911 dispatch employee sparks disagreement

BY PHILL BARNETT
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

INEZ — The Martin County Fiscal Court met Monday for the first time with Judge/Executive Lon Lafferty at the helm since his previous tenure as judge/executive.

The court voted on two appointments to the Martin County Tourism Board. 

At Lafferty’s recommendation, the court voted to reappoint tourism board member Jarrod Slone.

Tourism chairperson Nita Collier recommended Tyler Hall also be appointed. The fiscal court voted to appoint Hall. 

As planned in previous meetings, the board accepted TEK Center’s bid to lease the old Inez transfer station at a rate of $1 per year. TEK Center will begin skilled trade certification training in Inez in February 2023.

The 911 Office appealed to the court for a status change from a part-time dispatch employee to full-time. 

Magistrates Roger Preece and Junior Hunt motioned to table the status change until next month’s meeting because they had not heard about the request and wanted time to evaluate the employee’s merit. 

However, after hearing from 911 director Nick Endicott, the other three magistrates voted against Preece and Hunt.

Endicott recommended the status change personally and explained that it would relieve the need for overtime hours for existing full-time employees. 

Magistrate Derrick Stepp motioned to approve the status change. The court voted to approve the status change in a rare split decision.

The court voted to approve other business, including a treasury bond, financial records and switching the county’s bank signature to Lafferty’s.