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The Simpson County Tax Levy hearing was held for the public Tuesday, September 15, 2020 during the Simpson County Board of Supervisors meeting. Simpson County taxpayers will see an increase of 4.5 millage on this years taxes. The budget was passed on a 4-1 vote with Supervisor Mitchell Chatman, District 1, opposing.
4% of the increase will go to the General Fund and 1/2 % to roads.
Road Manager Ben Warren received approval for 4 employees, whose probation time was coming to an end, for full time employment. Warren updated Supervisor Randy Moore that the rock on Head Neely Road should be finished today and ready for County Engineer Buddy Woolverton to inspect.
Simpson County 911 office received 1342 calls for the previous month. The calls are up 15% from this time last year. ASAP (ambulance service) had 443 calls. A total of 347 calls were transport type calls. The average response time for the ambulances is fourteen minutes and 58 seconds (14:58). The average wait time at the hospitals are Simpson General – 1:16 and Magee General Hospital :49, according to John Kilpatrick, EOC.
Kilpatrick advised Mendenhall Fire department was working on some volunteers becoming EMT trained. With the training, the fire department will be able to assist with medical calls in the future.
Kilpatrick advised 0 structural fires were reported for the month of August. Personal Protective Equipment has been distributed to each fire station in the county.
Presently, county building are being fogged to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Kilpatrick reported a large number had quarantine from the school but there was only one positive case involved.
According to Kilpatrick, the county was lucky dogging a bullet with the last storm and the present one (Sally) in the Gulf. One storm went left of the state and the other storm is going right. The southern part of the state will see heavy rainfall but the central and northern counties will see little to no rain.
The board approved the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Secretary of State’s Office for CARES Act Funding to hire an additional pole worker per precinct. The funds are reimbursable through the CARES ACT.
The board approved to purchase a cradle-point portable WIFI access for use in training law enforcement and emergency internet access in locations without WIFI.
The board approved the lowest interest rate quote from Trustmark National Bank at 1.38% for two single-axle Mack dump trucks at a cost of $106,000 for 36 months.
Simpson County School Board applicant Stacey Herrin, District 5, was certified as a candidate by the Board of Supervisors for the November 2020 election.
With no further business meeting was recessed until Wednesday, September 30, 2002 for a special called meeting to close our fiscal year.
Future board meeting:
- Wednesday, September 30, 2020
- Monday, October 5, 2020
- Thursday, October 15, 2020
Board Holidays:
Veteran’s Day Wednesday, November 11, 2020
A video is attached of the meeting.
MageeNews.com is an online news source covering Simpson and surrounding counties as well as the State of Mississippi.
