Brief supervisors meeting ties up assorted loose ends before holiday

Governmental meetings right before Christmas are usually expected to be short and perfunctory. The Union County Board of Supervisors meeting Monday, December 21, did not prove to be the exception to that.

Their 14-minute meeting mostly dealt with unresolved agenda items from previous sessions.

They accepted several bids on road materials taken under advisement at previous meetings, taking the low bidders who were either Vulcan Materials Company or Blue Water Industries, both regular suppliers based in Alabama.

They also signed the contract previously approved with Hill’s Construction Company of Water Valley to make exterior repairs to the Union County Courthouse and replace the roof on the old Union County Jail. The cost will be about $239,000 with 80 percent of the expense coming from a grant from the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. That will leave about $47,800 to be paid by the county. The next lowest bid was more than $300,000.

This approval came after a second round of bidding. The first bids came in too high for the amount of money available so supervisors had the architect talk with bidders and modify plans to reduce cost. Even so, only the base bid was accepted, and not with any alternates and it was not made clear exactly what work would be included in the final accepted bid.

Another item carried over was the closing of County Road 272, which is off County Road 67 between New Albany and Myrtle.

Supervisors agreed in principle to close the road because there are only a couple of landowners and they are in favor of the closing. Board members agreed the short dead-end road serves no public purpose and a hearing on the closing is set for the Jan. 4 board meeting. The main reason for delaying the close is to allow property owners to erect a fence and gate to keep trespassers from damaging the area, which they say has been a problem. That work has not been completed yet.

In miscellaneous business the board approved paying the medical examiner-investigator for five death investigations.

They also approved some proposed increases and decreases in tax assessments. Tax Assessor-Collector Tameri Dunnam said the changes are corrective, based on clerical errors, mapping errors or late tax renditions.

The board decided it would be necessary to extend the contract for the new sign at the Martintown North Industrial Park by 90 days, but hoped the sign would be ready sooner.

Before adjourning, they reminded everyone that county offices will be closed Dec. 24 and 25 as well as Dec. 31 and Jan. 1.

The only change in garbage collection in Union County will be that the Friday route will be picked up two days earlier, on Wednesday both weeks. The Monday, Tuesday and Thursday routes will be run as usual.

The next scheduled meting of the board of supervisors will be at 10 a.m. Monday, Jan. 4, at a location to be determined.