Lincoln County emergency management budget request includes new vehicle
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IVANHOE -- Lincoln County Emergency Management Director Amber Scholten presented a budget request to the board Tuesday, including funding for the purchase of a new vehicle in 2018.
Scholten hopes to reserve $20,000 toward a Ford Expedition.
"The vehicle would be able to pull a trailer as well as for me to be able to put everything else inside," Scholten said.
Another big ticket item on the Emergency Management director's budget request was for eight to 10 hours per week in assistance. Scholten wants to train someone to assist the EM Department.
"This position will learn the ARMER (Allied Radio Matrix for Emergency Response) and EM duties in the event that something happens to me or that I would be out of the area. (The assistant) would also work on public outreach with the surrounding communities such as ALICE (active shooter) training, CivicReady (an easy-to-use, comprehensive emergency mass notification system) and Hazard Mitigation Plan update."
Scholten also shared information on backup systems to the counties emergency paging system for which they have a grant.
"The T1 line through Frontier is currently unreliable and will cost $950 per month. I would like to have a microwave link from the Lake Benton tower to PSAP (public safety access point) as a backup and have it in place before we run out of money," she said.
The grant would run out in 2019, so there would be time to update the system in 2018 with the $21,000 still available.
"A tower crew is already coming into the area next year," she told the board. "It makes sense to have them put up the tower while they're here. Some of the components are already in the Lake Benton tower."
Scholten was not recommending new P25 pagers at this time. She said they could test one out at a later date. Each pager was priced at $695 versus the Min VI model at $479.
One item that had Scholten changing her mind from previous recommendation was accepting Safe and Secure Courthouse Grant. Originally, she did not think it was necessary. But after talking with Tom Wells from the Minnesota Sheriff's Association, Scholten is now recommending the county accept the safety grant that would provide an observation of procedures on an active court day.
"Some of their recommendations do not cost anything, like locking doors you've never locked before. An others that cost, like to putting up barricades," Scholten said.
The board voted unanimously to approve the acceptance of the grant.
The board also discussed warning sirens. There had once been a siren on the edge of town as well as the current one by the post office, Commissioner Joe Drietz said.
"I've been getting complaints that people can't hear the siren," he said. "Are they outside when the siren goes off? The sirens are meant to alert those outside to go inside to get more information."
Overall, Scholten said expenses would be up $53,370, while the ARMER budget is up $25,000 due to the need to purchase a microwave link from the Lake Benton tower.
She said the safety budget is up $200 due to offering CPR training for the employees and EM budget is up $28,170 for a new vehicle. She also had budgeted some funds in the past to build that account up -- $11,600 in 2016 and $10,000 in 2017.
Scholten has plans to meet with five different Minnesota grant agencies in the near future to see if she can get an additional $28,000 in funding for her department.