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NEMiss.News garbage truck

Government offices and some businesses will be closed Monday, July 5, in observance of the July 4 holiday Sunday.

Garbage collection in the county outside the city limits will go on as usual Monday and the remainder of the week.

The solid waste schedule in New Albany will change as it usually does for Monday days off. The usual Monday schedule will not be collected until Tuesday and the usual Tuesday route will not be collected until Wednesday.

People should be aware that government offices and some businesses sometimes close early on a Friday before a holiday weekend.

NEMiss.News garbage truck

Governmental offices and some businesses will close Monday, May 31, in observance of the Memorial Day holiday.

As usual, the holiday will affect some services.

In New Albany, the usual Monday garbage collection route will be delayed until Tuesday, and the Tuesday route will be collected Wednesday. This is the schedule the city typically uses for Monday holidays.

Solid-waste collection in Union County outside the city limits will go on as usual Monday. The county schedule is tied to when the Three Rivers Regional Landfill is open and that facility only closes July 4, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Anyone who has government-related business this Friday afternoon might note that the offices sometimes close a few hours early before a Monday holiday.

The Union County Board of Supervisors appointed Donnie Shuman as interim District 1 Election Commissioner at their May meeting Monday.

Union County Circuit Clerk Phyllis Stanford administered the oath of office and Shuman will begin serving next week.

Shuman will fill the office vacated by the death of Wes Creighton. He will serve until a special election this November, when someone will be chosen to fill the rest of the term that runs through 2023. Shuman may run for the post if he chooses.

Stanford said Shuman is a good choice because of his experience holding elections and Shuman said he and Creighton were good friends and he will be honored to serve in a way that Creighton would approve of.

Supervisors met in their boardroom in the chancery court building for the first time in more than a year, due to the COVID pandemic.

The board also acted on several personnel matters Monday.

They approved hiring Bill Smith to become assistant receiving clerk effective July 1.

David Gaines will move to maintenance, buildings and grounds.

Normal Hill was approved as part-time road department employee.

A longevity pay increase was approved for deputy Brett Wicker.

Steven Ragsdale was transferred from part-time to full-time jailer.

Kegan Garrison will be part-time road department employee.

In equipment, supervisors heard a report on electronic bids placed for new 20-cubic-yard and 25-cubic-yard garbage trucks but decided to take the bids under advisement. Bids were generally in the $180,000 range but the eight bidders proposed several variables such as truck engine, body type, distance and availability. Because of that complexity, supervisors will have to carefully compare the bids before making a purchase decision.

Board attorney Chandler Rogers brought up an issue related to garbage collection.

He said he will propose a new master contract to be used between the county and commercial garbage accounts in the next several weeks. Rogers said eight counties use the Three Rivers Regional Landfill but do not use the same contracts. Union County’s is 25 years old and board president Steve Watson said it needs updating badly. “We’re losing money on commercial garbage,” he said.

A solution may be to ask for deposits or seeking the legal option of placing liens on property if bills are not paid. That can be done on other accounts now, but not commercial.

Rogers said attorneys for all eight counties are working together to create a contract suitable for each county.

In other action, the board approved a few reductions in assessments that Tax Assessor-Collector Tameri Dunnam were needed due to clerical errors. An example was when a building had been removed from property but the assessment had not been updated.

Supervisors approved an emergency purchase of a 72 by 40 culvert for CR 44, approved the consent agenda including 15 death investigations by the medical examiner-investigator and the May roadwork schedule. They also approved travel costs and registration for the supervisors, administrator, comptroller, board attorney and road manager to attend the Mississippi Association of Supervisors convention in Biloxi June 14-18.

Before adjourning, the board went into executive session for an industrial development update from Three Rivers development Gary Chandler. He said no board action was expected.

The next scheduled meeting of the board of supervisors will be at 10 a.m. Monday, May 17. Monday, they returned to the boardroom in the chancery court building for the first time in more than a year, due to the pandemic.

Government-related offices will close Friday in observance of Good Friday.

Although Union County offices will close, household garbage will be picked up as usual.

The New Albany schedule will change for solid waste, however.

The usual Friday route will be picked up a day earlier than usual, on Thursday. The Thursday route will be collected as usual.

