AACFAMILY & FRIENDS Tandem


“Tey all love texts and hearing from their constituents,” she said. “Sometimes there are unintended consequences to things we do. A lot of times they can see what we don’t see.” “Or vice versa,” Sherrell added. “She’s called me about bills that


affect counties and asked if I’ve read this bill. I go in and read it and give her my opinion.” During the job shadow interview, Sherrell led Gray on a tour of


the Izard County Courthouse and annex, walking from one coun- ty elected official’s office to the next. Each stop was like a reunion of old friends. After all, many of the county elected officials in Izard County have held these seats for numerous years — County/Cir- cuit Clerk Shelly Downing worked as deputy clerk for 18 years be- fore being elected to the position that her sister, who now serves as mayor of Melbourne, vacated; Sheriff Tate Lawrence is in his 12th year as sheriff; and Tammy Sanders has worked for the county for 28 years, the first six years in the collector’s office be- fore being elected assessor. While at the annex next door to the courthouse, a constituent walked in and began discussing a road issue with the judge. Sherrell explained that roads and bridges are a constant concern. “Our road department [budget] is just a million, five hundred thousand,” he said. “It’s probably one of the lowest in the state. We just do the best we can with what we’ve got.” Sherrell said Izard County has 1,200 miles of gravel roads and 200 miles of paved roads. Te $1.5 million he mentioned comes from the turnback received from the state and “the little bit of taxes we get off of the property tax.” “Tere was a gentleman who came in the other day and was talking about how much he paid in taxes,” Sherrell said. “He paid $657 in taxes and $27.50 of that went to the road department. He lives a mile and a half down a dirt road, and he was a little disgruntled that he didn’t have a better road [since he was] paying $657. Te schools get about 86 percent of it, and there’s nothing we can do about that.” Sherrell said a large chunk of his road department budget — about $700,000 — goes to labor. Fuel costs the county about $250,000 a year and parts run about $100,000 a year. “So you can see what we have left to actually do maintenance on the roads,” he said, noting that the $192,000 Izard County re- ceives per year in state aid funding helps. Still, he said, he has 22 full-time employees in the road department but needs about 35. “We just can’t afford it,” Sherrell said. “Te road foreman gets


ing from one county elected official’s office to the next. Each stop was like a reunion of old friends.


D


in there and helps them. Fortunately, I know how to run all the equipment, so I do the same thing. Last week, we redid a road — the road foreman and I. He was on the excavator, and I was on


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the dozer. Now the truck driver brought the gravel to us, but he and I fixed the road. It helps that he and I both know how to do this when we are short handed.” Te court is housed on the second floor of the Izard County


uring the job shadow interview, Sher- rell led Gray on a tour of the Izard County Courthouse and annex, walk-


Courthouse annex, and court happened to be in session that day. It led to a discussion of how well the Izard County Drug Court is working. In fact, Assessor Tammy Sanders said she is mentoring a young lady who is going through the program, trying to put her life back together. She had submitted job applications, was trying to get her own apartment and working toward regaining custody of her children. “I’ve been watching her grow from way down here for the last couple of years,” Sanders said, motioning with her hands. Te drug court in Izard County also serves Fulton County, and it’s a 5-year-old program. Reporting, random drug testing and group ses- sions are on the menu for those who go through drug court. Tey also have to make attempts to gain employment, and Izard County itself has hired four or five people from the program. Gray


said she has a


positive opinion about the drug court program with its goal of diverting


nonviolent offenders from already overcrowded jails and prisons. “I try to be open minded. It wasn’t something I thought would


work, but once I saw it in action and someone took time to ex- plain it to me, I saw how it actually was working,” she said. “You think about someone like her [the woman Sanders is mentoring] — say you put her in prison and she stays three, five years, then she gets out. She goes right back to it because she doesn’t know anything else. She can’t go out and get a job. She has no trade. It repeats the cycle. So this hopefully helps to break that cycle.” A constituent also approached Gray during the time she and


Sherrell spent at the annex that morning. And that’s where the two officials’ jobs are most similar — they are always on the clock. “I used to be real shy,” Gray said. “Do you believe that?” Sherrell asked of Sanders. “No, really,” Gray said. However, both of them say they’ve gotten used to being ap-


proached by constituents while in the grocery store or at a restaurant. And they handle those situations in a very similar fashion: they hear out the constituent, and then logically hash out a solution. “You have to remember that problem to them is huge,” Gray said. “Tey don’t feel like they’re interrupting you,” Sherrell said. “Tey just feel like that’s part of your job, and …” “… it is,” Gray finished.


COUNTY LINES, SUMMER 2016


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