The meeting began with prayer and the pledge of allegiance followed by the reviewal of the minutes from the last meeting. The minutes were approved by the court and they moved onto financial statements. The financial statements are also approved by the court with no oppositions.
Committee Reports
Judge Glass stated that he spoke with the State Extension Service and the position at the extension office was still available. They have many potential advocates and they were going to close in on a decision within the week.
Bob Cummings said this past Wednesday at the jail, there was an electrical problem, and the City of Prescott called to meet with him Thursday morning. “We worked several hours to find the problem and we believe it’s been resolved. I just wanted to update everyone on that situation that might be wondering,” said Cummings.
Sheriffs Report
“The housing income for January the Sheriff’s office was $58,689.45. The quarter report which was reported by Suzie’s office was $23,217. Total income for January was $81,906. Last year for January we had $55,790. The current population for January was 90 males and 71 females equalling 161 combined total inmates. 90 were released and our daily population was 78.1 averaging at about 15 days per inmate.
Citizen’s Requests
Thomas McKinnon, an elderly citizen of NC, attended the meeting to discuss the condition of the gravel roads leading to his home. “I’m unhappy with the loggers who have been working out near where I live. They left the ditches messed up and the road where the ditches are deformed, there are potholes that you can barely drive through without hurting your vehicle,” said McKinnon. “We need repairs to our roads.” Judge Glass input that his road foreman has been there to work on it. The foreman stated, “Its been raining and wet, we have put gravel down and tried to fix it. But with it being so wet, there is going to be pot holes.” Judge Glass assured they would make a trip to the location the next day to address the situation.
Cody Ferguson submitted a request with two topics. Ferguson asked, “Will there be a trash bin provided by the county for our trash to go in or do we provide that ourselves?” Judge Glass stated the resident is responsible or providing their own bins, but in the future they will look to be able to provide that for the residents. Ferguson moved on to his next question asking, “In the letter that was sent out stating the amount that was going to be charged, it references that there will be a hold placed on personal property tax, so what law is it that allows a hold to be placed on personal property tax?” Cummings answered “It isn’t on your property tax, it is on your license. The law number is 8-6-212. It just states that you can’t get your tags on your car until you pay your trash dues.”
Dianne Brazinski stated “my questions follow Cody Ferguson’s. I’m wondering how you come about not charging deer camps or businesses for trash pick up? I have a business in the city and I pay $22 a month, where city residents pay only $10.50 a month?” Cummings answered “It helps to bring business into town to help out the businesses to generate money here.”
Keith Williams addressed the court with a few questions. “Did the court give notification to this prior to sending out mail for these new fees? Was anything said to the public communicating that these fees would be coming?” Judge Glass stated that there was a public Quorum Court meeting discussing this topic and any citizen is welcome to come and listen to every meeting. Keith Williams continued with another question. “It states in the letter, that we are responsible for paying this fee within a 90 day period. What law states that you can require citizens to pay a fee they knew nothing about prior to 12 days ago? Communication did not occur.” Cummings answered “If you pay it monthly, you can pay it in 12 months. If you don’t setup payments, you will be required to pay it in a 90 day period.” Chris Fore then stated “to answer your question, if you were not present at the Quorum Court meeting where we discussed this then no, you did know anything about it. But it is published on our local news websites for anyone to view.”
Joey Red stated that on his residence there are three houses. Each house on the residence is paying $91 a month for trash pickup and the trash truck only stops in one place to pick up trash for all three houses. “If the truck is only making one stop for three houses then each house should not being paying for an individual stop. If we are going to pay for it, the trash trucks must drive to each house and pick up the trash but they are not.” The court confirmed it will be discussed further in the future.
The court informed the audience that they encourage more people to attend the meetings to be more informed about in the county. The meeting was adjourned by Judge Glass and he thanked everyone for being there to present their requests and concerns.