About 35 people were trained to respond to emergencies in the first year of Brown County's Community Emergency Response Team.
County commissioners were updated on the project during their Tuesday meeting.
A nine-member Citizens Corps Council oversees the CERT. The team readies people to be the initial responders to everything from a flood or a fire to a terrorist attack. The undertaking is paid for by a grant from the federal government.
This year, there were two seven-week sessions to train responders. Next year, there are hopes to have three training sessions, according to Rollie Moerke, a member of the Citizen Corps Council.
Moerke said that in 2004 a policy manual was finished, a helicopter landing safety drill was coordinated and CERT members participated in a host of community events.
Over the past three years, the Brown County CERT has received about $45,000 in federal grants.
The next CERT training session begins Jan. 24. For more information, contact Freddie Robinson, county emergency management director. His office telephone number is (605) 626-7122.
Commissioners didn't object Tuesday to reappointing Robinson, Moerke and Gordon Vanauken, former county communications director, to three-year terms on the Citizen Corps Council. Those terms will begin in January.
In other action Tuesday, the commission:
Supplemented the budget of Dacotah Prairie Museum by $10,000. The money is the city of Aberdeen's annual contribution to the museum, not the result of museum personnel spending more than allotted.
Learned from Dirk Rogers, highway superintendent, that employees have been collecting hay bales still left in county rights of way. They were to be removed by Dec. 1.
Approved the purchase of a forklift for the landfill. The machine will cost $14,975 and be purchased from Diesel Machinery Inc. in Aberdeen.
The forklift will be delivered after the new year and be paid for from the 2005 budget. Mike Scott, landfill manager, said the current 1991 forklift isn't powerful enough. It will be transferred to the courthouse maintenance department.
Agreed to transfer a trailer from the emergency management department to the fairgrounds.
Met in executive sessions to discuss 2005 salary negotiations and a highway department personnel issue.
