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→ The “Swearing In” ceremony for all Justices of the Peace will take place in the Quorum Court Room (2nd floor of courthouse) at 9:00 am, January 2, 2025. If you’re available, I’d love to have as many people as possible come and stand with me as I am being sworn in for my second term. Your support would mean a lot.
UPCOMING PUBLIC MEETINGS WEEK OF 12/29/24
NONE SCHEDULED AS OF 12/29/24 11:30 AM
DATES TO REMEMBER:
→ The Washington County Courthouse will be closed for New Years 1/1/25.
🌟 Washington County Quorum Court COMBINED County Services and Finance & Budget Meeting, Tuesday 1/7/25 at 6:00 PM, Washington County Courthouse. You may watch the meeting here.
At this meeting the QC will elect chairs for its (as of now) two subcommittees, to wit: County Services and Finance & Budget. A.C.A. § 14-14-904 requires that at this meeting, “Except as otherwise provided by law, the quorum court of each county shall determine its rules of procedure…”
We could also add other committees of the court.
It’s not required, but this first meeting usually includes a short presentation by the county attorney on the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act which is good for not only the incoming JPs, but for all of us.
ARKANSAS ASSOCIATION OF COUNTIES: www.arcounties.org
The above link has a lot of information on county government and how it. You can go to the “Publication Library” and find guides, surveys, reports and handbooks. They cite Arkansas Statutes and summarize the state laws that apply to our county government.
ZONING ORDINANCE & MAP:
You can read the most recent version of the zoning ordinance here. The latest zoning map is here. County Services Committee will take this important matter up at its February meeting. No date on calendar for that yet.
If you have questions or want to suggest amendments to the ordinance and/or map, please let me know.
STATE CRIMINAL ALIEN ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (SCAAP): A burden on Washington County’s Resources and Community Safety.”
SCAAP is a voluntary program in which the county chooses to participate. Here’s some information and background on SCAAP and what it does. Basically, the county provides personal information on certain detained “illegal immigrants” or “suspected illegal immigrants,” to the Department of Homeland Security. In return, we get paid pennies for incarcerating undocumented people, or even just “suspected” undocumented people.
We’re starting a new year. Let’s make 2025 “SCAAP Free.”
I have spoken against this since 2019 because I believe it is bad for our community, bad for law enforcement, and especially harmful to the people impacted.
I have been asked by immigrant community members and organizations to arrange a meeting with Washington County Sheriff Jay Cantrell to discuss this program and hopefully convince the sheriff to quit participating in SCAAP. This is the letter that I sent to Sheriff Cantrell on 12/16/24 and it contains more detailed reasons why I believe we should end SCAAP.
If you’d like to know more, please let me know. The sheriff’s email address is: JCantrell@washcosoar.gov
🌟 DETENTION CENTER INFORMATION 12/28/24
As of 12/28/24, there are at least 778 people locked away in our Washington County Detention Center. This is from information on the public facing dashboard. There are likely more than this considering that the sheriff’s office does not post so-called “restrictive bookings” online. Those such postings have been estimated to be 80 - 100 at any time.
79 of the detainees list addresses as either “homeless” or “1832 S School Street - the address of Seven Hills Homeless Shelter. That’s down a few from last week.
Here’s the link to the Detailed Charge Report:
You can check the “Calls for Service” board here.
Here’s a list in alphabetical order to search for people.
READ AND STUDY THE 2020 CRIMINAL JUSTICE ASSESSMENT STUDY PREPARED BY THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR STATE COURTS HERE. READ AND LEARN WHY WE DO NOT NEED TO SPEND MILLIONS OF DOLLARS ON JAIL EXPANSIONS TO KEEP OUR COMMUNITIES SAFE!
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COUNTY BID POSTINGS 12/29/24
🌟 There’s a new bid for “Engineering Services for Road Department” RFQ 2024-02. This was posted 12/23/24 and responses are due by 4:00 pm, 1/27/25 and will be opened 1/28/25 at 9:00 o’clock am. Note: The proposed zoning ordinance at page 10, Section 3)C) does away with competitive bidding for building contractors, leaving it up to the county judge.
FROM LAST WEEK:
(1) an “Aviation Appraisal Program) for the Assessor’s Office and (2) the Washington County Sheriff’s Office is seeking bids for the Replacement of the failed HMI/PLC controls on a Kohler SGP-1001 Paralleling Switchgear s/n ES-29758 with a Kohler 800ROZD4 generator set s/n 0783065 . Below is the link to current RFQs and bids:
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COUNTY JOB OPENINGS THIS WEEK (12/29/24)
I don’t see any new job postings for this week, but below is the link for all posted job openings in Washington County. The road department and sheriff’s offices are almost always hiring. The road department is 479-444-1610. The sheriff’s office is 479-444-5700.
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🌟 WANT TO BECOME INVOLVED?🌟
ATTEND AS MANY MEETINGS OF THE QUORUM COURT AND ITS SUBCOMMITTEES AS YOU CAN. CHECK MY WEBSITE WWW.BETHCOGER.COM FOR DATES AND TIMES.
CONTACT JUDGE DEAKINS AND TELL HIM YOU WANT OUR CRISIS STABILIZATION UNIT TO REOPEN AND ASK HIM TO GET TO WORK ON FINDING ANOTHER VENDOR BECAUSE WE CAN DO HARD THINGS.
Continue to ask Judge Deakins to appoint members to the Criminal Justice Coordinating Committee and get that group up and running! This is too important. If you haven’t called, please do so, or send email, or go by the courthouse and speak to the judge in person. WHAT’S NEXT? WHY WON’T JUDGE DEAKINS APPOINT MEMBERS AND ACTIVATE THIS COMMITTEE AND LET IT GET TO WORK? ASK HIM.
Contact your JP and set up a time to meet them for coffee or just to get together. Become a regular voice in their ear and urge them to support criminal justice reform and be good stewards of taxpayer dollars. That’s how I got started advocating to the court back in 2019. CAN YOU TAKE AN HOUR OR TWO AND MEET WITH YOUR JP AND SHARE YOUR CONCERNS OR COMMENTS, OR WHATEVER YOUR THOUGHTS ARE.
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Write letters to the editor. letters@nwadg.com
Here’s how you can contact your county officials. We need to hear from you!!
Thank you for pointing this out..."Note: The proposed zoning ordinance at page 10, Section 3)C) does away with competitive bidding for building contractors, leaving it up to the county judge.
More unilateral decision making by the County Judge is not in the best interest of this or any county.
Competitive bidding creates transparency.