The Lowndes County Board of Supervisors will pursue one new position while agreeing on a compromise on another during Tuesday’s regular meeting.
Although the board did not entertain a motion to create a new position for an IT specialist, supervisors voted 4-0 (District 5 Supervisor Leroy Brooks abstained) to advertise for the position.
Currently, the IT duties for the sheriff’s department are handled by a deputy, while an employee of the tax accessor’s office performs IT for that department. All other IT needs are being met on a contract basis with Tim Heard of the Golden Triangle Development Partnership, services that range from $12,000 to $15,000 annually.
At its last board meeting, supervisors asked county administrator Ralph Billingsley to produce a job description for the IT specialist as well as a new position of assistant emergency management director.
The EMA position — which Brooks had been lobbying for — came up first for discussion, with Brooks presenting an alternate plan to the supervisors.
“After talking with (EMA Director) Cindy Lawrence, she doesn’t want the department to get caught up in the politics of this. So she suggested that we fill the open position we have for Address Coordinator and give (EMA administrative assistant) Shelly Swails a dollar-an-hour raise.”
Brooks said the raise will compensate Swails for the cross-training needed to serve in Lawrences’ absence. The address coordinator position salary is listed at $12 per hour. Brooks said raising Swails’ pay to $13 per hour would recognize her 10 years of service.
After Brooks made that motion and it was seconded by District 4 Supervisor Jeff Smith, Board President Harry Sanders made a substitute motion to eliminate the empty address coordinator position and provide additional training to fire services coordinator Sammy Fondren.
After Billingsley said he recommended the county fill the address coordinator position — which is already in the county’s budget — both District 2 supervisor Bill Brigham and District 3 Supervisor John Holliman spoke in favor of Brooks’ proposal. Sanders then withdrew his substitute motion. Following an amendment to pay the new address coordinator $11 per hour for a six-month probationary period before raising the pay rate to $12 per hour, the board unanimously approved the measure.
Swails’ pay raise will go into effect on April 1.
When the IT position came up for discussion, Brooks and Smith said they wanted to know how much the position would pay and where the money would come from for the unbudgeted new hire.
“Just because we advertise a position doesn’t mean with have to make a hire,” Brooks noted.
Sanders said the IT position was much needed and long overdue, a position backed by both Brigham and Holliman.
The supervisors set June 1 as the likely start date for the new hire, should the supervisors agree on that move.
Billingsley said there was enough money in the county’s reserve funds to cover the cost of the IT specialist salary — which should fall in the $45,000 to $50,000 range — for the four remaining months of the fiscal year.
In other board business, the board re-appointed Randy Frederick to the Lowndes County Port Authority. Frederick was the only applicant for the position, which expires in 2020..
Finally, bids were opened on the construction of the office building at the planned county horse park. The county received $1.2 million in state funds during the 2015 legislative session, enough to build the office. The county hopes to receive the remaining $1.3 million to finish the facility, which will include a large open-air pavilion and other amenities, during the current legislative session.
The estimate for the building was $1,050,000. The low bid Tuesday came from Weathers Construction at $1,284,000. The contract is expected to be awarded at the supervisors’ next meeting on April 4.
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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