Clinton Fiscal Court held its first regular meeting of the new year last Thursday, January 19 with all court members present, including three new squires who were seated at the beginning of this year.

After acknowledging receiving the treasurer’s report, the court approved the monthly report as well as previous meeting minutes. On the motion, the three new members, who were not seated during the December meeting, abstained from voting, creating a three-three tie, with Judge/Executive Ricky Craig breaking the tie with a yes vote.

The court then approved two cash transfers totaling $50,000–each from the Occupational Fund. On motions by magistrates Gary Ferguson and Jason Pitman, respectively, they approved transfers to the jail checking account in the amount of $20,000 and the EMS checking account in the amount of $30,000.

Bids were then opened on a dump truck for the Road Department, with only one bid being received, that from Worldwide International, Inc. in the amount of $139,534.00.

Judge Craig read some specifics of the bid, with the truck, a 2023 Mack being “fully loaded” with a 12’ bed, salter and blade in front.

The judge also distributed photos of the vehicle to court members and noted it could be operated by persons not holding a CDL license.

Magistrate Gary Tallent questioned whether or not there was a previous action some years ago requiring CDL’s. However, some trucks can be driven by workers who do not hold such a license, and only a couple of county employees have such a license.

Clinton County Jailer Bruce Stearns, a former county road department employee for 26 years, said only a couple of employees held a CDL and described the type trucks that could be driven by non-CDL license holders.

Magistrate Mickey Riddle also said that under new regulations, it costs the county $6 to $8 thousand dollars to pay for the training of an employee to obtain a CDL license, which also requires several weeks of school training prior to taking the test.

Magistrate Jerry Lowhorn then moved to approve the lone bid, which passed by a 5-1 vote with Riddle, Ferguson, Pitman, and Tony Delk voting yes and Tallent voting no.

Tallent said he voted no because he felt the price was “too much for a ton truck,” and said “you could buy two Fords or Chevrolets for that price.”

County Clerk Nathan Collins then addressed the court about a needed e-poll book purchase for his office, which pertains to elections. He said the current books have to be returned to the state because they are on contract.

Collins said the election service his office uses could provide the book at $24,000, which would be totally reimbursed by the state. Under the terms, the county would purchase the equipment and the state would reimburse the county 100 percent for the cost.

Magistrate Pitman made the motion to purchase the e-poll books for the clerk’s office, which passed by unanimous vote.

A minor 911 Mapping issue was then addressed concerning a misspelled road name in the 1st Magisterial District.

On a motion by Magistrate Riddle, the court voted to change the spelling of the name to make it coincide with county/state maps, that being changing the working “Pennycuff” Road to “Penticuff” Road.

The county then entered into a short, 10 minute closed session on personnel ,but took no action upon returning to open session.

When back in open session, Magistrate Tallent made a motion to hire B.J. Butler on the county road department. However, according to Judge Craig, there are no current openings and other people also have applications on file, including one with a CDL license.

The county had previously advertised for road department positions a few months ago and those slots have since been filled.

After being informed of no current positions being open, Magistrate Tallent withdrew his motion.

Jailer Stearns then reported that some jail inmates have been picking up trash on roadways, saying 16 bags were picked up along Hwy. 1590, adding “We need more help,” in picking up trash.

Stearns, who took over the first of the year, said he “had a great staff,” but added the facility was a hard place to work. He also said if magistrates had any questions, to contact him.

EMS Director Lucas Abner gave a report to the court, noting there were 2,028 run numbers in the year 2022 with $808,675.41 in collections being made by the new billing company secured last year by the county.

Abner said in December, collections that went to the EMS totaled $62,000.

Magistrate Lowhorn, to inform new court members, said he was not putting down the county’s former EMS billing company, but since the new firm had been hired, ambulance run collections have about doubled from previous years.

Abner said “ambulance service billing” is the new company’s primary business, which is an asset to increase collection rates.

Judge Craig then thanked the road department for working everyday on regular maintenance, getting equipment ready for the upcoming spring mowing season. He added, everything is in good shape.

Pitman, one of the three new magistrates on this year’s court, then thanked everyone, including the judge’s office, EMS, jail and road department staff, fellow magistrates, etc., for helping him transition to the new job.

Magistrate Delk, also a first time court member, said he was “impressed” when he saw each county department, saying they were all ‘spot-on,’ and gave credit to their department heads, adding “they are all underpaid.”

Along the lines of the “underpaid” statement, Judge Craig said the county would look to see if it could help when the next budget is being prepared this spring.

New sheriff Ricky Marcum also told the court he was thankful to be at the meeting, as he and his staff provide security and services to the fiscal court.

The final action taken at last week’s 40 minute session was a motion by Pitman to do some renovation work at the EMS facility, with the funds to come from the CARES Act money. The motion passed by unanimous vote.

The meeting was then adjourned.

The next regular meeting of Clinton Fiscal Court is scheduled for Thursday, February 16, at 5 p.m. in the upstairs courtroom of the courthouse and is open to the public.