Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
September is Disaster Preparedness Month, and Jess Earle, Emergency Manager for Foster and Eddy counties, presented information at the Eddy County Commission meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 4.
First, Earle reported on her task of working the assessment figures for July 8 storm damage. She did not have final totals available, as she is waiting for some of the numbers to come in as work is completed throughout the county.
In addition, she informed the commission that the Joint Powers Agreement between Foster and Eddy County was scheduled to be signed at the Foster County Commission meeting later that day.
Recently, Earle attended a conference where she attended presentation on identifying risks to prevent workplace violence, specifically in regard to an active shooter or killer. Earle said, on average, such incidents last an average of seven minutes and the average emergency response time is up to 15 minutes. Earle is considering a multi-county training to help prepare and ad-dress the risk for workplace violence. The commissions will be updated on upcoming plans.
Two of Earle’s upcoming priorities are to update the security plan for the county and conduct a threat hazard risk identification assessment to identify gaps to in the county security plan. There is still a question on which assessment they will be using because Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) already has an assessment they use that seems to work very well in risk identification.
Eddy County Road Superintendent Irvin Loe reported that the department is finishing graveling and will begin to mow the ditches along the county roads and replacing signs before winter. Todd Haley has been grinding stumps and removing brush along some of the roads in the county, to avoid winter’s blowing snow blocking roads. Loe asked commissioners if it would be possible to spray the little willows that are already growing in the ditches again. Commissioner Glenda Collier said that when she had inquired about spraying the willows, she was told that they would try but generally they are standing in water. When they are standing in water, they are not allowed to spray, due to waterway regulations. She asked him to watch and see if there was a time when there was no water, so they could spray them then.
Loe also inquired about the repairs on the new pick-up. It has been at the dealership to get electrical repairs done that may have also caused problems with the alternator on the pick-up. The repairs will most likely be covered under the warranty.
New business covered at the meeting included the following:
Possible future improvement for security and handicap accessibility at the social services building. That discussion will be continued at the Social Service board meetings.
An estimate for the elevator for the north entrance of the courthouse that brings people from the ground floor to the main floor. The estimate from Sanford Health for $30,106.65 was lower than was expected, but did not include any carpentry or electrical work that would be necessary to fit it to the space. Sanford could not provide an estimate for the lift that brings people from the main floor to the second floor, but did give them the name of a company who makes them. The commissioners will look into getting an estimate for the lift and get another estimate for the north entrance elevator. They wanted to know who will service the elevator and how long it would take to get someone here when service was needed.
Discussion about attendance at the North Dakota Association of Counties conference on Oct. 7-9 and the North Dakota Department of Transportation meeting that will be held Monday, Oct. 7 at 3 p.m. Commissioners Neal Rud and Glenda Collier will both be attending, as will Eddy County Treasurer, Kathy Anderson and Eddy County Auditor, Patty Williams.
Brian Hopfauf, representing the demolition derby, requested permission to once again use the fairgrounds. He said the derby is scheduled for Sept. 29. Hopfauf said last year’s derby had 49 cars, which made for a long day. After discussing mowing, clean-up and garbage disposal, the commissioners approved their request and an agreement was drafted. Hopfauf will return the agreement with the deposit. The deposit will be returned to them when the grounds are cleaned up, after the derby is finished.
As requested, the commissioners are researching what the county and city had done in the past for airport funding. They are also researching North Dakota Century Code to see what is allowable by law and will continue the discussion at the next meeting.
The next meeting of the Eddy County Commission will be held Tuesday, Sept. 18 at 8:30 a.m.
