Monday, July 28, the Carroll County Board of Supervisors held their regularly scheduled month end meeting. Much information was covered over the nearly hour long meeting, however, little was discussed in depth aside from a few key topics. It is of note that the Board proceeded through this meeting led by Vice President Claude Fluker as Board President Jim Neill was absent, but participated at certain times via phone. The main points of the meeting are as follows.
As the first major matter of business, the Board heard a request from Constable Travis Gatewood.
“The reason I’m here is about my radio that the Sheriff’s Department gave me. The MSWIN radio. I don’t have a channel that EOC can hear me. The channel that’s in here is a WA channel - it’s a training channel, so no one even monitors it, the EOC or the Sheriff’s Department. So, I was trying to get the approval of the Board to see how I can get the [Sheriff’s Department] channel. The right frequency in the radio, cause no one can hear me and I can’t hear them,” Constable Gatewood introduced the topic.
Constable Gatewood went on to explain that according to various deputies he had asked about the channel, the W.A. channel was used primarily for training purposes. According to him, he did not believe that the channel is regularly monitored by the Emergency Operations Center or the Sheriff’s Office.
“I’m working by myself most of the time. I do a lot of - y’all know I serve papers - but I do a lot of evictions and stuff, by myself. I don’t ask for help, but I ask for someone to at least hear me if something happens. For my safety,” Gatewood expressed his concerns.
Constable Gatewood further explained that he would like for his request to be on record, in case it ever needs to be referenced.
“We are the elected officials. The only thing I ask is - you’ve got a man’s life that is on the line when he goes out there, just like everybody else’s life is on the line - straighten this up, is all I ask. Do what we’ve got to do to make it right,” Beat 4 Supervisor Claude Fluker weighed in.
“They’ve got the Wide Area channel that covers throughout the state. He’s got the same coverage as my radio has - as anybody has - so if he calls on the channel, dispatch here, they just pass it to us,” Sheriff Clint Walker stated.
“That’s not what he just told. He said that if he called somebody right now, nobody at EOC is listening to that channel,” Beat 2 Supervisor Josh Hurst reiterated what Constable Gatewood had stated.
Upon being asked about the monitoring of the W.A. Channel by dispatch, EOC Director George Gillespie explained that the channel is monitored in EOC via a radio that is under a desk at the main office. He further explained that this state-wide channel is utilized by deputies during the transporting of inmates.
“Yeah, but if that’s state-wide there’s a lot of chatter on there, and I’m sure it’s one of them that - ‘hey, we’re gonna turn this one down cause they’re chattering all over the state but we’re gonna listen to our local one right here.’ I do the same thing, I don’t listen to the national weather - what’s going on in California - I wanna know what’s going on in Mississippi,” Supervisor Hurst weighed in.
At this point in the conversation, Constable Gatewood noted that he had his radio on from the moment he walked into the meeting room and there had yet to be any noise from it.
“There’s not a lot of noise on that channel,” Sheriff Walker stated.
“What would be the problem with putting y’all channel on it?” Beat 3 Supervisor Dill Tucker questioned.
“It’s the Sheriff’s Office channel, it’s not the Constable channel,” Sheriff Walker replied. “There’s other factors involved that I’m not going to discuss in an open Board meeting. If you want to go into executive session, I’ll discuss that in there. But he does have a channel that has access to speak and get help.”
At a later point during the meeting, the Board voted to go into executive session regarding this issue. During this brief approximately 10-minute meeting, the Board reportedly further discussed an interagency public safety issue, according to Board Attorney Kevin Horan. Attorney Horan also stated that during this executive session, no action was taken.
In other news the Board:
• Tabled the following topics until the next meeting: a presentation by Jamie Holloway and EJ Gregory, quotes to replace the floor tiles in the Carrollton Clinic, an issue regarding a family cemetery request
• Approved to void and reissue check number 147758 written to Vincent McDaniel in the amount of $1,000 on July 1, 2025. The check should be made out to Silver Ridge Farms for project LSBP-08(47).
• Agreed to void and reissue a check to MediQuick in the amount of $40.
• Agreed to reject 3 previous quotes that were received for Beat 5 to purchase one new Ford F-150. There was some confusion on the vehicle specifications.
• Approved for Beat 5 to purchase one new Ford F-150 truck in the amount of $48,692 from Kirk Brothers.
• Agreed to reimburse Supervisors Neill, Hurst, Tucker, Fluker, and Browning as well as Chancery Clerk Casey Carpenter to attend the Mississippi Association of Supervisors 2025 Fall Educational Workshop October 8-10, 2025 at the Oxford Conference Center.
• Approved reimbursement for Christy Noah to attend the Mississippi Association of Governmental Purchasing/ Property agents class at the IP Casino Resort in Biloxi, MS October 26-29, 2025.
• Agreed to advertise in The Conservative for partial closure for County Road 243, Beat 4.
• Approved to pay the following claims: Butler Snow in the amount of $3,000 for Carroll county’s Disclosure Submission for the fiscal year ended on September 30, 2024.
• Agreed to pay Spypoint for 3 cameras in the amount not to exceed $350/annually and AssetTiger in the amount of $220/annually for inventory. These cameras and inventory subscriptions will be paid with the Sheriff’s credit card once a year.
• Approved two State Road Project applications for Beats 4 and 5 and Beats 2 and 3 for Emergency Watershed Protection Projects on County Roads 163, 14, 15, 121, and 184.
• Agreed to having Data Systems start the process of moving the county off of the old AS400 computer to a Cloud IBM iSeries System at the cost of a $2,500 setup fee and $1,500 monthly charge rate. This will start at the beginning of the new budget year.
• Approved the ACA Contract with the CCRCF.
• Agreed to the Amendment to Correctional Communications Service Agreement between CCRCF and the City Tele-coin Company, INC.
• Approved the quote from McCormick Farms for tornado debris cleanup project 4874 in the amount of $7 per cubic yard. The estimated total area for cleanup is approximately 3,000 cubic yards.
• Agreed to pay Leflore County Landfill at the current rate for disposal of tornado debris for project 4874.
• Spread the following items to the minutes: Frances Williams 2025 Justice Court Clerks Conference Certificate of Completion. CCRCF May 2025 Meal Report. Public records request. State Aid Road letter for Forfeiture of LSBP Funds in the amount of $77,445.86. VFIS Accident & Sickness Program Update. Appendix D: Community Heritage Preservation Grant Progress Report #6. Use Tax Monies received in the amount of $765,271.19. Ken Strachan, MEMA Fiscal Year 2025 Quarterly Monitoring Report, MEMA 2025 Training Needs Assessment CEMP & Shelter Support Plan Acknowledgement Form FY 2025 and FEMA sign-in sheet DR 4875-MS. MSU Extension Letter for Carroll County MS Tax Collector and Certification Program. MDAH Courthouse Grant documents and project benchmarks.
• Approved to adjourn until August 4, 2025 in the Vaiden Courthouse at 9 a.m.
