(BEDFORD) – Emergency Management Director Valerie Luchauer reported to the Lawrence County commissioners this morning that her department received a $10,000 grant to purchase weather radios.
Some of the radios were given to volunteer fire department to distribute, and Emergency Management will be giving the others to residents in the county.
One hundred radios were given to L.I.F.E. Pantry to distribute.
If you need a weather radio contact Lawrence County Emergency Management at 812-277-9680.
The department also received $4,000 from Hoosier Uplands to purchase additional weather radios.
“Those will be given to residents that are homebound, veterans, and those living in apartment complexes,” she added.
Several were also give to the Veterans Affairs office who will provide them to area veterans.
Luchauer says early warnings are always your best protection and that is why the county seeks and gives the radios to families free of charge.
These radios are programmed and will broadcast alerts from the National Weather Service. The National Weather Service is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for protection, safety, and general information.
In other business:
The commissioners opened two bids for improvements to the former JayC building on Mitchell Road. They were taken under advisement. The hope is to move Work Force Development to that location.
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The commissioners heard from Dave Reman, a board member and CEO Kirk Lehman of RTC Communications.
Lehman says every resident in the Williams area will have fiber opts broadband by 2020. The company serves 316 households in the Williams area. Out of those, 144 have 1GIG broadband, and the remaining 120 residents will have availability to the service by early 2020.
RTC Communications has spent more than $1.8 million to provide the underground fiber optics to the Williams area.
“We stand ready to roll up our sleeves with the Lawrence County commissioners and assist where we can for the betterment of our residents and community,” says Lehman. “We look forward to building upon our progress, in partnership with Lawrence County.”
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Highway Superintendent David Holmes was not at the meeting this morning because he is attending road school in Indianapolis. Commissioner President Dustin Gabhart reported road crews are out cutting brush and patching county roads.
The bridge crew has been replacing box culverts.
The bids for spring and summer paving are due by March 19.
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Lawrence County Sheriff Department Chief Deputy Aaron Shoults reported there were 140 inmates in the jail Tuesday morning. Of those 105 were male, 35 females and there were no Department of Correction holds.
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Lawrence County Human Resources Director Brian Skillman has worked on updating the county’s Equal Employment Opportunity Plan and presented it for the commissioner’s final approval this morning.
