Quorum Court passes ordinances

EL DORADO — The Union County Quorum Court approved three ordinances and one resolution at their monthly meeting that took place on Thursday.

The finance committee met prior to the quorum court meeting to discuss the ordinances, which were all three approved.

The $4,500 for the courthouse and the Arkansas Historic Preservation Society was approved as Ordinance No. 1435 by a 9-0 vote.

An appropriated sum of $26,666.66 was approved for May through December 2017 due payable to The El Dorado Boys and Girls Club per the Management Contract. The vote was 9-0, and was named Ordinance No. 1436.

The last corporate ordinance was to add $45,000 to the county jail in two categories: $30,000 into the county jail part-time budget; $15,000 into the jail’s over-time budget.

“That covers our jail staff, that covers our nursing staff and that covers our communication,” Union County Sheriff Ricky Roberts said. “So it’s not just one or two people, It’s 30.”

Roberts explained that with said 30 employees, giving them an average of two weeks vacation per year adds up to 300 days where there is not a full staff working. That’s not counting sick time, he added.

During the day, the jail has three jailers working and at night, four.

The jail has also reduced their part-time nursing staffs' hours from 26 to 8 hours a week. “Now we have non-medical staff handing out medicine,”

Roberts said. “We’re saying we want to back off from 26 hours on our nursing staff to somewhere around 16 to 20, and with that, we can do it with the money that we’re asking for,” Roberts added.

The motion was approved 9-0 and named Ordinance No. 1437.

Greg Harrison was approved and appointed to the El Dorado-Union County Recreation Complex Board. The resolution was approved 9-0, being named Resolution No. 480.