The Harrison County Commission approved an agreement on Thursday with a Parkersburg firm that will prepare an updated operations plan for the county's Office of Emergency Services.
Tiano-Knopp Associates Inc. will prepare the plan to help the county comply with the revised state plan, according to Fred Smart, director of the Office of Emergency Services. The cost of the firm's services is estimated at $4,800.
"Each county has its own emergency operations plan, and ours was last revised in 1989 and updated in 1994. Since then the state guidelines have changed, so the new plan will help bring us up to the 2000 standards," Smart said.
In other business, Commission members reversed a decision to do away with a billboard on the 4-H Center property on U.S. Route 19 South, and instead signed a one-year contract with Lamar Advertising. Lamar has agreed to pay the commission $500 per year and to refrain from running any offensive content in the billboard, Commissioner Beth Taylor said.
The commission members had earlier agreed to have Lamar remove its sign rather than have to sign a 10-year contract and have no say over the board's content, Taylor said. The new contract runs year-to-year, and allows the county to have free space occasionally, she said.
"This was a much better deal than their first proposal, and we feel this is a more responsible decision for the county," Taylor said.
During the meeting, the commissioners also:
-- agreed to a funding request by the GFWC-Woman's Club of Shinnston to repair the club's roof. The commission will fund $800 of the total $1,600 cost, and will ask the women's group to come up with matching funds.
-- agreed to ask local vendors to bid on a new Xerox machine for the county clerk's office. The machine requires oversized glass in order to copy large pages.
Assistant city editor Gail Marsh can be reached at 626-1447 or by e-mail at gmarsh@exponent-telegram.com.
