Seward County Commissioners will foot the bill to print 100 emergency preparedness guides for area emergency planners and responders around the county, but will distribute a QR code to Seward County residents who also want to access the information.
Commission Chair Misty Ahmic discovered the free-access online guidebook while researching options for the county’s first-ever Emergency Preparedness Expo at the Seward County Ag Pavillion on Saturday, April 11.
The Commissioners on March 17 approved plans to order 100 full-color, spiral-bound printed versions at a cost of $8 or $9 each with plans to strategically circulate the books around the county to fire departments, cities, villages and other places people look to as resources when disasters of all kinds occur.
But they will also offer a QR code at the event that links people to the online version.
Seward County Emergency Management Director Megan Eckles said the printing costs could be covered by emergency management grant funds on hand.
She described the book as comprehensive, noting it covers multiple emergency situations like storms, chemical leaks, power outages, ag-related disease and all kinds of accidents, as well as various measures to take, such as evacuating people or livestock from which many county residents would benefit.
“This will give them ideas of what to do before something happens,” she said. “Nobody thinks it is ever going to happen, but it is not if, it is when.”
Ahmic said while many people will likely access the guideline from the QR code, not everyone needs the printed version.
“I think it is our job to do our best and prepare people,” Ahmic said.
The Emergency Preparedness Expo will be open from 1 to 5 p.m. April 11 with both booths and presentations on emergency situations and responses. It is free and open to the public.
Also at the March 17 meeting, the commissioners discussed options for possibly waiving some fees for emergency volunteers who purchase red lights for their personal vehicles, but in the end, left a current practice in place.
Seward County emergency firefighters and medical volunteers will continue to pay a one-time fee for each vehicle they equip with emergency red lights.
Having lights on their personal vehicle alerts other motorists that they are in a hurry and on their way to help, but they are still required to follow speed limits and other traffic laws.
Right now, volunteers pay a one-time $5 registration fee for each vehicle on which they install emergency red lights they purchase themselves. Some put lights on more than one vehicle. Each year they must re-register the vehicles on which they have lights, but with no renewal fee.
The lights are not required.
The cost for re-registering vehicles each year is included in the Seward County Sheriff’s Office budget, but because it involves a relatively small number of vehicles, it is not an issue.
In other action, the commissioners:
• Tabled discussion of the public transit program’s Title VI plan while legal counsel reviews the document.
• Heard plans from the Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) program for April’s Child Abuse Prevention Month activities, including colored lights on the courthouse.
• Approved claims, including the claim held out at its March 10 meeting due to redactions on some information, after clarifying what was needed on that phone-related claim.
