County purchases building to serve as district home office for DA

The Union County Board of Supervisors voted to purchase the former law office of John David Pennebaker Monday for use by District Attorney Ben Creekmore.

“This is now going to serve as the home office for the entire district’s seven counties,” board attorney Chandler Rogers said. “This is a big thing for us.”

Creekmore had been using space in Oxford as the main office, and Rogers said he may continue to use it. However, it belongs to Lafayette County and they could decide to do something else with it at any time.

The recently renovated office was purchased for $300,000, the appraised value, from Jordan and Jordan Properties. The county was able to get a $200,000 grant to pay part of the cost and the building will actually be leased by the county to the district attorney’s office, eventually offsetting the remaining $100,000 the county will pay.

Rogers said it is possible that if a different person were elected district attorney the home office could move, but that’s not the case now.

The district attorney has been using the building on a temporary lease basis while funding and other details were worked out.

Citizen’s personal appearance 

Personal appearances by citizens at the board meetings are fairly rare unless someone has a problem.

That was the case Monday when Tasha Lesuer spoke to the board.

She has received a past-due garbage bill in the amount of $600 from Three Rivers Planning and Development District, which handles solid-waste collection billing for the county.

The problem is that she purchased the property in 2017, has never received a bill and there is no house on the property. In fact, she said, the house owned by previous landowner Will Foster burned in 2003 and was never replaced.

The bill she received is actually 22 years old, she said.

Attorney Chandler Rogers said Three Rivers does not have authority to forgive the bill; only the board of supervisors can do that.

Board members appeared sympathetic to Lesuer’s situation but voted to take the matter under advisement. “There are some really important questions here to consider,” Rogers said.

It’s possible the delay in billing came about because of the way uncollected bills are handled. Rogers said after a certain time returned bills are moved to the “back of the stack,” so it may be a long time before they come up again.

Another issue is why the bill did not come up when Lesuer purchased the land. Law allows a lien to be placed on property if garbage fees are owed, but there may be some problems with the way liens are recorded and she was not notified of a lien.

Board President Steve Watson told Lesuer they would look into all this and be back in touch with her.

Regional Rehab funding request

Another visitor was Robby Parman, executive director of Regional Rehab Center in Tupelo.

The center provides rehabilitation services including dyslexia, audiology, speech therapy, physical therapy, occupational therapy and early intervention – all at no cost to patients or billing to insurance or Medicare.

Union County supports the non-profit agency each year and Parman was here to request continuation of that help.

Parman brought several Union County residents with him who have connections with Regional Rehab in various ways.

Brandy Evans tells supervisors about the environment at the center and the care given to clients.

Physical therapist Brandy Evans (wife of New Albany Superintendent of Schools Dr. Lance Evans) talked about her 16 years with Regional Rehab and one mother who said the progress they had made with her three-year-old son had proved amazing, and was something they could never have afforded otherwise. She also shared how much love and care those at Regional Rehab show for their clients.

Donna Treadaway, who also serves on the Regional Rehab board, reminded supervisors of her 21-year history with the center as it helped her daughter, Laura Lynn, who had suffered a brain injury. Even after all this time, with her daughter now successfully driving and teaching, Regional Rehab continues to be a resource for her.

Parman said about 80 percent of their clients are children but they serve adults and deal with critical situations such as stroke victims. Because they are non-profit they often have waiting lists for services (about 150 people now), but have been able to add some therapists to reduce that backlog. He added that although the center is in Tupelo, Lee County residents do not get priority.

Despite the pandemic, the center was able to provide 891 clients with 44,142 services this past year. Forty-three of the clients were from Union County and received 5,873 services.

The county’s contribution has been $10,000 each year in the past.

Action agenda items

In other items, supervisors voted to purchase a new PacMan garbage truck for $174,311. They took bids for two truck sizes under advisement at their previous meeting.

The board also voted to formally close County Road 272. This concluded something that started in January but had been delayed, partly due to weather.

The road in question is a dead end with only a couple of landowners bordering it. They have had trouble with trespassers damaging the land and were in favor of the closure and abandonment.

The board had delayed formal closing until the road could be fenced and gated, which was delayed due to bad weather conditions. That work has been completed and the road is now officially closed.

Supervisors appointed Melissa Glasson to serve as the Union County board member for the Lifecore (formerly Region III) Commission Board. Glasson has worked with Lifecore in the past.

Board members also approved a request for the district attorney’s office to apply for a yearly victim’s assistance grant. The grant involves 80 percent federal funds matched by 20 percent from the DA’s office, so there is no cost to the county in supporting the victim’s assistance office.

Lindsey Hopkins will be administering the grant for the DA’s office.

The board received a request to approve a school bus turnaround for the county schools but tabled it at the request of supervisor C. J. Bright. The address is in his district but he gave no reason for the action other than that school ends in the next week anyway.

Supervisors approved contracts with Nurse Practitioner Emilee Young Camp and Dr. Thomas Shands as medical staff for the Union County Jail. Supervisors said both wanted to continue in the jobs and Sheriff Jimmy Edwards said, “She does a fine job. We’re proud to have her.”

The board also formally accepted two trailers donated from Lamar County to Union County Emergency Management. EMA Director Curt Clayton said one was a cook trailer they could use for fire department fundraisers as well as emergencies and the other was more for support. “It’s about $100,000 worth,” he said.

They also approved travel and lodging for the sheriff to attend the 2021 sheriffs’ summer conference June 14-18 in Biloxi.

The next scheduled meeting of the board of supervisors will be at 10 a.m. Monday, June 7.