At the Athens County Commissioners meeting, officials discussed the possibility of an Ebola outbreak, the installation of a salt storage building, and the increase of prices on dog tags.
Athens County Commissioners took the chance to ask Athens Emergency Medical Services Chief Rick Callebs about whether the county was prepared for an Ebola outbreak during their meeting Tuesday morning.
However, Callebs was present at the commissioners meeting to discuss the termination of an EMS employee, Shannon Laubach, who has been a part-time paramedic since 2011. Callebs said that she had never completed her mandatory training for the job.
The commissioners approved the termination but not without a few concerns of their own.
County Commissioner Chris Chmiel asked Callebs if Athens EMS was prepared for a possible outbreak in the area.
“We have a checklist to make sure we have the supplies in order,” Callebs said. “We’ve got the personal protection equipment for our crew as well.”
Emily Carnahan, Athens County planner, also pushed for a reimbursable grant Tuesday morning through the Ohio Capital Improvement Corporation for both murals and better lighting for the bike path near Athens High School in the Plains.
The total project should cost about $29,400, Carnahan said.
Specifically, she said the County is hoping to install solar-powered lighting inside the tunnel located on the bike path.
The two bids she received for the lighting installation were much lower than the original budget set at $15,000, she said, with the winning bid being from Dovetail Solar and Wind for $11,000.
The commissioners also met with representatives from the Athens County Dog Shelter to discuss the possibility of terminating a full-time employee, leaving three full-time employees and one part-time employee left at the shelter.
Employees with the shelter also proposed increasing the price of dog tags from $12 to $14, considering that the shelter sold 400 less dog tags this year compared to this time last year.
County Engineer Jeff Maiden also announced that he had decided to go with Kinsale Corporation from Chester, OH to begin constructing a new salt storage building, with a bid of $271,900.
Commissioners had previously hoped to build two new concrete storage units, each capable of holding 3,000 tons of salt, but the structures were estimated to cost $530,000. Maiden said that to cut costs, they were going to move toward only constructing one building.
