The Clinton County Fiscal Court took the final steps to secure a new ambulance for the EMS fleet and also voted to purchase additional COVID safety equipment during a short special meeting held last Wednesday afternoon, September 1.
Four of six magistrates were on hand for the call session, along with County Attorney Michael Rains.
On separate motions by magistrates Mickey Riddle and Ray Marcum, respectively, the court unanimously approved two fund transfers, one dealing with the funds to pay for the new ambulance.
Both transfers combined totaled $116,366 and included a $101,366.00 transfer to the ambulance checking account. The other was a $15,000 transfer from the occupational checking account to the general fund checking account.
The $101,366 transfer was from the CARES Act, which was money used to purchase the new ambulance, which was remounted to the chassis of an existing truck.
The CARES Act is part of the overall federal government’s COVID-19 relief efforts approved by Congress during the height of the first wave of the pandemic in 2020.
The court also voted unanimously to have the new ambulance picked up by EMS employees last week.
The only other item of business dealt with safety items related to COVID-19.
Judge/Executive Ricky Craig informed the court the state had surplus safety equipment at a low cost and asked for authorization to purchase–at a cost of only $200–35 cases of hand sanitizer, which contain 40 gallons each of hand sanitizer, as well as five cases of face shields, which contains 24 per case.
On a motion by Riddle, the court unanimously authorized Judge Craig to make the purchase on behalf of the county.
The judge later noted that if there is any additional equipment available, he would look into that as well, especially with the dramatic increase of the Delta variant of COVID rapidly spreading.
The next regular meeting of the fiscal court will be held on Thursday, September 16, at 5 p.m.