(LAWRENCE CO.) – Lawrence County Council members approved giving a stipend to some Lawrence County employees from COVID-19 relief funds.
Lawrence County full-time employees who were hired before December 1, 2020, will receive $1,000 and permanent part-time employees will receive $500. Those checks will be given out next Tuesday.
In other business:
- Approved Lawrence County Sam Arp’s request to hire an employee
- Approved Lawrence County 9-1-1 Director Valarie Lauchauer’s request to transfer funds for additional insurance cost for an employee.
- Approved Lawrence County Clerk Billie Tumey’s request for election fund transfers in the amount of $6,291.
- Approved Lawrence County Public Defender Bruce Andis’s request for $70,000 to cover public defenders up to the end of the year.
- Approved Lawrence County Health Nurse Mary Kinser’s request to hire Kathy Kimmel as a part-time Health Specialist.
- Approved Lawrence County Sheriff’s Mike Branham’s request to hire a jailer and dispatcher.
Lawrence County Prosecutor Sam Arp told the county council members they are trying their best to keep the jail population down at the Lawrence County Jail. However violent offenders will find themselves behind bars. Local police agencies have been asked to issue summons to appear in court on lesser offenses.
The Department of Corrections is experiencing delays in accepting inmates, which causes the Lawrence County jail to get overcrowded. Arp has had to request inmates be picked up on more than one occasion.
The Lawrence County Council member’s also asked Bruce Andis, Lawrence County Public defenders about a large number of court orders regarding the payment to public defenders. “This was because the cases that public defenders were assigned are still continuing. The special public defenders assigned to those cases are paid by an hourly rate,” said Andis.
The county council members congratulated David Flinn on serving the Lawrence County residents for the last 16 years.
Lawrence County Council members Janie ” Craig” Chenault and Julie Heweston thanked Flinn for his help and service over the years.
