Trailer is researched by officials

Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Scott County Commissioner Jamie Burger shows his photo ID.

BENTON -- A trailer equipped to help Scott County's response to emergencies could serve several functions, according to county officials.

County Developer Joel Evans presented the results of his research into the price of trailers during the regular County Commission meeting Tuesday.

"We're looking into a 30-foot self-contained trailer," Commissioner Jamie Burger said.

The trailer would be used to store emergency supplies and then to transport them to the scene in the event of an emergency.

"We could pull this out there on site, have some provisions in there, some emergency supplies," Burger said.

Once the supplies are unloaded at the emergency site, the trailer then would serve as a "kind of a command center," Burger said. "A mobile emergency operation center."

That way, Burger said, county officials could "control the situation on site instead of from the courthouse."

Evans said the price for a trailer with a heating and cooling unit should be between $13,000 and $14,000.

Commissioners would also like to have the trailer equipped with a generator so lights and extension cords could be hooked up.

County officials hope to fund the purchase of the trailer and supplies with Homeland Security funds.

Burger said he will meet with the Region E Homeland Security Oversight Committee, which includes 13 area counties, on Oct. 23.

"That's going to be my presentation: a recommendation to the group on what we should spend some of that money on," Burger said.

In other business Tuesday:

* Photo identification name tags with lanyards were distributed to county officers and employees.

County officials are now looking into other security measures for the courthouse including panic buttons, according to Commissioner Dennis Ziegenhorn.

Ziegenhorn said county officials may "send out for some specs on how they can be installed."

"On our security, we want to be cost effective but at the same time we want some professional guidance on what should be installed," Burger said.

Commissioners discussed having a security audit conducted on the courthouse as a way to gather "suggestions, thoughts and ideas," Burger said.

"We have incidents every once in awhile where someone will get violent here because of court proceedings," Presiding Commissioner Martin Priggel said, "and it is kind of dangerous for the people here."

* Commissioners may again revise the county's personnel policy.

"There's several things we need to discuss," Priggel said. "We have some things that have came up that are not fully covered in our current personnel policy." Some things are not covered at all, he added.

For example, the current version does not include anything about workers compensation.

"I think that's something we need to put in there," Burger said.

County officials said they have been advised to have "a doctor that is contracted by the county to be the first contact for workers comp claims," Burger said. "That's something we need to decide if we want to do or not do."

Officials plan to consult with other counties to see how they handle workers compensation claims.

Priggel noted the Commission has updated the personnel policy in the past by making "little adjustments, tweaks to it."

"There's always a new wrinkle," Ziegenhorn said. "There's always one exception that pops up."

* County crews are just about done cleaning up old appliances and other junk around the county with a $5,000 grant from Bootheel Solid Waste Management.

"We used it to haul items to the landfill," Ziegenhorn said. "There's still a lot of cleanup to do but we made somewhat of an impact."

"It didn't solve the whole problem," he added. "Maybe next year we can apply more money to the problem."

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