutcha bridge and Sims Road projects. Also accepted a grant approval from the FAA concerning runway turnaround and terminal building construction. The cost to the county is $1704.
• Enacted a Burn Ban effective immediately through July 13. See our previous article for more details.
• Accepted the land roll from Tax Assessor Larry Woodward. See our previous article for specific information.
• Briefed by new EMA Director Buddy King on several issues including the use of special project funds and his concern about the lack of use of first responders trained through volunteer fire departments during 911 calls. King asked the Board to give him an opportunity to get all the details together. King indicated that it appeared that first responders were not being dispatched thru 911 unless requested  by the ambulance service. He indicated that these volunteers had 80 hours of training and donated their time to respond in emergency situations and were being under utilized. King indicated that there were some communication issues that could and should be worked out. Under the current system, King indicated that someone on the first floor of the Courthouse could have a heart attack and trained personnel such as himself in the basement of the Courthouse would not be aware of it as the call would go from 911 to the ambulance service only.  The Board agreed to wait for further briefings on the matter.
• Approved a T-1 line for the correctional facility due to problems with the current system
• Heard from Warden Tom Palmer that MDOC regulations required that the correctional facility be smoke free as of July1. See our previous article.

The full agenda of Monday's meeting is available at the Chancery Clerk's Office  and once approved at the next Board meeting, the full minutes are available to the public.