Commissioners recognize telecommunicators

By: Julie n. Chang | Morganton News Herald
Published: February 21, 2012

MORGANTON --

The Burke County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday recognized five emergency operations center telecommunicators for their work during the Jan. 11 tornado.

Communications manager Lisa Propst said telecommunicators are the first point of contact for people seeking help and can provide instructions and give reassurance until help arrives.

Telecommunicators Beverly Roland, Andrew Thomas, Jason Ross, Yvette Stanley and Anthony Ellis responded to 54 calls in less than an hour on Jan. 11, Propst said. The EOC, on average, handles 90 calls a day.

During the brief meeting, the board voted unanimously on five items.

After a public hearing, at which no one spoke, the board chose to close out the Taylor Avenue water project, which added more than 20,000 linear feet of water distribution lines to southern Burke.

A Community Development Block Grant from the North Carolina Department of Commerce, Division of Community Assistance financed 95 percent of the project, said Carson Fisher, director of county general services.

The board approved a sewer collection system rehabilitation contract for $173,122.60, to Locke-Lane Construction. The contract, paid for by grants, includes the demolition of sewer pump stations at Drowning Creek and Huffman Avenue that are no longer in service.

Commissioners, calling it a “win-win” situation, chose to surplus the cab and chassis of an ambulance that had been sent to Wheeled Coach in Falkland to be remounted.

The cab and chassis will be sold to Select Custom Apparatus, a division of Wheeled Coach, for $1,000.

The cost of transporting the cab and chassis back to Morganton would have been $1,100, Fisher said.

The board approved an amendment to the county’s personnel policy regarding separation and reinstatement. The change allows employees who are reinstated within a year of an involuntary separation to use those prior years of service when calculating longevity pay.

Longevity payments for those affected would begin March 9, and no retroactive longevity payments will be made, said county manager Bryan Steen.

Commissioners extended Lovelady Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department’s contract for fire protection services until April 30.

The current contract expired Feb. 5. Lovelady provides fire protection to the towns of Rutherford College and Connelly Springs as part of the contract, said county fire marshal Mark Pitts.

The extension is needed so the county attorney can review the proposed 10-year contract, and both towns would also have to approve the contract, said Pitts.