WINONA – The Winona Board of Aldermen must decide whom to appoint to fill a recently vacated seat on the Winona Montgomery Consolidated School Board.
At Tuesday’s meeting of the Winona Mayor and Board of Aldermen, Mayor Jerry Flowers informed the board that they would need to appoint someone to fill an open school board seat vacated when Tonny Seals resigned in June. The appointed member would only be required to serve out the remainder of Seals term which expires on December 31, 2018.
In November, county voters, outside the city limits of Winona, will elect two school board members, and they will take office on January 1. Seals’ seat will become one of the elected seats.
Flowers said City Attorney Ray Baum sought an attorney general’s opinion on whether the city had to appoint someone to serve out the term or if the seat could remain open. Baum said the opinion stated that the board must appoint a new member to serve out the remainder of this year – around four-and-a-half months.
Flowers asked the board to think on possible appointees, and he said he would speak to Dr. Teresa Jackson, superintendent of the Winona Montgomery Consolidated School District, and ask for the district’s recommendations as well.
In other city business:
• Winona Chief of Police Tommy Bibbs submitted a letter to the board regarding a recent policy change at the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department. Bibbs referred to a July 24 memo from Montgomery County Sheriff Bubba Nix that explained the county’s new jail policy. According to the memo, Montgomery County prisoners are no longer being taken to the Carroll Montgomery Regional Correctional Facility.
However, Winona Police Department is still housing inmates at the Vaiden facility.
Since Winona prisoners become county prisoners once they are bound over to the action of the grand jury, these prisoners will need to be transferred to the custody of the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department.
According to the memo, any prisoner bound over to the grand jury, must be brought “municipal court dressed in civilian clothes and must have with him all belongings taken at the time of his incarceration. The Winona Police Department should then bring the individual from Municipal Court to the Montgomery County Courthouse, along with their belongings, to transfer to our custody.”
Winona Police Department’s Chief of Police Tommy Bibbs responded to the memo with a letter, agreeing to the new policy and adding any time a transfer of custody occurs “a body receipt will be signed at the time the inmate is received by the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department” to prevent “any potential liability issues” between the two agencies.
• Recreational youth soccer, football, and cheerleading signups will be held today, August 14, and August 16 at the Winona Recreational Park from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m. Parents can all sign up on August 17 from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. at Winona City Hall on Summit Street.
• Because the Mississippi Department of Transportation has to approve the placement of any new street signs, Winona Main Street Director Sue Stidham said the board’s recent measure to install the new decorative street signs along the city’s highways – Middleton Road, Highway 51, and Highway 407 – could take several months depending on how long MDOT takes to approve the signs. She requested the board go ahead and order signs for more city streets, the most heavily traveled, while the city waits for approval. The board agreed.
• The board transferred part-time workers, Nick Murphy and Mitch Stewart, from the water department to the park department. The two will be working eight to 10 hours each week.
• A one-day baseball tournament will be held Saturday at the Winona Recreational Park.
• The board hired Alonzo Robinson to work for the Winona Street Department.
• The board voted to start condemnation proceedings on property located at 509 Church Street and 516 Church Street due to high grass and vegetation.
• The board voted to hire Shane Turner as an officer at the Winona Police Department.
• The board accepted the resignation of Winona Police Officer Jay Bennett, effective August 3.
• The board authorized the payment of $8,614 as the city’s portion of a grant match for $344,574 from the Federal Aviation Administration to construct new hangers at the Winona Montgomery Municipal Airport.
• The board approved the request from Family Healthcare Clinic to hold a 5K run on August 11 beginning in downtown Winona.
• Flowers invited the board and the community to attend Saturday’s Coffee with Cops set for 10 a.m. at Winona Baptist Church, located at the corner of Highway 51 and Campbell Street in Winona.
