Shelby County Commission honors Danielle Ballard, talks reappraisal, ROH clinic closing

Central High School basketball star Danielle Yvette Ballard was honored at the beginning of Monday's Shelby County Board of Commissioners meeting. Ballard was killed in a car crash in Raleigh in early July.

Commissioner Edmund Ford Jr. shared that Ballard was a student of his, and she excelled in his class.

"I will simply say that when she was in my class, she was one of my best students," Ford said.

A member of Ballard's family shared that one of her final acts was of kindness, as she dressed and fed a homeless man before she was killed.

Revisiting two-year reappraisal plan

Commissioners withdrew a resolution that would approve the two-year reappraisal plan. Commissioner Mickell Lowery said that the Assessor of Property Melvin Burgess asked for the resolution to be withdrawn.

The two-year reappraisal plan benefits the municipalities, according to George Boyington, Special Projects Manager for the Shelby County Assessor.

Germantown Mayor Mike Palazzolo spoke on behalf of six separate municipalities and posed some questions to the commission about the apprehension behind their decision on whether to support or not the plan.

"We have a certain amount of anxiety over getting the reports from reassessment in a timely basis so that we can plan our budget," Palazzolo said.

The next appraisal is set for 2025, as the county is currently on a four-year plan. Boyington asked for an additional quarter to educate the municipalities on the benefits of a two-year plan before the commission withdrew the resolution altogether.

Previously in 2021, Commissioners approved a two-year reappraisal plan, but it was rejected by the state.

Regional One closing Guthrie clinic

Regional One Health officials spoke at the commission meeting about the closure of the North Memphis clinic. The hospital system said that there were not enough patients for the Guthrie clinic to stay open and caseloads were too low for doctors.

Regional One Chief Administrative Officer Tish Towns told commissioners that the Hollywood Clinic is close to the now-closed Guthrie location, making the difference in travel time minimal. Towns also said that there would be transportation aid given to those who need it.

Residents from North Memphis spoke out against the closure of the clinic, some saying that they were never informed of the closure. Regional One said they informed patients, and there will be individuals answering phone calls from the Guthrie clinic.

Commissioner Britney Thornton said that she did not realize the amount of contention surrounding the closure of Guthrie from the community. Thornton said the presentation that Regional One gave was misleading, as it gave off the impression that there was no tension from community members.

Upgrades to Shelby County microfilm and microfiche

During the commission's last committee meeting, the Register of Deeds Office said that the current microfilm scanners used are at an "end of life" state and need replacing. The over $500,000 funding request by Registers Office is to replace two desktop microfilm scanners and two digital-to-microfilm machines with five-year warranties among others.

The register of deeds office said that other offices in Shelby County government come to the archives office to read microfilm documents. The only other department in Shelby County government that has a microfilm reader is the Shelby County Sheriff's Office.

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Commissioners amended the original resolution to use data processing fees to be the funding source for the multiple machines requested. Previously, capital improvement project funds were listed as the funding source. The commission approved the three resolutions, amended to use data processing fees as the funding source.

Money goes to Alliance Healthcare for detox and medically assisted services

A grant was allocated to Alliance Health Services to provide lifesaving, medically-assisted detox programs. Alliance Health Services is the only facility that provides medically-monitored withdrawal management for opiates, alcohol and benzodiazepines free of charge in Shelby County according to Sandy Bromley, Deputy Director of Justice Programs in the Division of Community Services.

The money was awarded under the fiscal year 2023 Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant and Substance Abuse Site Base Program. Expanding access to medically assisted treatment options is the main goal of the expenditure of grant funding.

Brooke Muckerman covers county government for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at Brooke.Muckerman@commercialappeal.com and followed on Twitter @BrookeMuckerman.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Shelby County Commission discusses reappraisal, Regional One clinic