For the small communities which 4-County Electric Power Association serves, sometimes even the basic tools are budget-busters.
“Small towns have small budgets,” said Ackerman Police Chief Kevin Stark. “What might not seem like a lot of money in a bigger city can be a real problem in towns like ours.”
It is a something of a paradox, then, to realize that a lot of those un-budgeted expenses are both “big money” and “pocket change.”
Thursday, 4-County held its annual meeting for the member-owned electric coop, with almost 300 members gathering at the Mayhew campus of East Mississippi Community College.
Members were treated to a variety of events — everything from health screenings to a demonstration by the East Oktibbeha County Volunteer Fire Department to give-aways, including a retired 4-County fleet truck to a catfish luncheon to the business meeting where new board members were elected and the coop’s financial statement was reviewed.
The meeting was also used to announce grants from the 4-County Foundation, which over the past two-plus years has collected what amounts to pocket change from its members to generate almost $540,000 and has funded more than $400,000 in grants.
The Foundation is funded by members who agree to “round up” their bill to the next highest whole dollar.
The Ackerman Police department used a $4,000 grant last year to purchase body cameras for its five full-time officers and another camera shared by its part-time officers. Thursday, Stark’s department was awarded a $7,000 grant to purchase new Tasers, one of 14 grants totaling more than $60,000.
Stark said the grants have made a real difference for his department in procuring the much-needed equipment.
“I would say it would have been impossible to find the money, but it would have been very hard,” Stark said.
4-County CEO Joe Cade aid he’s been amazed by the way members have embraced the program.
“Other companies have been doing this and I got interested in it when I was working as a manager in Georgia, which had the program,” Cade said. “It’s one of the things I brought over when I came back to Mississippi. I thought it was a good program, but really, it’s worked better than imagined. All of the credit for that goes to our members. They’ve embraced it and we’ve raised money to do a lot of good things.”
According to the Foundation report, 93 percent of its customers are participating in the voluntary program. The average annual cost for the customer is $5.50.
“I’m a (4-County) member, myself, and I round up my bill,” Stark said. “I’ve never missed that amount of money. It’s just pocket change, really, but it helps a lot of people.”
2017 4-County Grants
■ Noxubee County Volunteer Fire Department: $9,852 for five sets of turnout gear.
■ Noxubee County Emergency Medical Responders: $9,072 for AEDs and stretcher
■ Greater Columbus Learning Center: $2,400 for 20 GED tests
■ Starkville Police Department: $5,900 for 10 radio headsets
■ Mississippi State University: $2,042 for T.K. Martin Children’s Center supplies
■ Mississippi State University Foundation: unspecified among for Autism toys
■ Mississippi State University Foundation: $1,000 for engineering science fair.
■ Girl Scouts Heart of the South: $1,500 for education workshops
■ Columbus Arts Council: $2,500 for art education for 625 students
■ East Mississippi Community College: $10,000 for linemen/emergency response training.
■ Ackerman Police Dept.: $7,004 for six Tasers and related equipment
■ Mennonite Service Center: $2,930 for physical fitness equipment and arts/crafts/games
■ Christian Women’s Job Corps of the Golden Triangle: $5,000 for computer and security equipment.
■ The Father’s Child Ministries: $1,850 for camp T-shirts and facilities rental
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 41 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.