RSS Feed
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Emergency notification system will automatically call citizens in event of disasters, storms Clarke County Commissioners agreed to go with Emergency Communications Network's Code Red for the county's Emergency Notification System, as recommended by EMA Director Roy Waite and Clarke County 911 Director Becky Neugent. The system would alert residents, via the telephone, of emergency situations affecting residents in the area. It will cost $15,000 a year for the Code Red system, which includes 50,000 minutes and the county will only have to agree to a one-year contract. The first year of the notification system is being funded by a grant from Homeland Security. Commissioners agreed to try the system and joked with Waite about finding a way to pay for it after the first year.
Road and bridge report County Engineer Sam Noble told county commissioners the state department of transportation was offering a five percent cost of living increase for county engineers. Noble and assistant county engineer Danny Overton are eligible for the increase, but it must be requested by the county. Commissioners agreed to make the request. Noble reported that the new cutter was being installed on the motor grader at Tractor and Equipment in Mobile and the work should be complete this week. It was announced that Cecil Gilchrist was retiring from the road and bridge department, effective Nov. 1. Two erosion control projects on Evergreen Road have been completed. The projects were funded through NRCS. Patching and leveling projects on County Road 21 are in progress. The remaining five used dump trucks were sold to Deanco, Sept. 15, for $89,870 each. The total received for all 10 dump trucks sold this year was $937,650. The bridge replacement project on County Road 2, over Sizemore Creek, should begin within the next few weeks. When asked if the county was addressing the cogongrass problem on the right-of-ways, Noble told commissioners they do spray and had killed some, but he had seen areas that they had either missed or that needed more treatment.
EMA report Waite reported to commissioners that Clarke County, along with Choctaw and Wilcox Counties, are in danger of being moved from EMA's Region 1, which also includes Baldwin and Mobile Counties, to Region 3, which includes Lowndes, Dallas and Sumter Counties. "We're only one county inland from the gulf. Most of the money for litigation and disaster preparedness goes to Region 1. The meetings are held in Region 1 and Region 3 is rarely invited because the disasters don't affect them as bad," he said. Commissioners approved a resolution to be sent to the state EMA that they do not want Clarke County to be moved to another region. Waite remarked that plans to have a train accident drill in Thomasville seemed to be a good idea since there had been four accidents in the county this year involving trains. He had been to an accident Monday morning where a train had struck an SUV that was too close to the tracks at Safford Avenue. He said one person was ejected and taken to Southwest Alabama Medical Center and then transported to Mobile. The 16 car train was not carrying any hazardous material. Homeland Security has granted the county $15,000 for the drill, which will be held in Thomasville because the railroad tracks there are close to schools as well as apartment complexes. Work on the Emergency Operations Center, in the basement of the courthouse, is progressing. The Department of Corrections and a company in Texas will submit plans for the center. About 76 percent of the county's emergency responders are NIMS complaint. Waite said the county is working toward 100 percent, but that Clarke County was ahead of most other counties in the state. Waite reported he had attended a meeting of the Delta Regional Authority in Selma and had learned Clarke County was part of the authority. He was also told the four-laning of Highway 84 was one of their potential projects as well as the four-laning of Highway 43 from Thomasville, north to the Interstate.
Other business Commissioners approved an agreement between the Clarke County Board of Education and the county for extra deputies to attend and patrol football games for Coffeeville High School. The deputies would be paid by the board of education, but through the county. Commissioners approved the write-off of $11,800 in bad debt for the county water system. Allied Waste was awarded the contract for solid waste removal in the county, beginning January 2007. The GADSB Regulations for Investments were adopted. Commissioners elected not to give county retirees a cost of living increase at this time.
|
for larger version       |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