New Albany Light, Gas and Water Manager Bill Mattox said they think they found the source of significant water flow on the west side of town shortly after noon Wednesday.

Metering devices had monitored unusually heavy flows indicating one or more serious breaks in a line. Officials were concerned that it might be a major underground or other break.

He said a building at the former Mohasco factory site and the former Goody’s store near Wal-Mart each had suffered from burst pipes. The Goody’s leak apparently just happened Wednesday morning while the Mohasco problem could have been going on since yesterday.

Mattox said such problems occur when buildings are not heated, but still must maintain fire protection and it is often the sprinkler systems that fail in cold weather.

With several more days before temperatures rise above freezing for a significant amount of time, Mattox just urged people to maintain heating in structures with active water lines and allow faucets to drip slightly to prevent freezing.

He cautioned that more leaks probably will be discovered as temperatures rise and the ice in burst pipes melts, so people should be on the lookout for that.

Mattox added that there have been no alerts concerning electric power, which is provided to this area from TVA. Although South Mississippi has been experiencing some problems, he said our electric power reserves should be good through the unusually cold weather and we should see no blackouts or major interruptions.

As of early afternoon Wednesday, weather forecasts indicated Union County might see more snow than freezing rain, reducing the likelihood of downed power lines.

Mayor Tim Kent said city offices will remain closed Thursday and there may be no city garbage pickup for the rest of the week.

He said that even if the regional landfill reopens Friday, side streets may still be too icy for the garbage trucks to travel on safely.

Kent said most major city streets have at least one lane clear. He said crews had been spreading de-icing chemicals on the streets but quit because the melted sleet simply refroze an hour later, sometimes making driving conditions worse.

The city has been using a road grader and front-end loader to clear some ice, but while the blades scrape off the top layer of frozen sleet, a layer of slick ice still remains. Kent again urged people to stay off the streets, especially with some form of precipitation expected to hit our area late this afternoon.

Updates on the garbage pickup and closings will be given each day.

New Albany Mayor Tim Kent confirmed that city offices will remain closed Wednesday due to icy conditions and in anticipation of more bad weather.

As with Union County, the city will not collect garbage Wednesday, either, because the Three Rivers Regional Landfill remains closed.

While many main streets in New Albany had one lane clear, everything that had melted was expected to refreeze Tuesday night, making driving much more hazardous.

City schools are already scheduled to move to virtual learning Wednesday.

Anyone with a light, gas or water emergency may call 662-534-1041. A dispatcher is on duty 24 hours a day.

For the benefit of city employees, Mayor Kent said that although City Hall will be closed the staff will be working on payroll.

Closing decisions are being made on a day-to-day basis.

It was too early Tuesday morning for Union County Supervisors to determine whether county offices would be open Wednesday, or whether garbage would be picked up in the county, but both appeared unlikely.

District 2 Supervisor Chad Coffey said he feared the Three Rivers Regional Landfill might not open for several more days and the county does not collect garbage when the landfill is closed.

Union County Emergency Management Director Curt Clayton said he was afraid the second storm expected to come through Wednesday and Thursday could hurt the county more than the first. That’s because the first front was mostly relatively dry while the second may be wet and lead to more ice buildup on roads and structures. Temperatures are not expected to get above freezing for any substantial time after the second storm and lows will again be in the low teens.

County roads were still ice-covered but passable with four-wheel-drive vehicles but the supervisors all recommended that everyone stay home unless travel was absolutely necessary. Vehicles were still sliding off roadways.

The county board declared two states of emergency during its brief meeting Tuesday, one for the Feb. 15 storm and a second in anticipation of the expected Feb. 17 storm.

They said they would inform the public more definitely about county office closings and garbage pickup later in the day Tuesday when they had more information.

Most of the other board business Tuesday morning was fairly routine.

They approved renewal of health insurance with a six-percent decrease in rates for the same coverage and accepted the donation of a truck for county use by the Northeast Union County Volunteer Fire Department. The truck had been obtained by the emergency management director Clayton through the state emergency management agency.

