Monday, Oct 27, the Carroll County Board of Supervisors held their regular month end meeting at the Vaiden Courthouse. Much business was covered in the nearly hour long duration of the meeting. The Board heard from Vaiden Mayor Lesia Hemphill about a matter which was not on the agenda for the meeting concerning the county's request for payment for Sheriff's Office services within the town's limits.
Mayor Hemphill explained that she was there to address the Board about the matter of Carroll County requesting the Town of Vaiden pay a service fee for the Sheriff's Department providing law enforcement services within the town's limits.
“I wanted to address the issues with policing. Vaiden is very small - I reached out to Clint [Walker] a couple months ago to tell him that my chief resigned. So, with that being said, we decided to suspend the police department temporarily, and that’s what I stated. And I read in the paper that he wanted to charge us an additional fee for services,” Mayor Hemphill introduced her topic.
“Now, my stance on that is that Vaiden, which is Carroll County also, [Vaiden] people voted for Clint just like Carrollton and North Carrollton [people] did. So that’s all Carroll County. Vaiden is Carroll County,” she asserted.
“I am not going to agree to pay Clint [Walker] an additional fee for what our tax dollars are already paying for. The Board has already decided on that as well. We did receive a letter from Horan and Horan [law firm]. I will get our attorney to address that, but I wanted to come here and say that personally,” Mayor Hemphill added.
“I don’t think it’s fair. I think it’s greedy of him to even ask for any money. Now the former mayor, he did do that. I didn’t agree with it then, as an alderman. And here, standing as the Mayor of Vaiden, I will not. Clint [Walker] is working for Carroll County. Vaiden is part of Carroll County. Clint [Walker] needs to have his men here to control the area,” she continued.
“We don’t have a high rate of crime here in Vaiden. It’s people getting into it, fussing, cussing, or something like that. Maybe a fight here and there. That’s part of policing, I get that. But at the same time, we don’t have a rate that’s so outrageous - his people, his officers have been patrolling this area anyway. They’ve been doing that for years, since he took office,” Mayor Hemphill stated.
At this point, Mayor Hemphill asked the open meeting if Carrollton and North Carrollton are paying for services for the Sheriff’s Office to cover the policing in their municipalities. In reply, North Carrollton Mayor Ken Strachan, who was attending the meeting, stated that North Carrollton has paid service fees to the county in the past. Board Clerk Casey Carpenter also stated that Carrollton pays service fees to the county as well. He went on to explain that while the exact fees vary per month, Carrollton and North Carrollton both pay roughly $400 a month to the County for Sheriff’s Department policing services to cover their municipalities. After Clerk Carpenter noted this, Mayor Hemphill then remarked on the disparity between the $400 charged to the other municipalities and a proposed $4,000 monthly amount for Vaiden which has been speculated on in previous meetings.
“He’s talking about $4,000 a month. If I paid him $4,000 a month - times twelve, that’s $48,000 a year - We could afford our own police department at that rate. That’s not fair. Now if you’re charging them $400 a month, why aren’t you charging me $400 a month?” Mayor Hemphill interjected.
Board Clerk Carpenter replied that he would pull the information for each town for the Mayor, including the rates each are charged monthly for the Sheriff’s Office services. At this point, Board President Neill questioned the total population of the Town of Vaiden, only including those residents that live within the municipality’s limits. Mayor Hemphill replied that the total population within city limits is a little under 600. Board President Neill went on to say that the county is trying to look for funding for the Sheriff’s Department wherever they can to make up for the lack of funding. He went on to explain that in most cases in the state of Mississippi, municipalities are expected to have their own police force, night watchman, or otherwise peacekeeping officers.
“Most counties in this state that have any kind of little cities, most have some kind of police assistance, or they pay a deputy, a night watchman, or whatever. What we’re trying to do is we’re trying to get the towns to help out. I understand that Vaiden is part of Carroll County, but it’s just that a lot of the little municipalities have some kind of police service - and y’all did have it,” Supervisor Neill explained.
He continued, “We’re just trying to [help] him. He does have officers, but they’re spread thin. It’s a big county. He’s just asking for some help to be able to pay these people. And I think they cover down here a pretty good bit and I believe we get a good bit of calls from the Town of Vaiden.”
Following this, Beat 5 Supervisor Browning requested a call log report for the county from Emergency Operations Director George Gillespie. In addition, Supervisor Browning suggested to Mayor Hemphill that the Town help organize a neighborhood watch of sorts within city limits to help cut down on crime, noting a few instances of vandalism and burglaries in the area. Mayor Hemphill suggested installing cameras in the more active areas, however Supervisor Tucker questioned on what entity the cost of the cameras would fall on, expressing that they would be expensive to install and would require around the clock monitoring. After this discussion, Sheriff Clint Walker requested permission to address Mayor Hemphill’s concerns.
“I would like to make a comment to the Mayor about why we’re charging more down here, that’s definitely based on call volume. We have 50 or 60 calls a month from the Town of Vaiden. At one time, a few years ago, Vaiden had a $160,000 budget in their police department,” Sheriff Walker stated.
“That budget is no longer there,” Mayor Hemphill interjected.
“And for the taxpayers here to be paying for that and to lose that service, that’s where I feel like there’s a problem - but that’s not my fight to fight. - My fight to fight is for the citizens of the county that did elect me, Vaiden included - but for the guys who spend so much time here having to patrol such a heavily populated area, it’s not fair for citizens in other parts of the county. And that’s the reason we’re trying to [do this] - $55,000 a year, Mayor, that wouldn’t hardly put one vehicle on the road, much less pay the department, pay an officer, pay a judge, and pay the prosecutor or pay the court - “
“We’re not trying to pay your whole staff Clint. We just want you to be fair about this,” Mayor Hemphill interjected.
“Us asking three or four thousand dollars a month is a minute amount compared to what it costs the Sheriff’s Department to cover and answer calls and try to provide a police service for the citizens in this town. It’s not an unreasonable request,” Sheriff Walker finished.
Following these comments, Sheriff Walker questioned what happened to the budgeted amount for the police department in Vaiden and questioned why the department was suspended. Mayor Hemphill did not have a direct answer for the question, however she stated that the current budget for the Town of Vaiden is not the same as the one Sheriff Walker referred to. At this point, Supervisor Hurst questioned if the Town of Vaiden intended to reopen their police department, to which Mayor Hemphill replied that first the Town would need to rework the budget.
“$55,000 a year is not enough [money] to have a police department in the Town of Vaiden,” Supervisor Hurst stated.
“It could pay a chief,” Mayor Hemphill replied.
“Yeah, but a chief can’t work 24 hours a day. I think that the City of Vaiden and the Carroll County Sheriff’s Department should be able to work something out, temporarily at least. I think that would be best for your citizens and the county’s citizens,” Supervisor Hurst stated.
At this point the Board encouraged Mayor Hemphill and Sheriff Walker to discuss the topic outside of the meeting.
