Fiscal court fires Martin County EM director

Fiscal court fires Martin County EM director

By Lilly Adkins

BSN Associate Editor

INEZ — The Martin County Fiscal Court terminated the employment of Martin County's Emergency Management Director Eric Jude and also had the first reading of the 2021-2022 budget during a special meeting Thursday.

Fiscal court members went into executive session to discuss personnel, and upon returning to the meeting said that the closed-door session was for the purpose of discussing Jude’s employment with the county.

Judge-Executive Victor Slone asked for a motion to terminate Jude’s employment, and Magistrate Roger Preece made the motion, which was seconded by Magistrate Mark Blackburn. Magistrates Jared Goforth and Derek Stepp abstained from the vote, and Magistrate Junior Hunt voting against the motion.

“I vote yes,” Slone said. “The motion carries.”

The fiscal court read over the 2021-2022 fiscal year budget for a first reading and said the second reading will be held June 17.

Slone said the proposed budget is not much different than the previous year.

The grand total of all funds is $7,106,988.21, with $1,816,163.25 appropriated for the General Fund; $1,963,051.05 for the Road Fund; $526,083 for the Jail Fund; $89,171 for the LGEA Fund; $1,000,959.93 for the State Grant Fund; $421,566 for the Federal Grant (PRIDE) fund; $1,704 for the Forestry Fund; $105,500 for the Solid Waste Fund; $440,902.98 for the Occupational Tax Fund; $132,060 for the HUD Fund; $609,827 for the Emergency Dispatch 911 Fund; and $2,174,498 for the Federal ARPA Fund.

In other business, the fiscal court approved the minutes of the last meeting and the financials.