The final county-wide change from MedStat to Priority ambulance services will be delayed until May 1 after the county reached an agreement with the two organizations. MedStat’s contract was set to expire at the end of March, but the company agreed to continue serving the community for an additional 30 days to allow for a smoother transition. The agreement was announced by Scott Pickle, attorney to the Board of Supervisors during a recent meeting.
The board had previously endorsed the idea of having a committee to review potential issues with the county ambulance service responding to 911 needs, and those of the hospital and nursing homes in the area. Rather than creating an entirely new body, County Emergency Manager Danny Townsend suggested that the current 911 Committee be expanded to include representatives of the county ambulance service.
At Townsend’s request, the board also endorsed the purchase of six more radios for volunteer firefighters in the McCool area. When the county moved to digital communications, two radios were purchased per department, but Emergency Manager Danny Townsend said providing radios to additional volunteers who regularly respond to calls will speed communications and response times. Each radio costs about $900.
Townsend also met with emergency officials recently to review storm damage during February. The county did meet the $75,000 threshold to be eligible for some funds if there is a statewide declaration issued. The main damage cited by Townsend is to roads and culverts. Townsend said he has still not completed estimates of damage to personal properties.
Townsend said it is unclear when a declaration on the February storm damage may be forthcoming as one related to January storms was just issued.
For January damage, Townsend said the county did not meet the threshold to be eligible for funds - unless Attala’s damage is combined with that of another county.
Sheriff Tim Nail told the board that he is looking into the potential for grant funds to help the county purchase and install a new record-keeping system that can report statistics directly to the federal government. The software would cost about $35,000 according to Nail, and if the county does not begin submitting the data directly to the federal government, the county could lose federal funding going forward.
Attala County resident Chris Bell brought a resolution before the board asking that they vow to protect the right to bear arms against even state and federal government agencies who he believes are seeking to take guns away from the citizenry.
“The right to bear arms is under attack. Virginia is planning the confiscation of firearms,” he told the board. “The citizens of Attala County need to know you will defend our rights and stand against it if the state and federal government tries to confiscate our firearms.”
Board member Tim Pinkard said he had received calls from two or three citizens asking that he support the resolution, which board attorney Scott Pickle noted is non-binding.
Although board Chairman Steven Goss initially sought to table the matter for further discussion, members Bobby Lindsay and Tim Pinkard moved forward with a motion to endorse the resolution, which received a unanimous favorable vote.
