Union County Board of Supervisors inaugurates rotating leadership plan

The Union County Board of Supervisors has inaugurated a plan under which the board’s presidency will rotate among all five members.

The supervisors are elected from five geographic districts, but they elect one member to serve as board president. Traditionally, the supervisor elected president serves in that role for all four years of the term. However, the newly elected Union County supervisors have agreed a plan that will pass the presidency around the table.

District Four Supervisor Randy Owen,  just elected to his third term and the only veteran member of the board, was elected president at the board’s Monday, Jan. 4, meeting. District Three Supervisor David Kitchens was elected vice-president.

Board President Owen told NAnewsweb.com today that he will resign as president after one year and Kitchens will become president in January 2017. District Five Supervisor Steve Watson would then become vice-president for the next year.

At the beginning of 2018 Kitchens would resign and Watson would move into the president’s chair for a year. District One Supervisor Evan Denton would become the board’s vice-president.

In January 2019, Denton would become president and District Two Supervisor Chad Coffey would be named vice-president.

Assuming Coffey would run and be re-elected in the 2019 state general election, he would then become president for the term starting January 2020.

During the Monday, January 11, meeting BNA Bank President James “Bo” Collins told the board why he believed BNA Bank should become the county board’s bank.

Both BNA Bank and Renasant Bank, a Tupelo-based bank holding company, presented bids for the county banking business at last week’s meeting, and the board took the bids “under advisement” at that time.  The board voted at this week’s meeting to designate both BNA and Renasant as county depositories, but again took “under advisement” the decision on which bank would be the primary bank for the county.

Among the other business the county board dealt with at its January 11 meeting:

• Approved travel to Jackson by Curt Clayton for a Homeland Security meeting
• Approved payment of $3,480 to the Mississippi Firefighters Association for annual membership dues for the county’s volunteer firemen.
• Approved travel and lodging for Brian Carpenter to attend the 2016 Mississippi State Fire Academy.

The board officially received and took under advisement bids for new garbage trucks.

Union County Circuit Clerk Phyllis Stanford reminded board members that each of them must file their annual “Statement of Economic Interest” with the state ethics commission not later than May 1st.