Marion County residents will have less time to take out the trash starting in January.
Commissioners approved a request by Pct. 1 Commissioner J.R. Ashley to alter the hours the Solid Waste Dump in Pct. 1 will be open.
“We’ll save at least $600 a year,” said Ashley. “It’s completely innocent on folks part, but they’re showing up right at 4 o’clock when Theresa is trying to leave, and ends up having to stay. It’s confusing for residents with the one day having different hours.”
The hours change only affects Precinct 1 on Saturday. Pct. 3 Commissioner Ralph Meisenheimer said he’d like to change the hours at Precinct 3 as well at a future meeting.
Precinct 1 Solid Waste hours are Noon to 4pm on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday starting January 1. Currently they are open Noon to 4pm on Monday and Wednesday and Noon to 5pm on Saturday.
Marion County Sheriff David Capps made a request to improve first responders radios by purchasing a subscription to the TangoTango service. The service allows users to add an app to their phones which is tied to the dispatch system. The system then “pushes” a notice out to the app.
According to Capps, currently there are a couple of areas in the county where there is limited radio coverage. That, according to Capps, combined with the age of the radio systems makes it difficult to always be able to keep in communication with first responders.
“To upgrade the current system to an all digital system is around a million dollars,” said Capps. “We just can’t afford that – even if [city and volunteer fire departments] all chipped in. Right now we can’t communicate with our partners in Cass County because they’re digital. We can in our cars, but not when we’re out of them. This gives us a way to improve and move forward while we work on grants and other options. The volunteer fire departments would have to pay their subscription cost themselves, and [JPD Chief Perez] has said he’d ask City Council to pitch in on the costs. I can also keep up with what’s going on when I’m away at training since this isn’t tied to our radios.”
Commissioners indicated they would move forward with the proposal but would like to have an agreement from the City of Jefferson to participate in the costs. Each year the subscription will cost $66 per user per year. Total cost is around $5,500 per year to cover everyone. The city’s portion is around $2,000.
Constable Baird requested Commissioners take another look at the vehicles they are purchasing in November from Texarkana PD. Baird expressed concern over the amount of money being spent to maintain his current vehicle and his replacement is also a used vehicle.
No action was taken on his request.
The Kellyville Community Center is now available to rent again for events after Commissioners agreed to reopen it with a mandatory, non-refundable $100 disinfecting fee. This follows similar requirements of the Jefferson Convention and Visitor’s Center. The disinfecting fee covers the cost of the County Sheriff to purchase chemicals and manpower to spray the building after use.