The Oktibbeha County branch of the American Red Cross now has a full-time office coordinator.
Northeast Mississippi Red Cross Executive Director Patty Tucker announced the hiring of Amy Shake Monday at the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors meeting. Shake will serve in a role similar to that of former Oktibbeha County Red Cross program coordinator Connie Malone, who resigned in July amid a Red Cross realignment which left just five Red Cross chapters in the state and designated the former Oktibbeha County chapter as a branch office.
Tucker also hopes to hire a full-time branch manager by the end of the week. The branch manager will perform duties similar to those of former Oktibbeha County Red Cross director Becky Wilkes, who also resigned in July due to the restructuring.
One issue facing the Oktibbeha County branch of the Red Cross, which now operates under the Northeast Mississippi Red Cross chapter, is funding and other county contributions.
Oktibbeha County attorney Jackson Brown told Tucker state statute only allows the county to contribute to chapters of the Red Cross, not branch offices. He encouraged Tucker to get Red Cross attorneys to research the matter further.
Tucker, however, said no other counties have brought up the distinction between a chapter and a branch office. She plans to contact Red Cross attorneys and report back to the Board of Supervisors next month.
“Hopefully you can research this issue thoroughly …,” District 5 Supervisor John Young said.
Supervisors also might seek an attorney general”s opinion on whether or not the county can fund a branch office instead of a chapter.
In other business Monday, supervisors selected Columbus-based APAC Mississippi Inc. to overlay a portion of County Lake Road. The overlay, expected to begin this fall, will begin at Highway 82 and head north 1.5 miles along the Oktibbeha County Lake levee.
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