Quorum Court appoints panels, board members
Justices of the Peace sat with distance between themselves Thursday during the first meeting of the Union County Quorum Court of 2021, which was limited in attendance due to new COVID-19 guidelines from the Arkansas Department of Health restricting gatherings of more than 10 people unless directly approved by the state agency.
COVID-19 cases continued to rise throughout the winter statewide, and Gov. Asa Hutchinson announced in December that starting in the new year, no gatherings of 10 or more people were to be held unless the organizing body submitted a health and safety plan to the ADH that was subsequently approved.
As a result, Thursday’s Quorum Court meeting was limited to 25 attendees, including county officials, who comprised most of the meeting’s participants.
The meeting was the first for two new JPs: Gary New, representing District 4, and Donnie Crawford, representing District 8, both of whom won primary races against their opponents, former JPs Dean Storey, who passed away earlier this month, and Will Crowder.
One item of business discussed Thursday was the appointment of Robert Henderson to the Union County Library Board, which was unanimously approved by present JPs. Union County Library Systems Executive Director Michael O’Connell was present at the meeting, as was Library Board
Chairman Ken Goudy.
Henderson is the owner of Sim’s Mortuary and previously ran for a seat on the El Dorado City Council. He has also been considered for a seat on the El Dorado Works Board multiple times.
“It is with great pleasure that I, Robert Henderson, have been appointed to the Union County Library Board,” Henderson said Sunday in a text message to a News-Times reporter. “I would like to say thank you to the Quorum Court and County Judge Mike Loftin for approving my application to serve on the Board.”
JPs also filled a vacancy left by Storey on the Quorum Court’s Finance Committee. Chairman Mike Dumas, who is a JP for District 1, nominated District 5 JP Carolyn Jones for the position.
“I’m glad to have her,” District 6 JP Cecil Polk, who seconded Dumas’ nomination and also is a member of the Finance Committee, said after unanimous agreement that she should sit on the committee.
Union County Judge Mike Loftin also announced Cliff Wright’s new position as Chairman of the Union County Election Commission. Wright, a Republican, served on the commission through the 2020 election.
“I just want to say that our job is to ensure that we have smooth elections with the utmost integrity and we want Union County to be the benchmark the other 74 counties (in Arkansas) will be measured by,” Wright said.
Loftin said he is glad Wright has taken the position of commission chair.
“He helped with the early voting, absentee ballot counting and all that. Everything went really smooth,” Loftin said. “I, for one, am glad to have him as chairman of the commission. I believe we can work together and things will go a whole lot smoother going forward.”