The Hempstead County Quorum Court met Thursday for their February meeting. It started with an invocation by the Reverend Jesse Henry and was followed by the pledge of allegiance and then a roll call with quorum being declared.
The minutes from from the January meeting were mentioned and approved. The next motion was the Ordinance 2023-1 cleanup ordinance for 2022 which involved transferring and appropriating funds of the amount of around $4900. This included $1254 for general funds, $500.23 for miscellaneous and $3130.78 for the Teen County Jail. The motion passed.
Next on the agenda was Steve Harris with the Economic Development Corp to give the quarterly report.
Harris stated that the Corporation included as members Hope Water and Light and Judge Crane and the Southwest Arkansas Development Alliance (8 city).
Harris stated that the Corporation had recruited 14 new businesses last year and 3 this year but none signed up. He stated that 24% of the labor force is in manufacturing and that there is a pilot project for Tyson’s factory and Tyson’s Feed Mill.
As well as Tyson doing well, Brentwood is also successful and the Bakery is installing new equipment and automating and has a new owner. The bakery had been slow for two years and should be picking up.
As well as jobs Harris stated that getting new workers is needed and getting kids interested in staying in the area. He talked about working with the schools to interest the students in staying. Harris mentioned a Draft Day in which high school students already interested in an area would be matched with a company that would employ them.
Also in the interest of employment Harris talked about the latest proposal, a prison project for the area of which there are two options either a 1000 bed prison or a 200 to 300 Community Corrections.
The larger prison would need 400 acres of land and employ 370 people. It would need to be at least 65 miles away from another prison.
The smaller prison would employ 90 people and need up to 40 acres of land. With one of two sites being considered for this size there would be a partnership with Nevada county paying a quarter of the cost.
As the process continues there will be public hearings. It will take 2 to 2.5 years to build minimum.
Henry brought up the concern of mental health issues being addressed and was told that in the smaller prison option this would be more addressed.
State Representative Danny Watson spoke about the fact that no other county had requested the prison and the need for the prison with a new derivative of Fentanyl having just come out last week.
The statement was that employment used to simply follow houses and sewers but that the reality had become more complex.
David Clayton spoke on quality of life issues and said that things needed to be addressed for people to want to move here. The statement was made that for the younger generation travel for work and entertainment was nothing. David stated that people in North Louisiana will not move here because of lack of services.
Prosecutor Ben Hale was asked about the location of a prison here causing more work for him. He stated that it would increase his workload as prisoners first appeal and then file lawsuits. More people would need to be hired as a result.
The Sheriff spoke on the need for higher salaries with his department likely losing people to the the prison as salaries would be higher there.
Hale remarked that the state had not addressed the 1600 prisoner backlog.
Next item was the date of the meeting as it was planned for the 23rd of March which falls in the middle of Spring Break. There was a motion to move it to March 30th, which was approved.
Following this was a concern brought up about the Senate Bill 81, which removed immunity from librarians. The statement was made that the bill needs lots of work and that it left the committee in the morning and went to the Senate in the afternoon. The need was expressed for there to be a 72 hour period between the bill leaving the committee and being voted on so people can review it.
SB81 was said to be a great detriment to librarians and libraries. The bill has been amended so much that it is hard to read and the penalties are very severe and go beyond the limits.
The meeting adjourned a little after 6:00 and Terrie James from the Extension Office spoke about gardening and school activities in Hope, Garrett and Spring Hill.
