By Lyra Bordelon
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, the Greenbrier County Commission held a brief meeting on Tuesday, December 22, in order to approve grants and hires.
The commission voted to accept several Homeland Security grants – Deputy Director of Homeland Security & Emergency Management Paula Brown explained Greenbrier County Emergency Management “were very fortunate this year [to receive] $121,307. There were significant state cuts so we were very fortunate to get four of the five we submitted.”
As explained by Brown, the project list includes:
A Digital Vehicle Repeater System – “The digital repeater system was based on trainings we’d had with the sheriff and other departments in schools, we needed extended communication systems, so that will provide that. as a portable unit.”
Emergency generator and light tower – “Unfortunately we had a motor vehicle accident that destroyed one of our light towers and generators. … Those are the lights that are used to check vehicles for the state fair at night for any events.”
Greenbrier RRT HazMat unit – an upgrade for the regional emergency response trailer, is needed due to the “self-contained breathing apparatus on there [being] more than 15 years old.” Brown explained that “they are noncompliant, so they were not usable, which made the whole trailer basically not usable for the most serious accidents we could have had. This will replace [all the breathing apparatus].” This grant is the largest, totaling around $80,000.
Technical Rescue SAR equipment:
The final grant would provide a containment area to support air and rescue squads “to where they have adequate breathing supplies” during potential rescues.
Brown and Greenbrier County Emergency Response will be handling the first two grants, while Lewisburg Fire Chief Joe Thomas will help administer the second two rescue grants.
In other business:
Consideration of the adoption of a COVID-19 policy for county employees was delayed in order to more closely follow guidelines soon expected from the state and federal government. Commissioner Tammy Shifflett-Tincher noted, “We are still following health department guidelines” for “any employees that may have been exposed to, or have, COVID.”
An invoice totaling $40,200 to E.L. Robinson for design work on a Tax Increment Financing project working on the sanitary sewer system in Caldwell was approved.
The commission approved Curtis Crookshanks to the board of the Public Service District #2 following the resignation of Gene Wiseman due to health issues.
A former victim’s advocate in the Greenbrier County Prosecutor’s Office was hired to serve as a part-time assistant within the office’s budget.
