The Baxter County Quorum Court’s July session was highlighted by a resolution to appoint new fire protectioin district commissioners that was originally voted down and later approved. Matt Sharp has the details.
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During the session lasting over an hour, District 6 Justice of the Peace Tink Albright addressed the court prior to all of the resolutions involving appointments to a few boards of commissioners. She stated she has observed fire departments ripped apart by commissioners not ready for the position or not “staying in their lane.” Albright said she won’t recommend an appointment to a board without vetting the potential nominee.
The first such resolution was for the Gamaliel Fire Protection District as Mike St. Romaine and Wayne Roth are unable to complete their three-year terms. Sandra Nelson was nominated to finish St. Romaine’s term through Aug. 2025, and Cindy Blankenship was picked to complete Roth’s term through Aug. 2026. With Justices Ty Chapman and Shannon Walker absent, Rick Steiner and Dirk Waldrop voted in favor of the resolution, but the remaining seven justices voted against it.
Blankenship was in attendance and later addressed the court. She stated she was asked by Roth to finish his term and felt insulted by the court’s vote on behalf of her and Nelson. Blankenship went on to say the court has the right to vote however they feel about a resolution, but she also stated most of the JPs didn’t know her and what she has done for the department that’s reportedly experiencing division. She said all five commissioners felt like she was a good fit, and she wrote a grant in which the department received $76,000. Blankenship says Roth and St. Romaine were leaving the board because of health reasons, and no one else was willing to take on the positions.
At the end of the meeting, Waldrop moved to bring the resolution back up, and the vote was unanimous to do so. After more discussion, a motion was made to table the resolution until August, but it failed with only Albright and Angela DeGroote voting in favor. The quorum court voted one more time on the resolution, and it passed with a vote of 7-2.
All other resolutions passed unanimously. Rudy Dedman was appointed to complete Kevin Lorenz’s three-year term on the Grover Township Fire Protection District board, expiring Oct. 2025. Dan Alderman, Billy Settles and Ronald Wagenblast were reappointed to new three-year terms on the Hand Cove Fire Protection District through July 2027.
Two other votes concerning fire protection districts dealt with grant money. The court unanimously approved an ordinance appropriating over $14,000 from a Rural Community Grant from the state of Arkansas, and it will be distributed to the Cotter-Gassville Rural Fire Protection District. The court also unanimously approved a resolution for Judge Kevin Litty to request a grant from the Arkansas Rural Development Commission for $15,000 for the Clarkridge Volunteer Fire Protection District.
Four other proposed ordinances were also approved unanimously. Over $10,000 in fees and reimbursements were appropriated to the sheriff’s office’s 2024 budget, and more than $18,000 were moved from the road and bridge fund to the road and bridge department’s budget. Another ordinance approved by the court had a total of $41,000 in appropriations into the sheriff’s county general fund and the jail maintenance and operations fund budget.
Two other items were unanimously approved by the court. The JPs agreed to allow Baxter County to conduct business with Shannon White of Shannon’s Lawn Care, and they supported the application for an Automated Records System Grant to purchase new scanners, printers and laptop computers and to preserve six hand-written land transaction books.
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