A roofing repair with an initial price tag of $75,000 two years ago has spiraled into a $366,668 project with Carnegie Library leaders asking the city and county to foot the bill.
But Coahoma County Supervisors have said there are going to do their part and help fix it. They have asked the City of Clarksdale to pay their half.
The county discussed, and tentatively agreed to pay half the cost of repairs at the library in January and the City of Clarksdale has asked the library to do repairs that can be paid in phases.
“We’ve done our part,” said Board of Supervisors President Johnny Newson after the board voted 4-0 Monday evening to fund the project with ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds, to the tune of $70,000. The motion was made by Newson and seconded by Dist. 5 Supervisors Roosevelt Lee.
The Carnegie Library board of trustees reported a leaking roof in 2020 and an insurance claim of $69,000 was paid to fix it. In July of this year Library Board Chairman Shelia Winters and Librarian Tracy Caradine went before the city and county saying their architect had prepared a two-phase project to repair both the historic and main building at $660,000.
Both the city and county balked at that amount.
Supervisors were told in December that Phase I would repair decking put architectural shingles and flashing on the Library Addition for $225,201. Phase II would cost $141,485, repair masonry and put a sloped roof on the Historic Library.
Library officials have said the initial quote was only to patch the roof. Caradine has also said the library is having problems with the air conditioner.
This summer the county said it would help pay for half the cost of repairs but wanted a detailed breakdown of costs and what the city was paying. Supervisors were told the city’s portion would come to about $149,000.
The City of Clarksdale owns the library and the county assists in funding programs, payroll and library services.
The county has reported a projected $1.2 million reduction in revenue for next year because of decreased property values and has repeatedly turned away individuals and organizations seeking repairs and funding for their projects.
Caradine was told in July the city had not budgeted for repairs at the library this year and any funding would have come out of next year’s budget.
The library has a revenue budget that gets about $357,000 from the city and $354,000 from the county.
The library has a projected 2022-23 budget of $828,553. In 2012-13 the library had a budget of $622,359 with the county contributing $190,500 and the city $228,611.
The library has been a point of concern for both the city and county who had a hard time getting hard numbers from the library during the last budget year.
Differences between the library board and its librarians have seen three librarians over the past three years.
Former Carnegie Public Library librarian Floyd Council resigned in 2021 after only a few months as the library’s director. Council, a career librarian, cited violations by Library Board Chairman Shelia Winters in micro-managing the library and Winters’ desire to control employees and money at the library. Council is currently the librarian for the Jackson/Hinds County Library.
CITY AND COUNTY LIBRARY BOARD APPOINTEES
At Large (Mayor Chuck Espy) – Jacqueline Tyler.
Ward 1 (Bo Plunk) – Amanda Crumley.
Ward 2 (Ken Murphey) – Chris Coleman.
Ward 3 (Willie Turner) – Joyce Hill.
Ward 4 (Ed Seals) – Rita Hanfor.
The City of Clarksdale levies a tax for the Library that raises approximately $238,000.
Dist. 1 Supervisor (Paul Pearson) - Nancy Foley.
Dist. 2 Supervisor (Pat Davis) - Lesley Johnson.
Dist. 3 Supervisor (Derrell Washington) LaFiesta Roland.
Dist. 4 Supervisor (Johnny Newson) - Shelia Winters.
Dist. 5 Supervisor (Roosevelt Lee) - Michella Campbell.
Coahoma County levies a 2 mill tax for the Library that raises approximately $360,000.
In Other Business:
• The board tabled paying attorney fees billed for legal work involving the Northwest MS Medical Center Clarksdale Hospital.
The board initially voted to pay roughly $27,000 in legal fees and then was presented another bill for about $46,000.
Dist. 3 Supervisor Derrell Washington asked to table the issue until the county could get a firm number and be told the details of the bill and what they were paying for.
The board did vote to pay Stroudwater, a healthcare advisory group hired to look at the Clarksdale hospital’s financial situation and offer possible solutions. The amount was not made public.
Delta Health System began leasing and managing the county’s hospital in February 2021 with DHS reporting in July it was heavily in debt.
DHS entered an asset purchase agreement to sell Senatobia’s Highland Hills Medical Facility to Tate County for $3.5 million and the deed was first approved by the DHS Board of Trustees in December.
Bose Public Affairs Group’s Sam Odle — who was retained in August by Washington County Supervisors to conduct a financial analysis of DHS – has said one of the most important strategies for DHS is to separate itself from Senatobia and Clarksdale.
The separation from its Clarksdale campus is not anticipated to be quite as easy as the Senatobia transition.
DHS has a lease with Coahoma County that must be serviced with the payment of about $500,000 annually put into the county’s health fund. That fund has a balance of approximately $26 million.
• The county voted to lease the old county bus barn to Clarksdale Collegiate Public Charter School for $250. The Charter School will use the facility as a bus barn this fall.
• The board was approached by CARES (Clarksdale Animal Rescue Effort and Shelter) seeking $150,000.
The county and city have contracted with CARES to handle stray dog and cat problems for several years but have recently trimmed those funds.
Supervisors each agreed to contribute a lump sum from their personal expense fund to CARES and asked the city to match those funds.
• The board approved a proclamation of a local emergency following last week’s winter ice storm. The proclamation will allow the county to have expenses and damages caused by the storm reimbursed by state and federal agencies
• The board was approached by Randy Murry of Pafford Ambulance Services about a possible hike in ambulance fees and services.
The board quizzed Murray on the level of minor calls versus major calls. Murray said both type of calls cost the ambulance service about the same.
• The county approved January 2023 payroll of $600,000.
• The county approved monthly transactions or bills of $1.714 million through Feb. 6.
• On a motion by Newson the board approved $350 in annual dues to the Mississippi Association of Supervisors Minority Caucus. Coahoma County Supervisors are also members of the Mississippi Association of Supervisors that lobbies for issues facing Mississippi’s 82 counties.
• Supervisors will meet at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15 to inspect the jail and will meet at the Courthouse at 3 p.m. to conduct county business. All meetings are open to the public.
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