The only candidate for the Beat 2 Supervisor position that was present at tonight's meeting was me: Barbara Tuchel. What are the rest of you thinking? You want a seat at the table and you can't be bothered to show up at a Supervisors' Meeting? A pox on your house.
One of the discussions tonight was about a GreenTech Memo of Understanding. A bit of background: The original agreement with this company stated that they would be up and running and have hired 300 employees by 31 Dec 2014. If these goals were not met, GreenTech would have to pay back the entire loan within 60 days. Additionally, GreenTech would be awarded a 10 year tax abatement except for the taxes due to our schools.
GreenTech did not meet their promise to Tunica County and the State of MS and they didn't pay back the money loaned to them. Now, GreenTech is asking the Board of Supervisors to agree to another Memo of Understanding that would reduce their investment from $60 million to $30 million and the employee requirement from 300 to 150. Additionally, they wanted 7 years of tax abatement.
The Board agreed to 5 years of tax abatement and 50% of their employees must live in Tunica County. During the discussion, Rev Daley let us know that 300-400 Tunican have completed the silver and gold level certificates to qualify for these jobs and no one has received an interview.
Additionally, Michael Thompson had to explain to Cedric Burnett that GreenTech is only in the Beta phase of their production. That is,they are still trying to perfect their product. Why didn't Burnett already know this? On a regular basis, Burnett continues to throw out demands for others to immediately come up with answers to his obtuse questions. And Burnett doesn't even know what is going on at GreenTech? Shameful.
Further, Burnett again said we needed to fire the County Administrator and the Board Attorney and hire people who live in Tunica County. Really? Newsflash Burnett: Adrian McKay and Hylon Oliver don't live in Tunica County. What about them? What about this Burnett: Neither the County Administrator nor the Board Attorney try to vote in our elections. You have already received copies of Adrian McKay's Homestead Exemption in Desoto County. You have been notified that McKay, the Tunica County Comptroller, tried to vote in our Primary Election on 4 Aug 2015 at the Tunica Library.
Next subject: It is my understanding that during Executive Session there was a discussion about raises. When department heads submitted their budgets for the 2015-2016 fiscal year, some included raises for some employees. When these departmental budgets were approved, these raises were included. Now, Dunn and Burnett are saying they didn't realize and/or weren't told about the raises being included.
Here's the rub: In the old days, raises in Tunica County were given across the board without consideration of merit. That hasn't worked for us very well and the old policy doesn't encourage superior performance. Our pay scales are so out of wack that the Stennis Study showed that about 1/3 of our employees are being overpaid; 1/3 are being underpaid and about 1/3 are about right. Dunn and Burnett: your past policies caused these discrepancies in pay. Get with the program. We can't afford to go back to the old policies.
Let me end as I began this post: The current Beat 2 Supervisor has not done a good job. The only candidate that consistently shows up at meetings; studies the issues; informs the public and has a written and published platform is me: Barbara Tuchel.
I am asking for your vote. I have big plans for Beat 2.
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