Board of Supervisors’ Meeting 13 Apr 2012

Did you forget something? Last Fri night at 5p was the second Board of Supervisors’ Meeting for the month of May. The next meeting is on Mon, 30 Apr 2012 at 5p. Mark your calendars. These meetings are important.

The Transparency Committee presented the results of some of the projects we have been working on. Some projects contained new discoveries and others we have had long discussions about with the Board of Supervisors and we were asking for conclusions.

The reports by the Transparency Committee were placed in alphabetical order for delivery. A copy of our reporting and documentation is always left with the Board of Supervisors. This committee does not and has not asked for an appointment without being prepared. The subjects presented were: Claims for Mar 2012; the Election Commission; R. C. Irwin Library; the Recreation Department and Tunica National.

To save time and to not “bombard” the reader with too much information, let’s just skip to Tunica National. In Jan 2012, this Committee sent a Freedom of Information letter to the County Administrator and the Board’s Attorney. In the letter we asked for the names and addresses of each and every member of Tunica National.

The first letter received no response. So, we asked again and received a letter from the Board’s Attorney stating that Tunica County did not have the requested information. In 2003, there was an act of the MS State Legislature submitted by Rep. Henderson

“TO AUTHORIZE THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF TUNICA COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI, TO PROVIDE FUNDING TO TUNICA COUNTY PUBLIC PROJECTS, INC., OR TUNICA COUNTY ARENA AND EXPOSITION CENTER, INC., OR BOTH, FOR THE MANAGEMENT, PROMOTION, OPERATION AND MAINTENACE OF A PUBLIC GOLF AND TENNIS COMPLEX, ARENA AND RIVER PARK; TO AUTHORIZE THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF TUNICA COUNTY TO LEASE SUCH PUBLIC FACILITIES TO SUCH ENTITIES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.”

This Committee couldn’t figure out why this would be necessary. So, we asked. What we were told is that there are some things our County government could not do, like “run gift shops” and this legislation took care of that.

At this point, Mr. Dunn said we were “bombarding” the Board with too much information at 5p on a Fri night. Mr. Dunn, you are paid approximately $1000 for each meeting of the Board of Supervisors. If you are in a hurry, give the gavel to Mr. Nickson and be on your way. We were there on a Fri night. Why was it such a hardship on you?

Back to the story of Tunica National: By the time the Transparency Committee met the next day, we had learned that there are 2458 government owned golf courses in these United States. Can you imagine any golf course not having a pro shop?

We also found some interesting case studies looking at the pros and cons of government operating government owed golf courses. Oh, but we wouldn’t want to “bombard” the reader with too much information.