The Lincoln County Board of Supervisors and the Mississippi Forestry Commission have enacted a burn ban with no exemptions for the entire city and county until Nov. 2.

In Monday morning’s regular board meeting, Civil Defense Director Clifford Galey said following recommendations by the MFC the board should enact a burn ban from Oct. 5 until Nov. 2 with no exemptions including contractors. Galey said West Lincoln Volunteer Fire Department responded to a call Friday afternoon that started as a small trash fire and grew to burn 50 acres before it could be extinguished.

Galey said if it rains he will address the board if it changes anything, though he said this weekend is the only foreseeable precipitation, with only a 10 to 15 percent chance of rain. Any person who knowingly and willfully violates a burning ban is guilty of a misdemeanor and may be fined not less than $100 and no more than $500. Galey said one ticket has been written in Lincoln County for violating the burn ban.

 

School bus radio communications

The Brookhaven and the Lincoln County school districts have asked about the possibility of using space on the towers the county and city use for radio communication, Galey told the board. He said the districts are considering radio communication for bus drivers due to areas with bad cellular reception.

“They’re having some trouble with cellphones and reaching bus drivers when they need them,” Galey said. “Radio would fix that, and I agree with them. If they maintain them like they’re supposed to, they can have communications everywhere.”

Galey said he is working with the districts to make it possible, and the board acknowledged and approved the request without official action.

 

Baseball complex 

coming together

County Engineer Ryan Holmes updated the board on various projects including the new baseball complex. Holmes said a lot of the work that has been done thus far is underground, such as the utilities and the irrigation system for the field. The slabs for the concession building and pavilion have been poured and they are starting the fine grading for the infields this week. The red infield material and poles will also see progress this week.

“It’s moving along quite nicely,” Holmes said. “We’ll start seeing a lot of progress out there.”

 

Annual lists

The board of supervisors moved to accept the listing of all county inventory, done annually. Presented by the Tax Assessor/Collector’s office, the board also approved the list of insolvent mobile homes for tax year 2015; the delinquency list for personal property for tax year 2014 and the NSF returned checks list which has been handed over to the District Attorney’s office which will collect the taxes.

 

Pursuing new fire trucks

The board approved a request made by Galey to advertise for financing for new fire trucks for Zetus and New Sight volunteer fire departments.

“Hopefully we’ll have both of those trucks by the end of the year,” Galey said.

 

County selling pick-up truck

The board opened bids for the sale of a truck owned by the county at 10 a.m. Monday. The first bid for the red 1996 Ford F-150 truck was $525. The second bid was $1,000, and the board approved the second bid.