The Atchison County Commission met Tuesday, September 1, 2020. Present were: Presiding Commissioner Curtis Livengood, South District Commissioner Richard Burke, and North District Commissioner Jim Quimby. Susette Taylor, Clerk of the Commission, was in virtual attendance at the 2020 clerk training.
Presiding Commissioner Livengood called the meeting to order.
Minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved.
Bills were reviewed and approved.
The commissioners then went to inspect county roads.
There being no further business, the commission adjourned.
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The Atchison County Commission did not meet Thursday, September 3, or Tuesday, September 8.
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The Commission met Thursday, September 10. Present were: Presiding Commissioner Curtis Livengood, South District Commissioner Richard Burke, North District Commissioner Jim Quimby, and Susette Taylor, Clerk of the Commission.
Presiding Commissioner Livengood called the meeting to order.
Minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved.
Bills were reviewed and approved.
Department reports were reviewed and approved.
The commissioners and Clerk Taylor reviewed changes made by attorneys to the economic agreement for the Outlaw Project. A copy was forwarded to Assessor Jones to review. Some concerns were highlighted to address with the attorneys.
The commission approved the invoice from Community Hospital-Fairfax for the administration of the COVID antibody testing.
The commission discussed removing the three trees along the west drive of the courthouse while the construction is going on and replace them next spring.
Adam Meyer, Road and Bridge Supervisor, shared information from the Engineer Report on Bridge #208. The commission advised Supervisor Meyer to discuss the options with Langdon Special Road District and if they wanted to move forward a meeting would be set up to arrange the details.
There being no further business, the commission adjourned.
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The Commission met Tuesday, September 15, 2020. Present were: Presiding Commissioner Curtis Livengood, South District Commissioner Richard Burke, North District Commissioner Jim Quimby, and Susette Taylor, Clerk of the Commission.
Presiding Commissioner Livengood called the meeting to order.
Minutes of the previous meeting were read and approved. Bills were reviewed and approved.
Department reports were reviewed and approved.
The commission expressed appreciation to Brian Kelly for the donation of dirt for improvements to the courthouse lawn.
The commission reviewed a COVID Leave Application and Instruction document as presented by Clerk Taylor. This document will allow the employee to determine how hours off related to COVID will be distributed as selected by the employee. This allows the clerk’s office to track the hours as needed for the Department of Labor. The commissioners voted to approve the application and leave documents.
Rhonda Wiley, E-911/Emergency Management Director, was in to discuss the purchase of some new radios using CARES funding. She presented the following information with the request:
The Atchison County Emergency Management Agency (ACEMA), in collaboration with the Atchison County Local Public Health Agency (LPHA), and our partner emergency service agencies are on the frontlines responding to the SARS CoV-2 (COVID-19) public health emergency (PHE). COVID-19 is the most significant PHE our country has experienced in over a century. ACEMA has collaborated with our LPHA on COVID-19 testing and working with our local critical access hospital (CAH) to ensure they have the resources needed to serve and respond to the needs of the citizens of Atchison County. During the ongoing response, we have found a significant gap in our response capabilities with radio communications with our local, regional, and state partners.
A plethora of peer-review articles and gray literature exist that indicate communications are the first emergency response resource to fail during a disaster response. The Missouri Statewide Interoperability Network (MOSWIN) was built to integrate communications with various agencies operating on disparate radio systems. Unfortunately, our county only possesses one MOSWIN portable radio (owned by the Atchison-Holt Ambulance District). The lack of ACEMA owning portable MOSWIN radios makes it difficult to communicate on MOSWIN during our COVID-19 response at clinic/hospital testing sites, point of distribution for vaccinations, and alternative care sites. The gap also affects our Community Hospital-Fairfax if they incur a surge of COVID-19 patients. The identified communications gap will continue as we move into the fall, where influenza-like illnesses and the continuing COVID-19 pandemic will increase the need for additional response and communications capabilities. ACEMA is requesting to use CARES Act funds to purchase four portable MOSWIN radios to close this identified communications gap, for use in our COVID-19 response, not only in our county but across the region as needed.
This request meets the three criteria for CARES Act funding:
1) are necessary expenditures incurred due to the public health emergency concerning the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19),
2) were not accounted for in the budget most recently approved as of March 27, 2020, (the date of enactment of the CARES Act) for the state or government; and
3) were incurred during the period that begins on March 1, 2020, and ends on December 30, 2020. Please note the United States Department of Treasury clarified their definition, from an April 22, 2020 memorandum, of expenses incurred to mean the placement of an order, not receipt, of a resource due to supply chain disruptions and resource availability with a June 30, 2020, memorandum.
Clerk Taylor will forward the request to Attorney Schrader to make sure it complies with all guidelines before a decision will be made by the commission.
The commission reviewed seeding options for the courthouse lawn. They decided on a straw mesh option due to the type of dirt and the need to hold it in place to get the seed to take.
There being no further business, the commission adjourned.
