Board of Supervisors hear Project Life Saver, VOCA presentations August 7

The Union County Board of Supervisors heard presentations by two individuals during its meeting Monday morning, August 7.

Special presentations to the Board

Betty King reported on Project Life Saver, a program to supply vulnerable children and adults with special bracelets, which send out a homing signal. If a child or adult wearing one of the bracelets wanders away from home, or is otherwise lost, they can be located, sometimes very quickly, using the receivers.

King said Project Live Saver was started by the Pilot Club. She said there are now nine of the bracelets in use in Union County. She thanked the board for its support of the project and gave special thanks to Rev. Jerry Lowery, the chaplain of the sheriff’s department, who works very closely with Project Life Saver.

At its July 17 meeting, the board approved the acquisition of two new receivers for Project Life Saver at $1,025 each.

District Attorney Ben Creekmore of the Third Circuit Court District told the supervisors about an application for a $225,000 federal grant to support the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) program in the Third Circuit. He said the grant would cost the county nothing, except for the time needed to complete the application. The VOCA money is distributed in the state by the Mississippi Public Health Department.

Creekmore said his office handled over 2,500 felony cases last year. He said Union County now stands second only to Lafayette County in the total number of felonies prosecuted during the last year.

Routine county business decisions

Board Attorney Chandler Rogers told the board the county was joining the City of New Albany in an eminent domain action for the acquisition of a piece of land needed for expansion of the airport. Rogers said the land owner had died and that questions about who now owns the land made the eminent domain action the best way to clarify ownership and expedite acquisition of the property.

The county board held a brief hearing to hear any objections to the Real And Personal Property Assessment rolls. There were no objections and the board unanimously approved the list as prepared.

The board conducted other routine business including:

• Approval of an Interlocal Agreement between the city and county for the Wise Owl industrial site development.
• Unanimously agreed to three personnel changes in the sheriff’s office, including: transferring Miles Shane Tillery from full-time jailor to part-time deputy; transferring Chris Whiteside from part-time to full-time deputy; and transferring Gary Weathers from full-time to part-time jailer.

The county Board of Supervisors will meet again at 10 a.m. August 21st.