Although she is starting her fourth term in the Arkansas General Assembly, state Rep. Sonia Barker is now beginning to represent the newly created District 96, which includes half of Bradley County.
Barker appeared at Tuesday’s Bradley County Quorum Court meeting along with her husband. They live in Smackover and have three adult children plus several grandchildren. She has served as a teacher for more than 30 years.
Top photo: Bradley County Quorum Court met Tuesday for the first meeting of the year. Shown, from left, front row, are JPs Jimmy Sledge, Alton Richard, Pat Morman, Dana Harvey; back row, Bobby Hargrave, Tony Cathey, Gwen Bullard and Jim Anders. Not present was Eddie Wayne Parnell. Photo by Tim Kessler.
She is currently serving on the Education, Joint Audit and Joint Energy committees. She described herself as a Christian, conservative Republican. She sponsored the Fairness In Women’s Sports Act last term.
New JPs Dana Harvey and Tony Cathey took their seats. JP Eddie Wayne Parnell was the only member not present due to medical issues.
In other action:
- Bradley County Medical Center CEO Leslie Huitt said, “It’s a tough time in the hospital business,” due to watered-down cost reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid, which the local critical access hospital needs to depend upon. She said the present hospital facilities are more than 70 years old with strains in the infrastructure. An upcoming master plan will focus on those issues.
Huitt said a USDA grant was approved last year which helped with several equipment purchases. Another $1 million USDA grant was applied for Tuesday to help with hospital roof repairs, with the hospital’s portion of the cost to be $650,000, if approved.
County Judge Klay McKinney noted that the county sales tax has about $4 million available for hospital capital improvements.
JP Pat Morman commented that ambulance services at the hospital had greatly improved. Huitt responded that the ambulance personnel have been “very responsive” to hospital requests.
- Bradley County Economic Development Corp. Chairman Dr. Bob Smalling presented an invitation to BCEDC’s annual meeting, which will be held at 5:30 p.m. Jan. 30 at Immanuel Baptist Church. State Secretary of Commerce Hugh McDonald or Arkansas Economic Development Commission Director Clint O’Neal will be the guest speaker.
- McKinney presented the Sheriff’s Department’s annual report, as Sheriff Herschel Tillman was attending the Arkansas Sheriffs Association’s annual conference. Virtual Justice Fund fines totaled $93,286.33; Circuit Court fines, $11,068.86; Ordinance 609 Jail Maintenance Fund, $37,480.09; and liquor sales tax, $2,052.31.
There were 155 transports totaling 25,537 miles, 794 papers served, 229 tickets or citations issued, 25 felony cases including five murder cases, 64 misdemeanor cases and expenses for housing inmates totaling $283,967.79.
“The jail issue is the greatest resource we’ll have to work out for the next 30-40 years,” McKinney said. He added that the county had 28 prisoners housed in area jails last month and 2,500 state prisoners are currently being held in county jails. A proposal for a Southeast Arkansas Regional Jail housing local, Drew County, state and federal prisoners at the Warren Industrial Park was deemed economically unfeasible by LaSalle Corrections last year.
- McKinney said the county recently received 8 inches of rain which led to the county using 278 loads of gravel to repair county roads.
He said flooring was redone on the first floor of the courthouse and the bottom floor will be done soon. He said the bell tower work will be completed in the next two to three weeks, with a Florida firm fixing the clock and Corker Electric doing electrical work to add lights to the bell tower. McKinney said the total cost of the bell tower renovation was $495,074 mostly through grants and $30,000 in county funding.
McKinney said that since December, about 30 road signs had been stolen. Such thefts cost the county about $12,000 per year.
- An ordinance was approved to set regular Quorum Court meeting dates for 6 p.m. on the third Monday of each month, except for January and February, which are scheduled for the third Tuesday due to holidays.
- McKinney will represent Southeast Arkansas in the Association of Arkansas Counties. JP Jim Anders will represent Bradley County in the Arkansas Association of Quorum Courts. Justices appointed French Wynne III to fill the unexpired term of Kenneth McDougald on the BCMC board of directors.
