By Michelle Key
Publisher
The Lee County Commission approved a request from Lee County Administrator Roger Rendleman to use rebates earned through the county’s procurement card purchase program to purchase automated external dfibrillators (AEDs) for various county offices.
According to Rendleman, the idea was inspired from Sheriff Jay Jones, who used rebate funds last year to purchase several of the devices following the near-fatal cardiac event that his long-time secretary suffered while at work.
AEDs are portable electronic devices that automatically diagnoses the life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias of ventricular fibrillation and are designed to deliver electrical shocks that can help the heart establish effective rhythms.
During the meeting, the commission also fielded concerns from Peter Byrd regarding decisions made pertaining to the Smiths Station recreation park that is currently under construction.
In other business, the commission also:
• approved a restaurant retail liquor license application for Mi Ranchito in District 4
• received a report from Revenue Commissioner Oline Price regarding the Annual Final Report of Litigations & Insolvencies
• approved a federal aid resolution for resurfacing Lee Road 243 also known as Chicken Farm Road.
• approved the Final Plat for Willow Heights Subdivision Phase I
• approved the 2019 Full depth reclamation, resurfacing & traffic stripe bid from D & J Enterprises, Inc., for the resurfacing of 9 miles of county roads
• approved the creation of a network and access system analyst – this new position will be staffed by a current employee and did not require any changes to the current budget
• approved the request for from the Revenue Commissioner’s Office for an intern
• approved amendments to the 2019 budget to add in $150,000 in rebates from the procurement card purchasing system and approved the use of those funds with $50,000 going to the purchase of the AEDs and with $100,000 going to the Lee County Highway department and the Lee County Sheriff’s office. Also, funds from the proceeds of a recent sale of surplus property was approved to be added into the budget. These funds will be reinvested into capital equipment with the highway department utilizing $146,000 and Environmental Services using $3,000 of these sale proceeds.
• recognized the Lee County Building Inspections department for the improved ISO rating that they recently received. This rating, when combined with the ratings for the volunteer fire departments is used in determining insurance premiums for citizens of Lee County. As a result, the new rating of Class 4 could result in lower insurance rates for citizens.
City Engineer Justin Hardee stated his appreciation for the department. “I (we) are very proud of Mr. (Joel) Hubbard and his staff in receiving an improved rating score from the previous Class 5 to the current Class 4 rating for both residential and commercial properties. This department worked hard to ensure the rebuiling of the Beauregard and Smiths Stations areas affected by the tornado of Mar. 3 is done with all the current safety standards and regulations,” Hardee said.
County Commission meetings are held on the second and last Monday nights of every month. The next meeting will be on June 10 at 5 p.m. in the commission chambers in the Lee County Courthouse.
Meeting agendas can be accessed at www.leeco.us/government/county_commission/agenda.php.