Les Dungan, county engineer, speaks to the Board of Supervisors in a recent meeting.
Photo by Alexandra Hedrick

POPLARVILLE — The Pearl River County Board of Supervisors discussed the Circuit Court budget at Monday’s meeting after Supervisor Anthony Hales questioned how the department is already over budget.

Originally $38,000 was budgeted for the Circuit Court, but the court has already spent $70,000, said Hales. He noticed the budget amount while reviewing County Administrator, Adrian Lumpkin’s December report.

“If you’ve already over doubled what was budgeted, that’s going to be way out of whack at the end of the year,” Hales said.

The clerk gets a certain amount for each day they hold court, Lumpkin explained. He said the court didn’t bill for about a year and half and then turned it all in at once.

Lumpkin said it’s legal for the circuit court to submit billing at one time for that period of time, but explained that it messes up the budget because most of the funds should’ve been included in last year’s budget.

“I would suggest we talk with the clerk about it,” said Joe Montgomery, board attorney.

Board President J. Patrick Lee said the board would follow up on the issue.

The board voted unanimously to acknowledge the county administrator’s monthly report.

The board approved nine position appointments at the meeting.

Those appointed were:

— Joe Montgomery as board attorney.

— Adrain Lumpkin as county administrator.

— Les Dungan as county engineer.

— David Earl Johnson as bookkeeper.

— Dale Miller as county road manager.

— Danny Manley as county fire coordinator.

— Anita Sumrall as purchase clerk.

— Pam Bowers as receiving clerk.

— Johnny Sherman as inventory control clerk.

Dungan told the board the annual state aid inspection will take place this week to inspect maintenance needs on state aid roads.

The county engineer explained how the state aid funds are managed. He said each year, 20 percent of the funds are set aside to address possible emergency road repairs. The other 80 percent goes toward planned projects for the year.

This year, the state aid funds were used for road surface maintenance and to make bridge improvements, Dungan said.  The focus of the bridge improvement projects has been bridges with timber pilings and replacing the timber with concrete.

“We’re trying to do the worst first,” Dungan said.

He said there are about 165 bridges in Pearl River County for which the county is responsible.

The board also discussed the ongoing issues with HVAC units at the FEMA shelters located in Picayune, Carriere and Poplarville.

Manley said not much has been done since the last board of supervisors meeting.

Manley, Dungan and Supervisor Sandy Kane Smith have been working with engineers and architects for months to address humidity problems inside the shelters.

“The best thing to do right now is document everything ourselves,” Smith said.

Supervisor Dennis Dedeaux suggested getting the warranty extended because of the continuing problems.

The board adjourned until Wednesday, Jan. 22 at 9 a.m.