Nicole Tracy
Reporter
NASHVILLE – A new board member was sworn
in to fill the vacancy by a departing member
Monday during the monthly meeting of the
Howard County Quorum Court.
David Mauk was approved by Governor Asa
Hutchinson to fill the vacancy created by the
resignation of board member Jeanie Gorham
at the end of the September meeting. Mauk will
serve through 2016, to fill out the remainder of
Gorham’s term.
An overview of how Howard County was doing
so far this year on property tax collection
was covered during this
session. Property taxes
owed from citizens of
Howard County total $8
million for the year, but as
of Oct. 17, only $6.7 million
had been collected
so far.
County Sheriff Bryan
McJunkins compared this
year’s current totals to
what had been collected
at this time last year. In
2014, by October 19, $4.7
million had been paid. At
the current time, only $3.3 million had been collected
in taxes, which was way down from last year,
but most of the big corporations have already paid,
meaning it is individuals who still owe their taxes,
McJunkins said.
Angie Lewis, Howard County Circuit clerk, asked
the court to allow her to permanently keep a part
time employee due to increased workloads due to
the State of Arkansas mandating that all records are
to be accessible via a website. Lewis stated the time
it takes to file a case in the new system has gone
from 30 minutes to 2 hours.
The new website will go available to the public
on January 1, 2016 and will be able to access all
Howard County cases currently working their
way through the court system,
unless they are sealed,
Lewis stated.
The board approved the
request unanimously.
A presentation was given
by Jean Ince, Staff Chair
of the Extension Service
in Howard County, to the
board. The State of Arkansas
is asking counties to pay a
higher percentage of Extension
agents salaries.
Ince told to the board that
the local Extension office will
be asking the county for an
additional $16,000 in funding
for salaries when the time
comes for the 2016 county
budget to be considered.
Ince said the funds will include
approximately $2,100
for each of the county’s
two extension agents. The
remaining $11,500 would be
used to pay a larger portion
of the 4-H program associate
in the county.
The state currently pays
85 percent of extension salaries,
$203,817, yearly, while
Howard County picks up
the remaining 15 percent,
$35,781, each year. If the
county does not agree to
provide the increased funding,
Ince stated that the state
would not be in a hurry
to fill any open positions
should an extension employee
leave.
The board also approved
a personnel policy amendment
that will bring Howard
County’s personnel policies
up to date to match the current
Family Medical Leave
Act wording.
The board then approved
the closing of the monthly
meeting and will reconvene
on Nov. 17.
Board members present
during the meeting were
Dick Wakefield, David Mauk,
Kerry Strasner, Bobby Don
Turner, Archie Cothren, Martha
Hobbes, Brent Pinkerton,
Janice Huffman, Sheri Mixon,
Brenda Washburn and Judge
Kevin Smith. Absent board
members were Jerry Harwell.
