ABERDEEN – District 3 Supervisor Rubel West passed along the first inquiry Feb. 11 from a person interested in legally growing marijuana in the county. Earlier this month, Mississippi became the 37th state in the nation to legalize medical marijuana.
The Mississippi State Department of Health stated it will begin accepting license applications online by June for patient, medical practitioner and cannabis cultivation facilities.
“His question to me was if the board will take any action above and beyond what the state bill says. I told him, ‘Nobody knows what’s in that bill yet because it’s been batted back and forth and changes have been made. When it comes out and it’s a legal document, I don’t see this board doing anything unless it has something to do with how it’s handled on the law enforcement side to enhance law enforcement,’” West said.
Board attorney David Houston was also approached by the anonymous person. There was no action taken on the matter.
Workforce development
Monroe County Chamber of Commerce Community Development Director Kelly Martin shared workforce initiatives with supervisors, including accomplishments through being an ACT Work-Ready Community, which was certified this month, and the upcoming Monroe County Job Fair.
In less than a year into the process of being an ACT Work-Ready Community, the number of youth and college-age people taking the WorkKeys test has increased by 216, with another 120 people to be tested this week.
Monroe County is the first county in Itawamba Community College’s consortium to be an ACT Work-Ready Community, and there are 33 employers throughout the county recognizing or recommending the WorkKeys.
The chamber has provided funds to help seniors at the Amory and Monroe County career technical centers and second-year completers to take the WorkKeys test. Martin said Atmos Energy recently provided $10,000 to help with costs, which include paying for juniors to take the test.
The cost is $33 per student, and several schools have provided for $7 per student.
“This school year, we have tested between 260 and 280 students. Next year, it will just be our juniors,” Martin said.
While on the subject of unemployment rates, she said the county is at the lowest point it has been since unemployment records have been tracked.
“Our unemployment for the year ended at 5.2. December’s was 3, and November’s was 2.9 percent,” Martin said.
There are people representing different demographics who are out of the workforce, including several in the 16- to 24-year-old range, several mothers not choosing to work and several people in the 65 and older age range who have retired.
The number of people on unemployment throughout the state decreased from 7,000 last October to 4,800 in December.
While unemployment numbers are low, the number of job openings remains high. While it’s hard to pinpoint the number of job openings in Monroe County alone, there are approximately 60,000 job openings statewide.
Fire services
Monroe County Fire Coordinator Terry Tucker said the county’s air packs have been delivered, and training sessions are scheduled at volunteer fire departments.
“We appreciate everything the board has done to get these air packs. This is probably one of the biggest things that has happened to our fire departments, and they’re all excited about it,” he said.
He also mentioned the need for a centralized storage building for all of the county’s search and rescue vehicles.
West and Tucker both said there’s a need for a new fire station, which would be operated through Becker-Athens Volunteer Fire Department, to serve areas such as neighborhoods behind the Aberdeen Marina.
“We could park a truck at the airport, and it could stay there. That’s about the only dead spot we have is the marina area,” Tucker said.
He also mentioned asking volunteer fire chiefs for their thoughts on having one consolidated countywide volunteer fire department, which he said a couple are for it and some are against the idea.
“We need to get away from the 13 different volunteer fire departments we have and have one Monroe County Volunteer Fire Department run by the county,” Tucker said. “If I try to apply for a grant, all 13 entities have to sign off. If we had one volunteer fire department in this county and left Hatley and Smithville separate, it would open up the opportunities for grants tremendously.”
He added 28 counties throughout the state have transitioned into centralized volunteer, which has proved to be successful.
He also said another long-range need may be five additional fulltime firefighters throughout the county.
When asked by District 4 Supervisor Fulton Ware about additional volunteer firefighters in Prairie, Tucker said there are 14 or 15 active in the community.
In other business, Ware and West were both approved to donate $1,500 to Aberdeen’s Mayor’s Youth Council for an upcoming leadership summit at Delta State University. District 2 Supervisor B.R. Richey was also approved to donate $250 to each the Amory baseball and softball programs.
