Lyon County’s Disaster Declaration is officially at an end.
Following the Legislative Coordinating Council’s decision Tuesday not to extend the state declaration, Lyon County Commissioners chose to follow suit during their regular action meeting Thursday morning voting unanimously to rescind the declaration effective immediately. Commission Chairman Rollie Martin says the state decision was the major influence for the county’s action.
He says “it’s time to get back to normal.”
The county’s disaster declaration has been in place since Mar. 15 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The declaration was set to expire on Jul. 1. This was the final piece of legislation in place related to pandemic response in the county after commissioners chose to alter the county’s set of pandemic-related mandates to strong recommendations back in April.
This does not mean the county’s vaccination and testing efforts are coming to an end. Testing and vaccinations continue to remain a primary objective for Lyon County Public Health according to County Emergency Management Director Jarrod Fell.
The County’s Decision came after a series of budget requests from local agencies and institutions. This includes a request from Emporia Senior Center Director Ian Boyd of $65,000, up $25,000 from the previous year.
Boyd says the center is planning to create its own meal program for local seniors which he hopes will replace the current partnership program with the North Lyon County Area Agency on Aging. Boyd claims the agency has not paid certain bills to the senior center for its assistance in the meal program. Boyd stated, ” I do not care to do business with someone who is not going to honor their contracts with us.”
Hetlinger Developmental Services Director Trudy Hutchinson also made a request for $36,500, flat from previous years. Hutchinson says the organization has made some adjustments financially over the past year and therefore did not see a need to increase their request.
This was the third year the college has made a request from the county and was a $400 increase over the previous year. FHTC President Dean Hollenbeck says the college’s allocation requests are made each year to benefit a specific department.
This year’s allocation will be used to purchase equipment for three programs in the college’s technology department. He says the county’s support is a major benefit to the college each year.
Before FHTC, Emporia Main Street presented its request of $40,000 which is an increase of $15,000 over the previous year. Main Street Director Casey Woods says the funds will be put towards continued business development in the community.
All requests have been taken into consideration.
Separately, commissioners also approved two contracts related to the county’s fiber to the home project focused on increasing broadband internet access to all county residents. This includes a contract with RVW — a Columbus, NEB, based telephone engineering firm — for full design and opinion of probable construction costs for just over $37,000.
The second contract with TCA of Colorado Springs, CO, was for a feasibility study and grant writing services at a cost not to exceed $23,500. Both contracts will be covered by American Recovery Act funding allocated to the county earlier this year.
The county will also be partnering with Madison Telephone for a crowdsourcing effort to gauge the county’s underserved and unserved populations at a cost of $5,000 to be billed to the county at a later time. County Controller Dan Williams will join KVOE’s 8:20 am Newsmaker Two segment Monday morning to discuss the project in greater detail.
The Lyon County Commission is scheduled to reconvene for their weekly action session next Thursday at 9 am inside the Lyon County Courthouse.
