Izard Co. Quorum Court kicks off 2025
All members of the Izard County Quorum Court met in their first regular session meeting of 2025 last Monday evening. Prior to formally convening the meeting, County Judge Eric Smith administered the Oath of Office to all JPs (see photo).
New to the Court this year are JPs Mark Simino, Quillen Edwards, Frances Syce and Doug Harbor, who took their assigned seats aside the other JPs following the swearing-in ceremony.
Having no Old Business with which to deal, Judge Smith moved along, introducing Ordinance 2025-1 which set the regular meeting time/place, meeting procedures and other “rules of the Izard County Quorum Court”.
Approval and passage of such a measure is standard procedure at the beginning of each year, however this year the specifics were codified in the form of a lengthy ordinance which detailed many other items including the responsibilities and duties of the County Clerk and the County Prosecuting Attorney as they relate to the Quorum Court.
Additionally, the ordinance specifies the County Committees and the membership of each as follows: Finance – John David Miller (chair), Justin Thornton, Doug Harbor; Public Works & Building – Rich Emmens (chair), Kelly Hatman, Quillen Edwards; Public Health, Safety & Human Resources – Mark Simino (chair), Randy Sherrell, Frances Syce.
A section of the ordinance also outlined the rules regarding Executive Sessions, notification to the public of meetings, and compliance with the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
County Clerk Joe Cooper proceeded to read the ordinance in its entirety, followed by two more readings by title only, at which time the measure was passed by unanimous vote.
Resolution 2025-1 authorizing the County Judge to apply for a $15,000 matching grant from the Arkansas Rural Development Commission was next to be addressed by the Court. The grant, if awarded, will be used to make improvements to the former Flat Rock School building including a new roof, painting and other repairs.
Before voting, it was shared that the grant would be matched against $15,000 that had been raised already for the project by a private group so the County would be a “pass thru” for the funds if awarded. This measure also was quickly passed by a unanimous vote of the Court.
Judge Smith next provided a Road Update which recapped activities of the Road Department during 2024. During the period, county road crews graded approximately 2000 miles of roadway, hauled 1750 loads of clay gravel and 1312 loads of crushed rock, installed 40 culverts, cut 220 miles of right-of-way with the side-arm brush cutter and bush-hogged 390 miles.
Demolished the old bridge and Lafferty Road and replaced it with a new concrete bridge and widened the low-water bridge on Jumbo Road. Sections of a number of roadways underwent resurfacing.
Due to the winter storm at the first of the year last year, the County spent approximately three weeks cleaning debris off the roads and rights-of-way. Following the declaration of a disaster, the County submitted $376.000 in damage to FEMA with the expectation of getting approximately $131,000 of that back.
