Poll workers get pay raise

Published 10:04 am Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Lincoln County Circuit Clerk Dustin Bairfield and the Board of Supervisors decided to raise the daily pay for poll workers by $20 at Monday’s board meeting.

“I believe we thought we did it, but we never put it to a form of agreement and that was that. The poll workers right now are being paid $95 and the law allows up to $125,” Bairfield. “We brought it to you at budget this time last year. This would be a good year to approve it because there are only two elections. There is no run-off this year. There’s only the March 8 and then November, where we usually have a run-off. Right now they make about $6 an hour by the time you figure up the 14 hours and that’s below minimum wage.”

The board voted unanimously to increase poll workers’ pay to $115 a day.

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“The poll workers were long overdue for a pay raise,” Bairfield. “Now they’re above minimum wage.”

The pay raise will take effect during the November elections.

The board also approved Barifield’s request to move a polling place from the Chamber of Commerce to the Lincoln County Library to comply with ADA standards.

“Right now the Chamber of Commerce is a voting place that is not ADA compliant, so I’m asking after this election process in March you give me permission to move it to the county library,” Bairfield said. “The county library is already in favor of putting it there. If approved, on April 1 we will start mailing out voter cards, letting people know that the county library will be the voting place, instead of the Chamber. Because the Chamber’s a historical building it’s not able to be made it ADA compliant.”

At the end of the meeting the board and Bairfield went into executive session to appoint a new District 2 election commissioner.

Barifield later announced that the board unanimously appointed Tiffany Furr to fill the position, which was recently vacated after the former commissioner resigned for health reasons. She will serve the remaining term.

In other board business:

• The board approved the reimbursement of $520.37 to the City of Brookhaven for the interchange lighting.

• The board approved David Fields’ request for human resources worker Wendy Mullen Smith to attend a human resources law boot camp on May 11 in Jackson.

• The board approved to pay $200 in sponsorship dues to the Southwest Mississippi Resource Conservation and Development for its annual event in Hattiesburg on May 14 and 15.