Jefferson County Commission Update

Hi Folks,

At our regular meeting last week, we started by reviewing claims for the week at 9:30. At 10:00, Road Supervisor Rory Parsons gave us his report for the preceding week. The crew has been doing general winter maintenance and thawing out culverts. County Treasurer, Terri Kunz, gave her report. Tax collections are going good.

At our afternoon portion of the meeting, we heard another presentation about AirMed Care that would cover the residents of Jefferson County for transport by their air craft if they are in Jefferson, Silver Bow, or Lewis and Clark Counties. The cost would be almost $50,000 per year. I like the idea, but I do have some concerns about those folks that may be in Madison County when they need the service or that happens to get picked up by another carrier. They wouldn’t be covered. Does anyone have any thoughts about this?

We also held a Public Hearing to take comments about approving a referendum for folks to vote about whether they would want to create a Rural Ambulance District. Most of the comments were whether an Ambulance District would or would not be a good idea. That is not the question the Commissioners need to answer. We need to decide if we want to let the people in the proposed District that would be affected, vote on whether they want it or not. Dale Davis said a couple of times that he is disappointed in me because I haven’t come down and looked at the Town Books. I was also invited some time ago to participate in opening a file cabinet that came out of the Ambulance Building. The former County Attorney, Matt Johnson and the current County Attorney, Steve Haddon have both advised me not to take part in those activities. We will consider a Resolution of Intent at our meeting on January 10th. We will continue to take comments throughout the process.

FYI: Martin Luther King Jr. “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”