County Board receives grant money

With all members present, the Jasper County Board met on July 8, 2010, at the County Annex Building.

The Economic Development Coop Committee reported at the meeting that grant money was rewarded to the county for the Energy Efficiency Grant from SCIRPDC. The money will be used for 75% of the funding to replace light fixtures in county buildings to save on energy costs. The other 25% should be funded though the EEP program. However, it is unclear if the State will have enough money in this program to fund the full 25%. If the State cannot pay, SCIRPDC will offer 5 year loans at 2% interest to fund the rest of the project.

The Road and Bridge committee reported that construction on the Buck Grove Road should be completed soon, and it will be sealed on Monday, July 12.

The Sheriff's committee told the board that the new generator for the sheriff's department is in place but not installed. Some issues arose regarding the installation, but should hopefully be taken care of with little extra cost. Discussion was held on what to do with the old generator.

On July 6, the Finance committee met and discussed the possibility of a public safety tax. They are waiting to hear from the Dept. of Revenue on July 12. The Supervisor of Assessment's salary was also discussed but tabled until a later date. The committee also decided not to ask the board for an increase in the Ambulance department's starting salary due to the recent cuts in other departments.

The 2011 budget was discussed at length. It was reported that all department heads would be required to fill out worksheets for the coming fiscal year. According to State officials, it is not likely that the county will receive any more reimbursements for at least 6 months, and after that time it is still unsure. The County should still get a portion of income and sales tax, however. Bill Weber commented that both the public and the county departments are coping well with the changes made. Work will soon begin on the budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

The Building committee reported that a storm caused some damage to trees on the courthouse lawn and work was done to remedy the situation.

It was said during the Ambulance committee report that the new cardiac monitors have arrived, and they should be in use by mid-July following training.

During the EMA committee report, what to do with the warning siren that no long works was discussed. Kevin Parker was consulted on selling it since the siren has been replaced with the new alert system. No desicion was made.

The receipt of the E.O.C. (Emergency Operational Center) grant of $140,135 was also discussed. The committee wishes to purchase a 1 channel repeater system for $100,000, among other equipment. This triggered a discussion on the proper procedure for writing grants. A motion was made and carried that if these grant funds are received, the equipment should come at no cost to the county, and proper guidelines are to be followed with the handling of funds. Following this, it was agreed that Haycraft and Long could attend the September EMA conference if HMEP grant funds were available. If the funds were not available, the men would have to attend at their own expense.

In the Economic Development report, it was noted that the Extension service is reorganizing and Jasper County will be combined with three other counties. The changes should all be in place by July of next year. Later in the meeting, the Extension budget was approved by the board, though it will be revised in January.

The GIS committee reported that discussion had been held on hiring Bruce Harris & Assoc. to do monthly mapping and raise GIS fees to pay for this. Part time help would be paid from the GIS fund. GIS fees don't pay for mapping, so this will be discussed at the next Financial committee meeting. Following this discussion, the board agreed to give the City of Newton parcel and center line data at no charge. Conducting a new fly-over of the county for assessment purposes was also discussed.

Finally, Kinder reported for the Health Deparment that some money had been received.