Reverse 911 for county discussed again (12/20/05)

The possibility of providing reverse 911 service to Jay County residents was discussed again Monday afternoon by Jay County Commissioners.

Installation of the program, which is designed to call and warn residents in an area that might be affected in an emergency situation, such as a tornado, has been discussed for several years by county officials.

Commissioners asked Jay County Sheriff Todd Penrod to obtain some cost estimates for installing the system.

Reverse 911 can also be used to alert residents in a certain area of a missing child or a senior citizen, Penrod added.

Penrod also updated commissioners Milo Miller Jr., Gary Theurer, and Faron Parr on the effort to track the location of cell phone users who call 911.

Penrod said, “We have all the equipment to pinpoint 911 from cell phones, and it does work, but it’s not perfect. Sprint and Verizon aren’t fine-tuned enough.”

“It looks like after 10 years we ought to be able to do something,” Miller said, commenting on the length of time that 911 has been in place locally.

Additionally Monday, commissioners opened three quotes for the purchase of two new vehicles for the sheriff’s department.

Quotes were received from Moser Motors of Berne, Fincannon Ford of Hartford City, and Les Wenning Ford of Fort Recovery.

A decision on the purchase was tabled until attorney Brad Burkett and Penrod can study the details of the quotes.

In year-end matters, commissioners also reappointed department heads for the coming year: Ken Wellman as highway superintendent; Rob Smith as retirement center superintendent; Dan Watson, county engineer; Ralph Frazee, emergency management; Roger McBride, courthouse superintendent; Roy Leverich, veterans service officer; Teresa Foster-Geesaman, Jay Emergency Medical Service director; and Brad Burkett, commissioners’ attorney.

Re-appointment to boards included: Jay King, Alcohol Beverage Commission, one year; Darrell Borders, Ailesia Franklin and Alvin Confer, convention and tourism board, one year terms; Lee Newman, Portland Planning Commission, four year term; and Dennis Rodgers, Jay County Board of Zoning Appeals, four-year term.

Commissioners also entered into a one-year contract with Manatron to purchase a tax billing software program and provide maintenance for the program. Manaton recently bought the county’s former software provider, Plexis, but agreed to provide software at the cost the county had agreed to with Plexis.

Earlier Monday commissioners heard Wellman suggest creating a one-year probationary period for truck drivers and equipment operators for the highway department. There is currently no probation policy in place.

Wellman explained he would like to have the option of evaluating those workers after one year. If they are unable to perform as he would anticipate, they could be discharged of their duties.

Wellman also told commissioners two employees would be retiring in 2006 and asked about the possibility of hiring part-time truck drivers. He also suggest raising part-time starting pay to $11.06 hourly from $9.99 to attract more experienced drivers.

Commissioners took no action on Wellman’s request.[[In-content Ad]]