Volunteers on Newton County’s Special Response Team will soon be covered under the county’s insurance for injuries on the job.
In a Board of Supervisors meeting Thursday, SRT commander Joedy Pennington, spoke about a recent training injury and how it highlighted the need for volunteers to be covered. During a training exercise, a deputy on the SRT team broke his ankle in several places. Since the deputy was employed with the county, workman’s compensation was already set up.
“That go us thinking,” Pennington said. “If this was a volunteer, not a certified employee of the county, what would have happened to them.”
The county’s SRT team is currently made up of eight deputies and eight volunteers. While all members of the team have been deputized to perform the duties of the team, only the eight deputies would be covered under the county’s insurance in the event of an injury.
Supervisor Joe Alexander said all SRT members are sworn in as deputies, but only the full-time deputies, who work at the Sheriff’s department in addition to SRT duties, are paid. Volunteers, he said, are not on the payroll, which is why they aren’t covered by insurance.
“They have to be a part of the Sheriff’s office to do this,” Alexander said. “That’s why they’re sworn in. They’re not on payroll.”
After speaking with Chancery Clerk George Hayes, Pennington said the two figured it would cost the county about $700 to add the eight volunteer SRT members to the county’s insurance. However, after discussing the board wanted to make sure all SRT members were covered, regardless of possible team expansion in the future.
“We need to word it so all volunteers of the SRT are covered,” Alexander said.
The board passed a motion to provide workman’s compensation for all present and future volunteers with money taken from the general fund. The insurance can be used to help cover costs from injuries that occur due to training exercises or calls.
In Thursday’s meeting, the Board of Supervisors also learned about a new push from the Secretary of State’s Office to switch to paper ballots for elections. Circuit Clerk Mike Butler told the board paper ballots are gaining traction at both the state and Federal levels.
Butler introduced Bill Lowe, a representative from ES&S, which makes paper ballot voting machines for polling places. Lowe brought one of his company’s machines with him for the supervisors to test out.
“We have seven counties currently using this system,” Lowe said.
The voting machine, Lowe explained, is a secure scanning system. Voters fill out a paper ballot, place it in the scanner and the machine registers the information. As a failsafe, the paper ballots are also collected into a locked box within the machine, which can be removed after polls close.
“You can’t hack a paper ballot,” he said. “It doesn’t matter how you count it. You’ll always have that paper ballot.”
Additionally, Lowe said, the voting machines come with a 6-hour battery backup to allow voting to continue if power fails at the polling place.
To meet the county’s election needs, the board would need to purchase 18 machines, Butler said. That would cost about $160,000.
Currently, the county has about $80,000 earmarked for new election equipment. Butler said an additional $28,000 grant may be available from the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office. He said the board will need to find a way to cover the additional $50,000 or so for the machines.
The supervisors agreed the machines will have to be purchased sooner or later but did not approve the purchase. Without a county administrator, the supervisors said they were not comfortable moving forward without a clear idea of where the money would come from.
“I think we need to table this until we get a county administrator,” Alexander said. “But, I don’t want to lose the $28,000.”
The board agreed Butler should go ahead and apply for the $28,000 from the Secretary of State’s office. When he had a better idea of when the county would know if they’re application was approved or denied, the county could work toward locating the money for the machines.
