Road employees to get overtime on holidays

Published 7:00 am Wednesday, February 3, 2021

County Road Department employees will see an increase in the pay they receive the next time they have to leave a Thanksgiving dinner table or go out on some other holiday to clear a roadway.

The Pearl River County Board of Supervisors approved increasing pay for Road Department employees to time and a half on holidays instead of straight time if they get called in to work. Typically Road Department employees are not scheduled to work on holidays, but may be called in to work if there is an urgent matter, like trees blocking a roadway after a storm.

Sheriff David Allison asked the Board if it would consider making the same adjustment to the Sheriff Department’s holiday pay policy for investigators.

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County Administrator Adrain Lumpkin said he was not sure if the change could be made, because law enforcement pay regulations are under federal regulations that are more strict about when overtime can be paid.

In a separate matter, the Board acknowledged the Waste Management host fee payment of $10,183 for the fourth quarter of 2020.

The Central Landfill collects a tonnage host fee of $1.60 per ton for tonnage generated outside of the county.

In October, the landfill accepted 5,022 tons, 2,562 of which were from outside of the county.

In November the number of out-of-county tons decreased and in-county tons increased, with 4,183 total, of which 1,589 was from out of the county. December saw another increase in in-county tons, with 4,978 total tons, 2,797 from Pearl River County and 2,181 from outside the county.

In other business the Board:

—Approved three private road names, Creekside Drive, Shallow Creek and Rum and Candy Lane. Requests to name a private road have to be signed by all property owners who have land adjoining the road. The property owners are responsible for purchasing and erecting a road sign.

—Approved travel for two sheriff’s department employees to attend a polygraph seminar in Tennessee. The seminar is $175 per attendee and the hotel will be $978.

—Approved attendance at a virtual conference on crimes against women for three people in the district attorney’s office. The cost is $400 per person.

The next Board meeting will be Thursday, Jan. 11 at 9 a.m. to discuss roads.