Supervisors OK paving equipment purchase, table dump trucks

The Franklin County Board of Supervisors received bids for and voted to purchase an asphalt spreader and trailer to haul it with during the panel’s regular business session held Monday, Feb. 6.

Bids for the machine were opened at 10 a.m., with two companies — Mid-South Machinery and Puckett Machinery Co. — vying for the county’s business.

Mid-South Machinery had two bids — one for a new machine and another for a used machine.

The bid for the new machine, a Leeboy 8530, was $297,000, with a two-year warranty and an estimated delivery date of May, 2024.

The company also offered $20,000 in trade for the county’s old paving machine.

The bid for the used spreader, also a Leeboy, was for $190,480 with the same trade-in offer of $20,000.

The used spreader was available immediately.

Puckett Machinery’s bid was for a new 2023 Weiler P385 asphalt spreader with a five-year warranty, in the amount of $249,543.06, with an estimated delivery by the end of April.

The panel also received a separate bid from Puckett Machinery Co., for a Lowboy trailer to haul the spreader on as well as a piece used in loading equipment onto the trailer.

The price for both was $110,995.50 with a one-year warranty and with an estimated delivery date late March.

The board voted to purchase the spreader and the trailer from Puckett — pending delivery by June 30 — as their bids were the lowest and best.

Supervisors also opened sealed bids for tandem- and single-axle dump trucks, with two companies — Truckworx and Burroughs Diesel — submitting bids.

Bids for the dump trucks were taken under advisement due to both companies having a delivery date for the trucks that was after June 30.

Mississippi statutes prohibit county boards of supervisors from making purchases over a certain dollar amount in the last six months of their four-year term so as not to place indebtedness on an incoming board.

Also during the meeting, supervisors heard from Kim Ford and Dorothy Butler — representatives from Canopy Children’s Solutions — about the organization’s LINK program.

The program is a free resource available to all Mississippi families, and seeks to connect those families in need with the initiatives to help them.

“We have offices all over Mississippi, and what we do is connect families with resources and support to build stronger and healthier relationships within families with children,” Ford, a family advocate with the service, said.

“We link resources to families with children at home if they need help finding furniture, if they need help with utility bills … we link them to resources like AJFC and different organizations that can assist them with their bills.

“We also do active parenting classes for families with kids in the home — if they have kids with mental health issues or have a troubled kid in the home. We go in the homes and show videos to enhance their parenting skills.

“We also provide families with short-term or long-term support to manage family crises. More information can be found online at mycanopy.org/link or by calling 1-800-388-6247.”

Some other resources available through the program include community education classes about substance abuse, teen pregnancy prevention, domestic violence, child abuse and neglect, warning signs of suicide, child development, support for mental and behavioral health challenges and formation and maintenance of a two-parent household.

The service also helps families who are struggling financially by connecting them with community partners who can provide donations of items such as clothing, personal hygiene items and household cleaning supplies.

Butler, who works as a family navigator with the outreach, said the LINK program started last year, and has serviced more than 2,700 families in the Magnolia State since it began, with about five or six of those being local families.

In other action during the session, supervisors considered these pieces of business:

• Voted to pay Belinda Stewart Architects in the amounts of $379.02 and $5,197.97 for services rendered on the Mississippi Department of Archives and History grant received for courthouse repair.

Chancery Clerk Jill Jordan Gilbert told the panel she asked the architectural firm for an update and learned the repair project is expected to be put out for bids as early as March.

• Approved paying $6,000 to Delta Harris Computer Systems — with $3,000 of that amount being for a license fee and $3,000 a software fee necessary for upgrading the county’s land records technology.

• Gave approval for the Southwest Mississippi Planning and Development to hold their luncheon meeting in Franklin County.

The next business meeting for the Franklin County Board of Supervisors will be held at 9 a.m., Tuesday, Feb. 21 at the courthouse in Meadville.

The meeting, typically held on the third Monday of the month, was moved due to the Presidents Day holiday observance.