A standard Quorum Court meeting grew contentious toward the end following an argument over the duties of a grant writer for the Faulkner County Sheriff’s Department.
After approving two ordinances — one amending an earlier ordinance requiring a written verification from the Faulkner County OEM/911 Office that an address has been assigned in order to receive utility services and one transferring funds within county offices — the court heard a report from Shana Cook of the grant writing office of the sheriff’s department, which was not on the agenda.
Following the report, JP John Pickett told Sheriff Karl Byrd that the grant writing position was only approved for grant writing and not for any other duties. Cook has been presenting programs in schools based on grants received, such as underage drinking awareness.
At that point, an unidentified deputy called Pickett “an idiot” and had to be escorted from the room by Byrd. County Judge Preston Scroggin called for civility, and the court immediately adjourned.
In other business, Scroggin said that bids will begin on the new courts building in either October or November. Scroggin also said that because of a vacancy on the road police department, he would defer to the sheriff for policing the area of large trucks on county roads. Byrd said the department would police the area “like we always have.”
Scroggin also answered a question by JP Steve Goode concerning guns donated to Damascus, saying that Faulkner County as well as other counties have routinely donated items to other municipalities, such as vehicles and other assets.
“It’s not an uncommon practice,” he said.
Comments (14)
Add commentI'm disappointed that all the
I'm disappointed that all the in-the-know pundits have not chimed in with the "real" story behind this story.
And, really Richard, an "unidentified" deputy? Most everybody at the county fair already knew before the noon time rides opened.
Name please.
And the answer is? I don't know the deputy's name.
REALLY
JP John Pickett told Sheriff Karl Byrd that the grant writing position was only approved for grant writing and not for any other duties.
Last 3 jobs I have had included in my job description any other duties as assigned to cover any not mentioned (kind of a catch all thing)
Well
Perhaps he's approaching it from the standpoint of "focus". If there are grants out there that they are eligible to apply for but the deadline gets missed because the writer was too busy doing other things then I could see his point. Granted, we don't know if that was the case or not so it's all speculation.
If it was me who hired a grant writer for my agency I would certainly prefer that they don't do anything else with their time until every grant that the agency is eligible for is applied for.
I Agree
A good grant writer is worth their weight in gold
Figure at the least if you can get 4X your salary minimum in grants every year coming into an agency you have justified your existence
Civility
I recall anonymous posters, purported to represent the FCSO as employees/officers, presenting less-than-civil opinions in this very forum.
Is it possible we're seeing a cultural thing here?
And a FCSO S having a less than civil response to a meeting of city government does not portend well for the culture. They realize the county wasn't formed to give sheriff jobs, right?
Well...
...this is ALL Mark Vaught's fault.
Civility reigned in local politics before Mark took office and stole every citizen's money to pay for all his pet projects.
Sincerely,
Conversative123/Teapartyist
Must have been a slow news day
I attended the Quorum court meeting and was surprised to learn there was an 'argument' and 'a deputy escorted' from the courtroom. When the person said 'idiot', he was already leaving and Sheriff Byrd said to him, "get out of here". He left.
It is always interesting to read/hear about things that happen at meetings I attend. I thought I was pretty attentive, but I sure miss alot!
Mark, guess somehow that's your fault.
Yes...
...Mark Vaught has caused an increase in Attention Deficit Disorder.
As reported by this very paper, there were zero reports of ADD prior to Mark's election.
Sincerely,
Conservative123/Teapartyist
Like We Always Have??
" Scroggin also said that because of a vacancy on the road police department, he would defer to the sheriff for policing the area of large trucks on county roads. Byrd said the department would police the area “like we always have.”
Would Scroggin be requesting that the Sheriff's office provide the same level of 'policing' that his road cop did? Let's see: A whopping FOUR (4) citations were issued in a 5 year period by this "necessary" position. NO citations were issued since the summer of 2010 - yes folks, NOTHING in over two years. None of the four citations ever issued by Scroggin's road cop were for over-weight limit or related to commercial traffic at all (they were all for following too close and one failure to yield).
Yet, this 'necessary' position created at a salary exceeding 40k needed a patrol vehicle, 4 AR15 Rifles with a large amount of ammo, and they only ever found 4 infractions of DOT regulations? Does this smell right to anyone?