By Holly Roeder
Staff Writer
The Chester County Commission met Monday evening, Jan. 23 with 16 of 18 in attendance, Commissioners Dwight Bingham and Mike Alexander absent.
Chester County High School Senior Class President Stewart Brown addressed the board, along with fellow students, Fonta Burnett, Anna Bolton and Evans Bailey, requesting a donation toward Project Graduation. The board unanimously approved a donation of $1,000.
The board heard and approved reports from the Chester County School System (quarterly report), County Trustee (showing addition of solid waste fee and prepay of taxes) and the County General Fund (42% of revenue thus far received and 45% expended), Budget Committee (motion to move the ARPA funds earmarked for the Library to the library construction fund) and Library. All Highway Department reports and requests were approved, including the quarterly report, the sale of surplus equipment, to work for other municipalities, i.e., the city, schools, etc., the removal of a Chickasaw maintained road from the county road list and approval of the road list.
County Fire Chief David Harwell informed the board of an Assistant Firefighter Grant (AFG) offered by FEMA, which opened Jan. 12 and closes Feb. 22. If awarded, Chief Harwell plans to purchase a new air compressor system and cascade system. He explained the grant allows for a 5% fund match, which comes to $3,950 for one bid he has received and $3,310 for a second. He requested three bids, but had only received two as of Monday. In addition, the grant writing fee of $2,500 would be waived with the county’s 5% match. The fund match was approved by roll call vote, with all in favor, with a cap at $3,950.
Chief Harwell also reported the county fire department has purchased a 1995 model 3,000-gallon tanker/pumper with insurance money for $84,900 (plus $2,300 shipping), to replace the Sweet Lips vehicle. Harwell said the vehicle is to be shipped from Connecticut next week. It is pump and engine certified and tested to maintain 2,000 gallons or above for the current ISO rating. Additionally, it is a six-man crew cab, which is good because the ISO is now rated on seated/riding positions. The new tanker/pumper will be in service at Sweet Lips when fully equipped.
In the Mayor’s report, Mayor Barry Hutcherson thanked all elected officials, government officials and departments for helping the county run smoothly during the recent winter storm which brought power outages and water shortages to Chester County and surrounding communities.
A motion was unanimously passed approving Dr. Michael Revelle as the new county coroner to finish out the current contract through July.
In other news, Hutcherson informed the board the Fairground project should begin dirt work in the spring, restricted use opioid payments are to be received soon – more information to come, and discussed the possibility of a 25-year-lease for the TCAT center, with in mind the center would like to expand to offer electrical and plumbing courses.
Commissioner Renee Phelps gave a report of the Personnel Committee, concerning verification of state compliance through CTAS, and requested department heads turn in up-to-date policies to Stacy Smith.
One of the final items of business for the evening was a request from James Smith of Homestead Lane for the County to consider Homestead Lane to be added to the County Road List. According to Smith, different entities view it a road or not based on different reasons, and there is no real clear answer. He said and his neighbors would like it to be deemed a county road due to the amount of traffic accessing the road, explaining that as is, it is not suitable for roadway traffic. Chairman Barry Smith referred the matter to the Fire and Highway Committee to be reviewed and brought back before the board at the next meeting.
