NASHVILLE – Howard County Justices of the Peace unanimously approved funding for an additional, part time, employee at the circuit clerk’s office Monday during their regular monthly meeting.
The move came after Circuit Clerk Angie Lewis told the panel that the upcoming implementation of new records software in her office would require at least two employees to be absent for weeks at a time while they’re trained to use the system.
“We are gonna get backlogged because it takes all four of us to get everything done now,” she explained. “We are in desperate need of someone to help us.”
Lewis said the training process, which will take place at UA Cossatot’s Nashville campus this August, is expected to take between eight and 10 weeks, during which time the part time employee will earn $9 an hour and work about 19 hours per week. Funds for the position will come from her office’s budget at an estimated total cost not to exceed $2,052.
The county is also expected to spend about $20,000 on computer upgrades needed to run the new records software, although the software itself and the training are offered free of charge by the state of Arkansas, which is mandating the upgrade.
In unrelated business conducted during the meeting, justices approved an investment plan presented by local Edward Jones representative Josh Tice which would arrange $1 million total in five $200,000 CDs with various banks nationwide. Under the proposal, the county would have one CD reach maturity each year for five years, providing ample opportunity to access the money in times of need.
The availability of the money wasn’t quite ample enough for justice Kerry Strasner, who voted against the measure, saying he would have preferred investments that reached maturity every six months.
Appointments to local boards consumed the remainder of the brief meeting with Ronnie Morris and Lisa Bell renamed to the local library board and Johnny McJunkins and Julie Rhodes approved for service on the Howard Memorial Hospital board.
