Ordinances adopted to help recruit economic developer, support regional airport

The St. Francis County Quorum Court on Tuesday adopted numerous ordinances.

The ordinances allow the county to make a final payment to settle a lawsuit, to help fund the hiring of an economic developer and to discontinue 1 millage of county personal and real estate taxes until the new jail is paid off.

County Judge Gary Hughes presented the ordinance before the Court.

"We are going to look at these ordinances that are recommended by the budget committee," said Hughes. "The first one is an appropriation of funds for a lawsuit the county was involved in. I won't go into a lot of detail on these ordinances unless you all have questions about them or the information about them."

The ordinance shows that $6,467.78 would be appropriated from the jail maintenance account to be paid to Air Evac EMS, Inc., in settlement of its claim against the estate of Gary Mensing. Mensing’s family previously the county and its jail after Mensing died while in custody.

The ordinance regarding the economic developer position allows the county to appropriate $139,745.25 from the St. Francis County Industrial Development fund to pay to the Forrest City Industrial Development Corporation for the purposes of hiring an economic developer for the county and Forrest City.

According to the ordinance, the funds would be paid in three installments of $46,581.75 due on April 1 this year and the next two years.

Another ordinance is to appropriate funds to the Delta Regional Airport in Colt.

According to the ordinance, $15,000 will be appropriated each year for this year and the next two years, pending approval each year by the Quorum Court after receiving an annual report from the DRA.

"The last time we met, we were not going to be able to give the airport and funding," said Justice David Coleman.

"What changed on that was that we overlooked a statute that was passed in 2021 that allows counties to fund regional airports," said Hughes. "So, originally I did not think there was any way we could have given them funding, but when they found this statute, I allowed them to come in and speak to us during the budget committee meeting."

Justice Regan Hill explained to justices that by removing 1 mil from the tax books until the jail facility is entirely paid off, the county would keep the jail from costing residents of the county.

"On the average, citizens of St. Francis County and Forrest City will see an equal offset by dropping this tax," said Hill. "By doing this, the majority of residents in St. Francis County will have a major offset where they

will not feel the pressure of the tax on them."

"Our next ordinance is a big appropriation," said Hughes. "This will help fund additional staff as well as moving from one jail to the other."

The ordinance shows that $523,440 would be appropriated to cover hiring new employees along with funding the moving from the old jail to the new.

Another ordinance appropriates $122,693 to fund the sheriff's department’s purchase of digital radios.

All ordinances were adopted unanimously.