New senior center emergency plan

Emergency Management Coordinator Bill Gordon has been working with the Hot Springs County Senior Center to get a new emergency plan in place and presented a draft recommendation to the Hot Springs County Commissioners on Tuesday.

One area of concern with the center is its location in proximity to the railroad tracks. If a train were to derail in that area, the center could be facing railcars filled with anything from wood to caustic liquids sitting at their front door or scattered in their parking lot.

The center currently has three doors -- one to the north, one to the south and their front doors, however, there is no back door to the building.

Gordon has suggested the most reasonable escape route should a derailment occur would be out the north doors. A gate would have to be put in place along with a handicap accessible ramp to allow the occupants to flee the building and enter the high school football field.

From the football field, they would walk along the high school’s track to the far south of the property and exit through another gate to safety.

This route would allow them to take shelter in a number of places including the library, movie theatre, VFW and the courthouse.

There are still some things to work out before the plan can be officially put into place such as permission from the school district for the gates and ramp.

Anthony Fruciano, maintenance supervisor for the county, told the commissioners they had recently had their annual fire inspection and found a couple of minor things that will need to be attended to.

One of those items relates to some doorways that have not only locks on the doorknobs but deadbolts approximately five feet up the door. They were originally installed in the event of an emergency, but the fire marshal indicated they were not code compliant so the deadbolts will have to be removed.

The other item is a simple fix. There are no “cages” over the sprinkler system heads in the jail. Fruciano found some mid-range priced covers to put over them to bring things back up to code.

According to Road and Bridge supervisor Dave Schlager, his crews had to do some repair work on a cattle guard recently after an outfitter had two of his horses get stuck. The animals had to be cut out of the cattle guard and the county crew did the repairs and the outfitter was billed for the work.

Schlager also asked the commissioners for permission to purchase a new oil burner for the county shop.

The current burner was purchased in 2007 to cut the heating costs for the shop, but it has now simply worn out. Schlager said the heat exchanger on the unit is cracked so when they run it it does heat, but it also fills the shop with smoke. A replacement unit will cost just a little over $6,000.

Jackie Dorothy gave the commissioners a marketing update in regards to the former airport and what the next steps are.

Dorothy said looking for grants would be the logical next step, especially those that are associated with “opportunity zones.”

While the county is not listed as an opportunity zone, the Town of Thermopolis is and therefore the county could sign on as a regional supporter and receive grants as well. The good thing with these types of grants is they do not expire.

Dorothy took the time to look at what communities around us have done with their grants in order to give the commissioners an idea of not only how much the grants were worth, but how much the match for the grants was as well.