Little River County

Little River County is Arkansas's 59th county

HOURS

Monday - Friday

8:00am - 4:30pm

ADDRESS

351 N. Second St., Ashdown, 71822

According to AR Code Ann. 14-14-502(a) The powers of the county governments of the State of Arkansas shall be divided into three (3) distinct departments, each of them to be confined to a separate body, to wit: Those that are legislative to one, those that are executive to a second, and those that are judicial to a third.

The departments within the Little River County government fall within the parameters specified by law and each serves a vital function.  Please see below for the specific function of each department within Little River County.

DEPARTMENTS

County Judge
The Chief Executive Officer for county government in Arkansas is the County Judge. As chief executive, the Judge authorizes and approves the disbursement of all appropriated county funds, operates the system of county roads, administers ordinances enacted by the quorum court, has custody of county property, accepts grants from federal, state, public and private sources, hires county employees except those persons employed by other elected officials of the county, and presides over the quorum court without a vote, but with the power of veto (ACA § 14-14-1101 – 1102).
All powers not vested in the County Judge as the Chief Executive Officer of the County shall continue to be exercised and administered by the County Court, over which the County Judge shall preside. The County Court, in fact, is the County Judge sitting in a judicial role.

Road & Bridge
The Road and Bridge Department provides and maintains transportation infrastructure to the citizens who live, work and travel through the County. These services include road construction and maintenance, county-wide fleet maintenance and fuel services, bridge and drainage construction and maintenance, engineering studies, surveying and construction management.

Sanitation
The Solid Waste Department is responsible for assisting municipalities, businesses and citizens within the county with management of solid waste. This department, under the supervision of the County Judge, maintains a transfer station open to the public. The County also provides county-wide, residential trash pickup weekly. Bulk items may be scheduled for pickup by calling the Sanitation Department.

Treasurer
The County Treasurer is the disbursement officer of the County and is the unofficial or quasi comptroller. The Treasurer is responsible for the custody and disbursement of all county funds and school district funds. The Treasurer, therefore, receives county property tax collections, county sales tax collections, county turnback funds, grant funds, fees and fines from other county officials and departments, and revenues from various other sources. The Treasurer, after receiving this revenue, distributes the money to the various taxing entities and the other units of the county. The County Treasurer signs account payable and payroll checks after they have been approved by the County Judge and prepared by the County Clerk.

Veterans
Veterans Departments serve veterans and their eligible dependents, through advocacy and education to access federal and state benefits, high-quality long-term nursing care, and burial honors.

Coroner
The County Coroner is charged with the responsibility of determining the cause of death for deaths not of natural causes and deaths of natural causes unattended by a physician. The Coroner shall conduct an investigation of the circumstances surrounding a death by gathering information and evidence necessary to determine the cause and manner of death. Although the duties of the county coroner are, necessarily, intermittent, the office is a full-time position.

County Clerk
The County Clerk is the official bookkeeper of county government; responsible for elections, voter registrations, marriage licenses, DBA’s, and other duties; maintains permanent records of quorum court proceedings, as well as adoption and guardianship records; and serves as the clerk for the County, Quorum and Probate Courts.

District Clerk
The District Clerk assists the District Court in various civil and felony matters, record keeping, and collection of fines.

Circuit Clerk
The Circuit Clerk is the clerk of the Circuit Court and Juvenile Court and usually acts as the ex-officio recorder of the County.
The administrative duties of the Circuit Clerk are to maintain a record of all proceedings of the circuit courts to enter docket number and name of the defendant and to prepare the dockets for these courts (ACA § 16-20-102). The Circuit Clerk prepares summons, warrants, orders, judgments, and injunctions authorized by the Circuit Court for delivery by the County Sheriff. The Circuit Clerk also maintains a file of all cases pending in either court, as well as a record of all past court cases and their disposition (ACA § 16-20-303 and 16- 20-304).
In addition, the Circuit Clerk acts as a secretary to the jury commission by keeping a list of all prospective jurors (ACA § 16-32-101 et seq.). The Circuit Clerk is also the ex-officio county recorder and is responsible for recording deeds, mortgages, liens, and surety bonds, and many other orders and instruments which involve property within the county (ACA § 14-15-401 et seq.). The Circuit Clerk maintains a record of many miscellaneous items and files certain licenses. The Circuit Clerk also swears in all notaries public and files regulations of state agencies which license trade or professional workers.

Collector
The County Collector is the collector of taxes for the County and collects municipal, county, school and improvement district taxes and turns them over to the County Treasurer. The Collector is responsible for collecting all property taxes from the first day of March to the fifteenth day of October during the calendar year after they are assessed.

Assessor
The duty of the County Assessor is to appraise and assess all real property between the first Monday of January and the first of July, and all personal property between the first Monday in January and the thirty-first of May (ACA § 26-26-1408 and § 26-26-1101). All property in the state shall be assessed according to its value on the first of January except merchants and manufacturers inventory that is assessed at its average value during the year immediately preceding the first of January (ACA § 26-26-1201).
The Assessor must make an abstract of assessment showing the total assessed value of the county.
The Assessor is required to maintain current appraisal and assessment records by securing necessary filed data and making changes in valuations as they occur in land use and improvements. He/she is also charged with staying abreast of all property transactions within the county and keeping a file on all properties updated throughout the year (ACA § 26-26-715).

Sheriff
The County Sheriff is the sheriff of the courts, maintains public peace, and has custody of the County Jail. As Chief Enforcement Officer of the Circuit Courts, the Sheriff’s Office, which includes the Sheriff and deputies, is charged by constitutional and statutory laws with the execution of summons, enforcement of judgments, orders, injunctions, garnishments, attachments, and the making of arrests on warrants issued by the courts. The Sheriff also opens and attends each term of Circuit Court, notifies residents selected to jury duty and assists in handling witnesses and prisoners during a given court term.
The Sheriff, or a member of that staff, often prepares and assembles evidence of the Prosecuting Attorney’s case against defendants charged with both felonies and misdemeanors. The Sheriff also transports convicted prisoners and others declared by the court to the various penal and mental institutions of the state.
The county sheriff in each county in this state shall have custody, rule, and charge of the county jail within his or her county and all prisoners committed in his or her county (ACA § 12-41-502). The sheriff shall be conservator of the peace in his county (ACA § 14-15-501). It shall be the duty of each sheriff to quell and suppress all assaults and batteries, affrays, insurrections, and unlawful assemblies; and he shall apprehend and commit to jail all felons and other offenders (ACA § 14-14-1301). The sheriff also works with the various local municipal law enforcement officials or other state and federal officials charged with law enforcement.

OEM-911 Coordinator
The OEM Coordinator, Rudy Hatridge, is an Arkansas certified emergency manager (ACEM). He is a certified firefighter (IFSAC FF-I) with almost 30 years’ experience as a volunteer and industrial firefighter, and a nationally registered EMT (NREMT). Rudy has an Extra class amateur radio operator license (AF5EY) and is a Volunteer Examiner for ARRL. He holds a SARTECH-I Advanced Search and Rescue certification and serves on the board of the Arkansas Search and Rescue Association.