The Sherburne County Emergency Operations Center (EOC) coordinates the activities of the sheriff's office in the event of natural disasters such as a nuclear threat, hazardous materials, terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, wildfires, flooding and severe weather.
Tuesday, Sheriff Joel Brott and EOC Director Kyle Breffle updated the county board on plans to upgrade the EOC to improve communications.
Breffle said the county has received a Radiological Emergency Preparedness Grant that will allow the department to upgrade phone, internet and audio/visual equipment.
Currently, the EOC is using internet technology that is more than 10 years old. The EOC’s wireless internet access only allows up to five individuals at a time.
There is no capability to share documents, video feeds of camera feeds across multiple media platforms.
Breffle also said approximately 40 individuals would respond to during an emergency activation. But the EOC only has 17 phones with dedicated numbers.
The improvements will include adding more dedicated phone lines, improving internet capabilities for better, faster and greater access to wireless and hardwired connections, and adding the ability to share documents, video feeds, camera feeds and display status boards from laptops to monitors in the EOC.
Cost of the upgrades is $66,992.89, which includes $49,490,89 for installation and integration of audio/visual equipment; $5,000 for new phones and lines; $3,000 to reconfigure and add internet and phone jacks and $9,502 for maintenance on equipment.
Breffle said everything is a one-time cost except maintenance, which is done every three years. But he said the grant money is expected to be available for at least a decade to cover those costs.
SCORE Agreements
The board approved four grant agreements with the Municipal Recycling Board for public compost sites located within Sherburne County. The funding amount of $56,400, which was approved by the Solid Waste Advisory Committee, will cover the cost of grinding and chipping of collected yard wastes. Each city will be reimbursed up to $14,100 each, depending on the number of events needed in 2014.
The board approved a contract with John and Jan Donelson of Palmer Twp. to accept yard wastes for land-spreading on their farm. The northwest portion of the county is not close to any of the four public composts sites, which are located in Big Lake, Becker, Elk River and Zimmerman. The program allows residents in that part of the county a more convenient disposal option.
The county will compensate the Donelsons $1,000 for drop-off events scheduled for May 3-4 and Oct. 4-5.
The Donelsons reported that over 100 residents participated in the fall event last year.
The board approved a grant agreement for the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts paper/cardboard recycling programs. The county authorized $10,000 be allocated for the monthly programs in 2014: $5,000 to Becker Boy Scout Troop 92 and $5,000 to the Princeton/Zimmerman Girl Scout Troop.
New Software
The board approved an expenditure of $6,580 to purchase Adobe Acrobat XI licenses for 22 adult services social workers and upgrade software for eight current users.
During a recent audit, state staff commented that Sherburne County had outdated technology used for filling out forms. HHS staff were printing blank forms and filling in the forms by hand. The new Adobe software will save time by auto-filling demographic and client information.
Other Business
In other action the board:
•Approved the preliminary and final simple plat for Jim Sanford for “Tonnelford”, consisting of two lots on 13.75 acres on 205th Ave. just east of Co. Rd. 43 in Big Lake Twp.;
•Approved allowing county employees to participate in “Dress down for leukemia and lymphoma” during working hours on May 1;
• Approved an expenditure of up to $5,341 to reconfigure three office cubicles in the adminstration office;
• Approved a contract with the City of Zimmerman to provide law enforcement within corporate limits of the city;
• Approved an exception to the county’s personnel policies on Paid Time Off (PTO) to allow a correctional officer who was severely injured during an assault in the jail to use his donated hours any time he needs PTO related to the injury;
• Approved a severe weather policy for procedures to follow at the Government Center and the Becker Public Works Building;
• Approved an expenditure of $8,988.15 to Auld Communications to replace the 13-year old audio system in the Courtroom #2.
