County provides employees with paid coronavirus leave time

The Union County Board of Supervisors approved a new coronavirus leave policy Monday, in compliance with House Bill 1647 passed by the legislature this past year. The bill deals with leave due to disasters or emergencies.

Board attorney Chandler Rogers said the policy provides for up to 80 hours paid leave with the virus. After that, an employee would need to use general sick days unless he or she qualified for provisions under the Family Medical Leave Act.

If an employee is out due to exposure to the virus or contracting the virus itself, he or she will need a physician’s letter stating it is safe to return to work.

Copies of the policy are being distributed to employees.

In other personnel-related matters, the board approved hiring Matthew Tate Pannell as part-time deputy at the sheriff’s office, Allison Gutierrez as part-time jailer at the Union County Jail and Eddie Turner as part-time road crew for the road department.

Supervisors approved a raise for Volunteer Fire Coordinator Butch Cobb, that will eliminate and replace funding for county and some out-of-county travel.

Industrial development was on the agenda for the February meeting as well.

Cash transfers were approved relating to installation of utility lines in the Martintown North Industrial Park.

Board members discussed whether to give the new road through the industrial park a name or number.

When the E-911 system was established all roads were given numbers only, increasing from north to south and west to east. Eventually, county officials have allowed some roads to be named in areas such as subdivisions.

One opinion was that neither number nor name is necessary until an industry commits to locating there. A more significant factor brought up was that the road is not officially open but is being used by the public as well as utility workers nonetheless.

Supervisors commented that one or both ends of the road need to be blocked with obstacles too heavy to move to prevent people from simply moving them and using the road anyway. No board action resulted, however.

In departmental business, the board amended the Emergency Management Authority budget by moving $39,133 from working cash to capital outlay. This will pay for a $11,323 search and rescue boat approved at the previous meeting and $27,810 for a new truck for the director.

Concerning roads and bridges, supervisors approved allowing the chancery clerk, county and state engineers, county administrator and board attorney to open bids on a bridge replacement for County Road 90. The bids will be opened at 9 a.m. Friday, Feb. 26, with the results brought to the next regular board meeting.

Supervisors declared a quantity of used culverts and scrap metal as surplus so the material can be disposed of and approved the inventory deletion of a non-repairable iPhone used by the county administrator was approved.

Other inventory deletions included a printer in the circuit clerk’s office and a 2010 Crown Victoria in the sheriff’s department that had been wrecked and totaled. Sheriff Jimmy Edwards said insurance paid $3,500 for the wrecked vehicle and he wanted to use that money to purchase a used engine to place in the old K-9 vehicle. That was approved.

Routine payments were approved for the chancery clerk acting as county treasurer, the circuit clerk for holding the January term of court, the circuit clerk serving as county registrar and the five election commissioners their allowed per diem.

In other expenditure items, travel costs and rooms were approved for the supervisors and road manager to attend a Mississippi Association of Supervisors meeting in Jackson Feb. 24.

Also, supervisors approved getting unclaimed or unidentified settlements from justice court. The attorney said this probably included various amounts from civil judgments since 1999. The total for the entire period was $4,792.

The next scheduled meeting of the board will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Feb. 16, rather than the usual Monday meeting day because Feb. 15 will be Presidents’ Day.