Four ordinances adopted by Quorum Court
Will fund expenses for jail and set new fund for ARPA money
Justices adopted ordinances this week to fund expenses for the jail and to establish a new fund for the American Rescue Plan Act money.
The jail expenses include hiring a full-time registered nurse and purchasing a van to transport inmates to and from hearings at the courthouse.
St. Francis County Judge Gary Hughes said, the ARP Revenue Replacement Fund is subject to all of the normal county budgeting, appropriation and expenditure regulations.
"This is not an appropriation ordinance," said Hughes. "There is a need to establish a county general sub-fund on the books of the county to track the revenue replacement funds taken from the ARPA fund. This would create it on the books of the St. Francis County Treasurer and St. Francis County Clerk."
Justices unanimously voted to adopt the ordinance.
The ordinance to appropriate $5,962,410.18 to the SFC Jail Construction Account was also adopted.
Hughes said funds for the construction of the jail have to be approved and appropriated at the end of each fiscal year.
"These funds will be used to pay construction charges made in connection with the construction of the St. Francis County Jail," said Hughes.
"This ordinance was recommended and sponsored by the budget committee.
Obviously you all approved of the construction of the jail to begin with, but at the end of every year, the auditors ask us to reapprove the amount of money that was spent on the construction of the jail. This is the amount that actually went out the door on construction account of the Jail in 2021."
Justice also unanimously agreed to the hiring of a fulltime nurse at the jail to replace the county’s current TurnKey service.
"This ordinance approves an amendment to the budget for jail maintenance for this year. This amendment allows for the inclusion of all sums necessary for the hiring of a registered nurse for $30 an hour for 40 hours each week. In January of 2021 we hired a medical company called TurnKey. It has not worked out."
The ordinance approving $75,000 for the transport van was approved.
"The St. Francis County Sheriff's Department will need a transport vehicle to bring inmates to the courthouse for hearings from the new jail facility," said Hughes. The transport van is already outfitted for the job. It is in good shape and practically new. It is a 10-passenger transit bus."
The original agenda for the St. Francis County Quorum Court meeting stated that Ordinance 22-03 was to appropriate funds to the Forrest City Industrial Development Corporation, however, according to Hughes, this was changed due to not receiving a letter of financial commitment from one of five organizations regarding the hiring of an economic developer.
"I had explained to the Quorum Court at the last meeting that it was a partnership between Forrest City, the Forrest City Area Chamber of Commerce, the A&P Commission, the Forrest City Industrial Development Corporation and the county," said Hughes. "They were interested to make sure that everyone was a financial partner in this and not just saying they are a partner. I told them I would not ask them to vote on this until we had a letter of commitment from each of these organizations."