iPad Polling
Probate Judge Stephanie Kemmer spoke to the commission about using iPads instead of paper voter lists. These would not be used for voting, but for checking in voters, among other functions performed by poll workers. She said the use of electronic polling records was a push by the Secretary of State, and would in fact reduce voter fraud and errors.
“We haven’t had much trouble with that here,” Kemmer added, but said 15 iPads were given to Bibb County for this purpose. The downside? We have to buy the software for them. The software has gone up in price since first checked in August, from $370 per pad to $540 per pad. Times 15 means a $9,600 total investment by the county.
The Commission passed a motion to spend the money on the software.
Appointments and Contracts
The Commission re-appointed Willie Dunn to the Board of Equalization, and also appointed Judge Stephanie Kemmer to the Board for Economic and Industrial Development. Both votes were unanimous.
County Engineer Jeff McKinney presented the Commission with visual aides and charts illustrating his recommendations for bid approvals for road materials and work going into the new year. After review, commissioners approved his requests.
Ambulance Services
While voting to approve the $9,367.52 for ambulance services in the county for the month of July (which passed as usual), Commissioner Sammy Holdsambeck qualified his vote with a request for discussion.
“I know this is July’s, and it’ll go to the local ambulance,” Holdsambeck began, “but, I think Green Pond is trying to come up with some now, out of the north end. I don’t know when they started, but I was thinking maybe in the future we need to look at distributing [funds] between AmServ and Green Pond [Fire and Rescue]. Maybe on the basis of the number of calls they transport? To make if fair between both ambulance services. I know one gets pages out before the other one, and the other is a secondary. But, if they service the citizens of Bibb County, this is a tax that I think it would be fair to distribute between both of them.”
Amidst discussion it came to light from Chief Deputy Kenneth Weems (who is on the E911 Board) that for last week there were 43 ambulance calls in the north Bibb area, and 22 were serviced by AmServ and 21 by Green Pond Fire and Rescue EMS. This news seemed to come as a surprise to commissioners.
The Commission asked Chief Weems to prepare some ideas for how best to fairly distribute funds between the two EMS providers, and present them at the next meeting so that paying GPFR can begin soon, once the Commission decides how they’re going to distribute funds.
Closing Thoughts
The Commission meeting normally scheduled for Monday, October 14, has been changed to Tuesday, October 15, due to Columbus Day holiday government office closings.
Commissioners asked that people continue to pray for Commissioner Kelley’s healing, and also for EMA Director Kirk Smith’s son, who has recently undergone a major surgical operation.
