Minutes April 23rd
JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS OF
THE CRAIGHEAD COUNTY
QUORUM COURT
APRIL 23, 2012
The Quorum Court of Craighead County, Jonesboro, Arkansas, met in regular session at
7:00 p.m. on April 23, 2012 in the Craighead County Courthouse Annex with Judge
Ed Hill presiding.
The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Ken Stacks and recited by all.
Judge Hill called the meeting to order and a prayer was offered by Justice Render. A roll call
vote was taken by Clerk Nancy Nelms. The following court members were present for the
meeting: Justices Stacks, Bowers, Bryant, Hendrix, Weinstock, Render, Hoke, Tennison, Suiter,
Hawkins, Blankenship and Couch. Also present was Waylon Harris of The Jonesboro Sun, Allison Munn representing KAIT, Greg Chance from KASU Radio and the mayors of all the towns and cities within Craighead County.
Justice Weinstock gave the minutes of the last Public Service Committee meeting.
The minutes of the last Finance committee meeting were presented by Justice Render.
Justice Couch read the minutes of the last Roads and Transportation committee meeting.
Justice Stacks made a motion to approve the minutes of the March meeting as read with a second made by Justice Bowers. All voted in favor of the issue and the motion carried.
Janice McEntire, Craighead County treasurer was present to give a breakdown of the error in disbursing funds to the cities. This error was made from April thru October, 2012. These funds were supposed to go to the county road department instead of the cities.
Tony Thomas, assistant administrator to the county judge explained that equipment was purchased all throughout the year. Therefore, there was no surprise that the road fund was depleting gradually.
The mayors were then allowed to speak some saying that they would have to go through their city councils to approve a way to reimburse the county.
Judge Hill told the mayors, media and guests that the county was willing to work with the cities any way that would be helpful to them to resolve this issue. The funds could be paid back by lump sum, installments or whichever would be best per each city.
Mayor John Milligan of Lake City stated that he had been in office only fifteen months and that he wasn’t going to complain regarding the error because the county was so good to the small towns.
A motion was made by Justice Stacks and seconded by Justice Bowers to recess so that the mayors could have a chance to leave if they did not want to stay for the rest of the meeting.
That motion carried and after a five minute recess, Judge Hill called the meeting to order and the county resumed to take care of other business.
Justice Hawkins questioned Judge Hill regarding the Cache River meetings that had been conducted recently. The judge reported that he had been to all the meetings so far and he felt like the issue would be resolved at the next meeting. They are hoping to remove the drifts right now since there is a certain amount that can be dealt with at this time.
The judge reported on the online equipment sale that would end May 3, 2012. Several pieces of equipment were listed on the auction site by Craighead County. Potential buyers may look and bid currently and up until May 3 when the auction ends.
Justice Stacks stated that he would like an update on the IRS issue. Clerk Nelms reported that she had filled out several forms and still had more to complete. She also stated that she and staff had been going back through bank statements and deposit books from the years affected. Ms Nelms stated that she was working every day and that some money had already been returned to Craighead County from the IRS. She assured the court that all the tax money had been paid and that no funds were missing. She told the court that she was trying to reconcile reports and some didn’t coincide.
Justice Hawkins inquired as to how much to date was penalty and interest. Clerk Nelms responded that she was unsure at this time.
Tony Thomas stated that he believed the amount of penalty and interest was roughly $60,000.00 and more information would be provided as it was received.
Justices also questioned Nelms regarding a potential date that she could have this process completed. Nelms explained that her office was in the middle of preparing for an election and that other regular duties continued to need attention and that giving a date of completion was almost impossible.
Justice Hendrix stated that maybe if the court could give Clerk Nelms could get a date on the completion of the Bono Lake then maybe she could give them a date when the IRS issue would be complete.
Judge Hill recommended that maybe the court should give Nelms until the next full court meeting and then work on a date from that point. Clerk Nelms agreed that she should be closer to a deadline in a month.
Tony Thomas explained that the county wasn’t at the point to hire help but that the staff was working on the issue for the staff to continue to search for records.
Since there was no old business to discuss, the court moved on to the first item of new business which was a proposed appropriation ordinance entitled:
AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE 2012 ANNUAL OPERATING BUDGET TO ADD FUND
169, DEPT 1900, JUVENILE DRUG COURT FEE FUND TO INCLUDE MONIES THAT HAVE
BECOME AVAILABLE TO CRAIGHEAD COUNTY THROUGH A COURT ORDERED FEE
PAYABLE INTO THE JUVENILE DRUG COURT FEE FUND AND WILL BE COLLECTED BY THE CRAIGHEAD COUNTY JUVENILE COURT DEPARTMENT AT THE TIME THE JUVENILE
DRUG COURT CLIENTS PAY THEIR FINES AND FEES. MONIES COLLECTED SHALL BE REMITTED TO THE CRAIGHEAD COUNTY TREASURER AND PLACED INTO FUND 169
FOR RESTRICTED USE AS SPECIFIED IN THIS ORDINANCE.
A motion was made by Justice Weinstock to accept the proposed appropriation ordinance.
Justice Render seconded the measure. All justices present voted in favor passing Craighead
County appropriation ordinance 2012-6.
With no further business to tend to, a motion was made by Justice Render and seconded by Justice Bryant to adjourn. The motion carried and the Craighead County Quorum Court
stood adjourned until the next scheduled meeting which will be determined at a later date since the normal date falls on Memorial Day.
___________________________
Attest: County Clerk
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| JOUR OF PROC APR 2012.pdf | 43.12 KB |