EMS/Ambulance Director Brian Mongeau provided Greenwood County Commissioners with a truck update Monday, Dec. 9. The chassis is in the shop at Emporia. The repair company indicated there had been failure of a fuel injector and the cylinder was ruined. Mongeau reported to commissioners that the repair company had indicated this would be covered under the warranty. Intentions are to sell this truck once it is back from the shop. The new truck, which was remounted with the box from the chassis, is slated to be delivered this week on Wednesday.
Road and Bridge Supervisor Allen Greenwood reported that he met with Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) last Thursday and they were slated to be out this week to do site inspections on a selection of bridges. In regards to the bridge at U Road and 100th Street, a deconstruction proposal is being submitted. Greenwood shared that, in ongoing work to the bridge at 250th and J Road, the east approach had been completed.
Commissioner Paul Hodge inquired with County Contracted Engineer Michael Maris in regards to State Street bridge, asking what could be done to improve the crossing. Maris commented there were issues and testing to identify what is going on would be the first step. When Hodge commented he would like to see an elevated bridge put in, Maris noted that, given the current structure in place is a low crossing, it would be difficult to obtain a grant for construction of such a bridge.
When ongoing work to draft a current and up-to-date road map was brought to the floor, Emergency Management Director Levi Vinson shared that the list of roads where action is needed had been compiled- they have identified all roads where items such as: open/closed designation is not reflected correctly, for example, roads with gates across them that are actually open.
The survey process has begun for the intersections the county is looking to remove. Vinson noted the commission should expect more feedback from the public after letters in relation to designation notification/corrections have been sent out. Once the map is finalized, it was noted there will be an expense with needed signage. Officials discussed executing the updated map at the beginning of 2025. In regards to the future and maintaining the map, Vinson commented that historically, the county updated their road mapping when the State updated their map for Rural Secondary Roads.
With the end of the year approaching, Vinson questioned what the county would be doing in regards to Zoom as Fox, who concludes his term, currently runs this. At this time, discussion was also had in regards to getting omni directional microphones. This was noted as something to add rather than continuing to replace batteries constantly in the current ones. Current microphones only work for improving audio for those listening via Zoom. It was decided that Vinson and Clerk Deann McCaffree are going to run Zoom after the first of the year.
Greenwood requested a Legal executive session for 15 minutes with Maris. No action was taken following the session.
Greenwood County Health Department Director Vicki Lindsey requested three executive sessions for the subject of personnel for: 15, 10 and 5 minutes. Following each session, no action was taken.
An executive session for legal discussion pertaining to road mapping was held for 10 minutes with Vinson and Greenwood also in attendance. No action followed the session.
Commissioners held an executive session for 5 minutes for legal discussion. No decisions were made following the session.
Treasurer Donna Olson sought a pay rate change for a department staff member. Olson shared that staff member Staci Crumrine had completed all her training and asked that her pay rate be increased to $16 an hour. Commissioners approved this request.
After expressing interest in scheduling a meeting pertaining to streets with Greenwood, Eureka City Administrator Joel Laws extended an invitation to commissioners as the city was celebrating the 100th birthday of Memorial Hall on Monday.
Following posed inquiry to county departments after last week’s commission meeting, McCaffree shared the consensus was in favor of holding the year-end dinner. As historically done, if staff members don’t attend the dinner, they use leave time for the afternoon off. If they attend the dinner, staff are recessed to be off for the remainder of the afternoon. The year-end meeting of the Greenwood County Commissioners will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 31.
Special payables for Dec. 9 in the amount of $13,771.64 were approved.
Payables for Dec. 13 in the amount of $301,845.40 were approved.
Payroll in the amount of $187,101.70, including bonuses and quarterly fire pay, was approved.
Minutes of the Nov. 18 and Dec. 2 meetings were approved.
Commissioner Preston Evenson absent from the meeting.
The next meeting of the Greenwood County Commissioners will be held on Monday, Dec. 16 at 9 a.m.
