Accomplishments
in the first year:
General County Operations:
1. Streamlined rules of orderly conduct of county business
and posted in the clerks office.
2. Took new bids and proposals from several medical insurers and
reduced the cost of the county employee health care by approximately
$46,000 annually.
3. With the reduction in costs of health care we also negotiated
a better deductibility for employees ($500 deductible instead of the
$1,000
deductible in the old plan).
Office of Emergency Management & 9-1-1:
1. Combined the positions of Director of O.E.M. and 9-1-1
Coordinator into one position saving approximately $48,000 in personnel
expenses
while increasing efficiency.
2. Acquired $538,224 in grant funds to reconfigure the 9-1-1
center creating a state-of-the-art centralized emergency communications
system.
These were 100% grant dollars with no county share
required.
Safety Coordinator & Rural Fires Services:
1. The Safety Coordinator's function has resulted in rebate of
risk management insurance premiums totaling $26,653 by reducing claims
from
accidents.
2. Oakland/Promised Land Fire received a $15,000 grant to help
put a sub-station near Three Brothers.
3. Act 833 funds to the county distributed among the fire
districts totaled more than $100,000.
Airport:
1. Several Grants are currently being implemented to create a
viable commercial air service for the area.
a. An F.A.A. airport improvement grant which
improves the runway and lighting and removes some old hangers replacing
them with new
ones.
b. Another F.A.A. grant for an instrument
landing system (ILS).
c. A D.O.T. grant to help subsidize a small
community air service carrier.
2. Air services are expected sometime this year.
Wolf House:
1. The Wolf House, in Norfork, is the oldest territorial
courthouse west of the Mississippi and the oldest two story log
structure west of the
Mississippi. It
has been restored in recent years with grants through the
Historical Society.
2. Current Plans include a Highway Enhancement Project grant to
create an overlook adjacent to the Wolf House overlooking the river and
the area served also as this was a trading
location for the Buffalo National River system.
Re-assessment:
1. Problems with the reassessment contractor resulted in lost
dollars for the county late in 2005. The county judge pursued
those dollars and
recovered $20,416 from the Assessment Coordination
Department.
2. A new Mass Appraisal firm was contracted and problems
corrected.
Road & Bridge Department:
1. In addition the county judge's function as the Chief Executive
Officer with responsibility for the financial management of the county,
the
county judge also has the Constitutional
responsibility to operate a system of County Roads & Bridges.
2. In the three months of the new administration the judge
recovered equipment valued at $22,500 from dealers who had not
delivered.
The judge also recovered $15,111 in cash for a
piece
of equipment
declared surplus and loaned out 10 years ago.
3. Improvements in the operations and organization of the
department resulted in record miles of upgraded roads in 2005 in spite
of
ballooning fuel costs and increased cost
of materials. In 2005 the department improved 41.8 miles of
county roads (surfaced and
resurfaced) and spent $2,914,209.
Compared to 2004 where they spent
$2,983,415 while completing only 24 miles of roads. .
4. Projects included building the Hand Cove road and repairing
Denton Ferry road.
5. State aid assistance totaled $230,000 and we have $260,000 in
state aid funds available this year.
6. FEMA and State Assistance funds totaled $598,000 on the Denton
Ferry Road restoration.