Supervisors handle requests for approval during meeting

The Pearl River County Board of Supervisors handled a number of agenda items in a relatively normal agenda during their meeting on Monday.

The board approved a grant application for the Poplarville/Pearl River County Airport. Darrell Fuller presented the application to the board for review and approval.

Board Vice President and District 3 Supervisor Hudson Holliday explained that the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF), sometimes referred to as the aviation trust fund, is a grant program funded from a 2 percent per gallon tax levied on all aviation fuels across the U.S. and the money accumulated in this program goes all the way back to the late 1980s.

Holliday explained that this is not taxpayer money but funds generated from usage of airplanes. The grant money awarded previously has been and is still being used to make improvements at the airport. The grant was submitted for approximately $80,000 and will require a 5 percent match from the county if awarded.

The board heard a request from the Pearl River County 4H club for $5,000 to be used to attend the Western National Roundup in Denver, CO to be held from January 8 through January 12, 2020. After much discussion, the board approved to give the group $1,000 and would look for other ways to help the group in the coming months.

The board approved a request to replace Pearl River County School District Assistant Superintendent Melissa “Missy” Holston on the Pearl River County Board of Trustees with Pearl River County School Superintendent Alan Lumpkin. In 2017, Lumpkin had asked the board to put Holston in his place on the PRCC board, and with Holston’s upcoming retiring, Lumpkin will once again serve on the trustees board.