The Wayne County Fiscal Court met for a work session on Thursday, January 5, as they consider the system they will use for reverse 911 service in the county.

During the session, the court heard a presentation from Kurt Steier with Emergency Communications Networks, Inc., a company that provides reverse 911 service to a number of communities in Kentucky and in several other states.

The company operates a warning system called Code Red, which basically can be launched to call residents in a geographic area in case of an emergency.

The service can also include Code Red Weather Alert which provides notification to residents in the path of a storm.

Code Red is a hosted mass telephone notification solution and it is web-based. That means there will be no expensive equipment for the county to purchase.

Basically, the system, after it is set up, can be accessed from a computer.

Steier demonstrated a test emergency call through the program. Residents can be notified by telephone or a cell phone. They can also be notified by e-mail and text message, according to Steier.

The cost to the county would be $10,000 per year for the basic system, according to Steier. If they opt to include Code Red Weather Alert, the cost would be $12,500 the first year and then would increase to $15,000 for each year after that.

The magistrates were to take a look at another option for reverse 911 service during a meeting held last week, before making a final decision.

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Wayne County Judge/Executive Greg Rankin recently announced that the county has been awarded $30,496.28 in state grant funds through the Kentucky Office of the Department for Environmental Protection.

The news allows one of the county’s best programs to continue through 2012.

“We are very excited to be continuing our litter abatement program for this year,” said Rankin. “We obtained over $30,000 to continue the very popular roadside cleanup program. We take very seriously the challenge of keeping our county beautiful and this grant allows the many youth, church and school groups of our community to do just that. Wayne County has unmatched scenic beauty and this grant will help us continue to work on this very important project, while also providing environmental education to our young people in a very hands-on way.”

The grants were a joint effort of both the Solid Waste Coordinator’s Office and the Community Development Office.

“Money continues to be a concern to fund different projects statewide, but Community Development continues to work hard to obtain any grant funds that are available. I know several groups that benefit from the roadside grant, so I’m certainly glad to help anyway I can,” said Community Development Specialist Shannon Hutchinson.

The news certainly helps Wayne County PRIDE and Solid Waste Coordinator Tim Bell with his continued work in the county.

“Last year we totaled 427 miles of roadside cleanup and over 2,700 bags of trash, so that is less than the year before, which shows our programs are working. Hopefully through education and continued law enforcement those numbers will continue to decrease. If we all continue to work together we’ll make a difference and a change in our environment,” said Bell.