Angie Murphy wants to consolidate rolling stock at Allen County’s emergency management center to save on cost for insurance and maintenance.
Over the past several years the center, home of 911 services, has inherited four older vehicles.
“Last year we spent $32,000 for insurance and maintenance,” Murphy told county commissioners Tuesday morning. She thinks selling or trading the four for one new suburban would make sense. The move would save $2,000 in insurance and another $30,000 in annual maintenance costs. Also, it would give EMS a more reliable vehicle. Commissioners seized on the proposal, and told Murphy, 911 director, to forge ahead.
Commissioners also gave Murphy the go-ahead to send two employees to an EMS trade show in New Orleans April 12-14, where they will learn of new equipment and techniques. Cost, available in Murphy’s budget, will be $4,500.
Family Safety Night will be on the courthouse lawn June 8, Murphy added, with inflatables and a dunk tank to draw children to the event. Along the way they and their parents will be tutored in ways to be safe in everyday circumstances.
In a final note, Murphy said the communications tower at the 911 center was showing its age and is in need of replacement. She estimated cost of a new tower at $150,000.
In other news, commissioners:
— Were encouraged by County Counselor Alan Weber to include ample funding for economic development in their 2018 budget. Also, he mentioned reserving funds for Allen County Regional Hospital. “Keep your minds open,” he said.
— Learned from Mitch Garner, director of Public Works, the Army Corps of Engineers is not too concerned about brush accumulating against the upstream side of the middle supporting pier of the Marsh Arch bridge over the Neosho River at Humboldt. Garner has put out feelers to learn what removal — not an option for county equipment — would cost.
Trees and limbs catch on the bridge during high-water times and over the years the process has created a problem of being unsightly, more than anything else.
— Were told by County Clerk Sherrie Riebel a new van for the elderly, provided by the Kansas Department of Transportation, would arrive in Iola about Dec. 31. The current van has been in use five years and has traveled more than 100,000 miles, she said. Allen Countians in their elderly years may arrange rides by calling the clerk’s office.
— Iola Middle School vocal and instrumental music groups were given permission to use the bandstand and courthouse lawn for a 90-minute concert the evening of May 16, which also will spill onto the first block of West Jackson Avenue.
