A new sheriff’s deputy position and the purchase of two new patrol cars are the latest requests of the Panola County Sheriff’s Department.

The county board of supervisors unanimously approved the requests made by Sheriff Hugh "Shot" Bright last Friday, December 16, during a recessed meeting in Batesville.

In making his requests, Bright asked that the department’s 2005-2006 budget be amended to allow for the purchase of two vehicles totalling $50,000 and $33,300 for the the salary and benefits of one deputy.

The deputy’s salary will be $1,965 a month, and the vehicle monies will be spent on new cruisers, Bright told The Panolian after the meeting.

Bright, 46, begins his fifth week as county sheriff this week after being sworn into office November 23.

Also at the supervisors meeting, Bright requested and supervisors approved a $29,000 budget increase to the Panola County Drug Task Force for 2005-2006.

The $29,000 increase will boost the county’s funding of the drug-fighting unit to $70,000, up from the $41,000 budgeted for the 2004-2005 fiscal year.

Prior to the November sheriff’s election, the sheriff’s department had requested $75,000 to fund the task force in the new fiscal year.

The task force, which is led by commander Jason Chrestman, operates mostly from grant monies but also depends on budget contributions from the county and the City of Batesville.

Batesville aldermen voted last week to postpone city funding of the task force until Bright can appear before them to discuss the matter.

The task force and its work ethic and budget became a campaign issue during the sheriff’s campaign, though Bright mostly left the subject alone.

"If y’all will give us a chance, this task force – they are working," Bright told supervisors at the Friday meeting.

The supervisors also voted to allow $1,300 for the new deputy’s uniforms and a ballistic vest, bringing the requests made by Bright – a deputy, two vehicles, and task force money – to $113,600.

Earlier this month, supervisors approved the hiring of four part-time deputies, a full-time deputy, and a jailer, and the promotion of Otis Griffin from deputy to chief deputy.

"We’ve been waiting on a new sheriff and knew we had some things to do, and knew some changes had to be made," District 4 Supervisor Jerry Perkins told Bright regarding his request to amend the budget.

At the supervisors’ request, County Administrator David Chandler and Bright had collaborated on the budget amendment prior to the sheriff making the formal request Friday.
 

Construction contractor Lehman-Roberts has won a million-dollar state contract to overlay and widen six miles of Eureka Road, county supervisors announced last week.

Supervisors unanimously accepted the company’s $1.2 million State Aid bid, the only one received for the project, to improve Eureka from Highway 51 South to Good Hope Road.

State Aid is a division within the Miss. Department of Transportation. The agency helps counties with construction and maintenance of their non-state owned roads and bridges.

State Aid allocates $57,000 each month for Panola County’s roads and bridges, an amount that builds until supervisors choose to spend it.

Road work on Eureka should begin in May, 2006, District 4 Supervisor Jerry Perkins said after the meeting.

Eureka Road stretches from Hwy. 51 in Batesville to Pope Water Valley Road in the Bynum community. It crosses through county districts 3 and 4.

State Aid originally rejected Lehman-Roberts’ bid but later allowed the bid to be let, county engineer Larry Britt told supervisors Friday.

"The bid was 17 percent over State Aid estimate, but they went back and looked at it and justified it," Britt said.

"As much as fuel has gone up, we’re probably lucky (the bid) was just 17 percent," Perkins said.
 
The coming Eureka Road project follows similar State Aid work performed throughout the county in recent years, county road manager Lygunnah Bean told The Panolian.

In recent years, past projects include rebuilding Ballentine Road and most of Macedonia Road, and restriping all State Aid roads in the county, he said.

"The Eureka Road project has been programmed since 2000," Bean said. "It’s the last on the list."

Following the board’s meeting Friday, supervisors met in the downtown Batesville office of county engineer Larry Britt for a "strategy session" to discuss the county’s next phase of State Aid road work.

In an informal setting, Britt showed supervisors a listing of Panola’s State Aid roads and the projected expense of improving each road through either a patching and resealing method or overlay, which is more costly.

For most roads, Britt said, the patching and reseal costs $50,500 a mile while overlay costs $125,000 a mile.

The patching and reseal of Dummy Line Road, for example, would cost $313,000 while an overlay would cost $775,000, estimates show.

The county’s other State Aid roads are: Eureka Road, Good Hope, Ballentine, Hwy. 310 (east of Como), Pope-Crowder, Pope-Water Valley, Terza, Blackjack, Parks Place, and Curtis.

The total cost to reseal the county’s State Aid roads is $3.8 million, Britt’s figures showed. The cost of overlaying those same roads is $9.4 million.

While supervisors discussed roads they want programmed into State Aid, they took no action due to the nature of the meeting.