In personnel, supervisors approved Sheriff Jimmy Edwards’ request to hire Lauren Isabelle Gutierrez as part-time dispatcher at the sheriff’s office and move James Martin from part-time to full-time jailer at the department.

They also approved a standard longevity pay increase for Bobby Allen Pannell in the road department.

The board approved moving outstanding restitution funds from the circuit clerk’s office to the general fund. This includes various payments that have been ordered by the court but never picked up by individuals and totaled $2,600.83. Board Attorney Chandler Rogers noted that individuals still can collect their funds but they would just have to come from the different source. The move was a housekeeping measure to keep the clerk from having to deal with unnecessary funds.

County officials were routinely paid for usual services including election commissioners, the medical examiner-investigator, the chancery clerk for holding court and the circuit clerk for acting as county registrar.

Before adjourning, the board voted to move into executive session to discuss three different matters. That included a security issue concerning county property, litigation and economic development. No action had been announced at the time of posting.

The next scheduled meeting of the board of supervisors will be at 10 a.m. Monday, March 1.

Governmental offices were to be closed Monday, Feb. 15, in observance of Presidents Day.

Other changes were planned but it is likely icy conditions will cancel those activities.

City schools were also to close. County schools was to not have students but Monday was scheduled for staff development.

The Union County garbage collection was to take place as usual Monday but it will not now, and may not Tuesday.

In New Albany, there was to be no solid waste pickup Monday anyway and the usual Monday route was to be collected Tuesday with the usual Tuesday route be picked up Wednesday instead. There should be an announcement about that Monday.

NEMiss.News garbage truck

 

The usual holiday closings will take effect Monday, Jan. 18, for Dr. Martin Luther King Day.

Governmental offices and schools will close, and some businesses may also.

The holiday will affect garbage collection in New Albany, but not Union County outside the city limits.

In the city, there will be no solid waste pickup Monday. The usual Monday route will be collected Tuesday and the Tuesday route will be moved to Wednesday.

Although county offices will close, county garbage collection will proceed as usual. Workers will be given an alternate day off. Typically, the county garbage collection only changes for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.

NEMiss.news Christmas garbage truck

All governmental offices will be closed next Thursday and Friday, Dec. 24 and 25, in observance of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

As usual, this will affect solid waste collection in the city and county outside the city.

In New Albany, both the usual Thursday and Friday routes will be collected Wednesday, Dec. 23, due to the two-day office closing.

In the county outside the city, only one day will be affected even though offices will close two days.

The usual Friday route will be collected Wednesday instead. The Thursday route will be picked up as usual.

Most businesses will close Christmas Day and some local businesses will remain closed Saturday and Sunday.

The same garbage collection schedules are expected to be followed for New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day the following Thursday and Friday.

NEMiss.News garbage truck

All governmental offices will be closed Thursday and Friday in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday and this will affect solid waste collection.

In New Albany, both the usual Thursday and Friday routes will be collected Wednesday, Nov. 25, due to the two-day office closing.

In the county outside the city, only one day will be affected even though offices will close two days.

The usual Thursday route will be collected Wednesday instead. The Friday route will be picked up as usual.

Many businesses will close for Thanksgiving Day but be open for so-called Black Friday shopping. Although some shoppers go out of town for Black Friday deals, New Albany Main Street is sponsoring Shop the Block here Friday.

Also, the following day is officially Small Business Saturday, urging Christmas shoppers to buy as much as they can locally. That’s because local merchants are the ones who contribute to school and civic events and local taxes help fund improvements to the community.

A part of sales revenue from Shop the Block will be contributed to Helping Hands of Union County. More than 20 businesses are participating and a list is on the New Albany Main Street web site.

City and county officials are reminding the public that some solid-waste collection schedules will change next week because of the Sept. 7 Labor Day holiday.

All governmental offices, schools and some businesses will close in recognition of the holiday.

In New Albany, the route normally collected on Monday will be picked up Tuesday instead and the usual Tuesday route will be collected Wednesday. This has been the usual holiday routine for the city for some time.

In Union County outside the city, garbage will be picked up as usual Monday and the rest of the week. The county policy is to pick up solid waste as long as the Three Rivers Regional Landfill in Pontotoc County is open and that facility only closes for four holidays: July 4, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.