Thursday, January 29, 2015
Committee Will Oversee Dispersal Of Capital Projects Funding
Members of the Lawrence County Board of Commissioners have voted to establish a committee to oversee the dispersal of $3.5 million in funds recently obtained through a bond issuance for various capital projects.
The commission approved obtaining the $3.5 million in November with funds earmarked for: the purchase of property in Team Lawrence Commerce Park, the purchase of land on which to construct two high schools, renovations and repair of various county buildings, road construction equipment, projects at the solid waste facility, improvements at the ambulance service, school projects, a building for the investigative department of the sheriff’s department, and the purchase of six patrol cars.
In an effort to eliminate any confusion created from the overlap of the projects and keep the commission as a whole abreast of developments and progress, members voted Tuesday to establish a Capital Projects Committee. Members were selected from the committees that are involved in each of the projects. It includes members of the county’s Highway, Facilities, School Board Liason, and Budget Committees.
County Executive T. R. Williams explained, “This committee won’t override the decisions of these other committees. The purpose of the committee is to track and report back to the commission the progress in these projects.” He explained that the reason the committee was being formed was, “We had a little bit of a situation with one of the capital projects already. There wasn’t any follow-up and we only found out about it on the last day.”
The Capital Projects Committee will be dissolved once all of the funds have been appropriately dispersed.
A second resolution approved authorizes a contribution for the purchase of equipment for Lawrence County Fire and Rescue’s Swift Water Rescue Team and a number of automated external defibrillators (AED) for local schools and fire departments.
Of this resolution Commissioner Chris Jackson expressed, “Over the past several years our area has seen an increase in flash flooding, which unfortunately has resulted in several drownings. This new equipment will hopefully help reduce the likelihood of that happening again by providing our first responders with additional tools they can utilize during critical rescue efforts…We also approved the purchase of automated external defibrillators for our county's volunteer fire departments as well as Sacred Heart Schools in Loretto and Lawrenceburg. With these additions, every volunteer fire department and every school in Lawrence County now has an AED on hand in the case of an emergency. Like the swift water rescue equipment, these machines could possibly save the life of one of our love ones.”
In other business, the commission approved resolutions to:
*Approve amendments to both the county government and board of education 2014-15 budgets
*Approve the county road list
*Recommend a delinquent tax attorney
*Declare an ambulance as surplus property, donating the lights to Gandy Fire & Rescue
*Appoint members to the Lawrence County Emergency Communications Board, Lawrence County Regional Planning Commission, Regional Solid Waste Planning Board, and Agricultural Extension Committee
*Establish a committee for the resale of land purchased by Lawrence County at delinquent tax sale
*Donate Bud Smith’s handgun to him upon his retirement from the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department
*Authorize the County Executive to enter into an agreement with various television service contracts for the county
