Daniel Prince
Healthy U expanding services to Lockhart, fire service radio project now complete
In yesterday’s news, we presented part of Supervisor Frank Hart’s reports and updates from last week’s County Council meeting. Here is more of what he presented.
Hart noted low voter turnout in the recent referendum and said he thought the county missed a great opportunity, especially with the Career and Technology Center. He noted voters overwhelmingly support the idea of electing their government leader, though he said the 2012 vote showed 28% in favor of the government change, while 35.5% were in favor of it in 2021.
He said the finance department reports expenses at around 33% of the budget so far, which is in line with where it should be for this time of year.
He stated the recreation committee needs to meet to look at sports participation and league numbers, as there doesn’t seem to be enough teams to warrant multiple leagues.
Hart said the county has applied for the broadband grant initiative in partnership with Spectrum. The awards should be announced next month.
ReGenesis Health Care will be applying for public transit funds in the first quarter of next year. Council approved a resolution supporting the venture at the meeting.
He said the Tourism Commission is supporting the downtown merchants in their Main Street Holiday Kickoff on Thursday, November 18.
Hart said Healthy U Behavioral Health Services will be partnering with the Town of Lockhart to provide services at their Town Hall. They will begin with a block party there on December 8th. Hart noted that there is a need for treatment services there, and some don’t have transportation into Union to receive them.
He said there have been some changes in staffing and management at 911. They are implementing formal quality assurance standards to improve how they respond to calls within the county.
The fire service radio project is now complete, and Hart thanked Fire Coordinator Dennis Merrifield for his hard work in getting that done and looks forward to getting feedback on departments on how it is going and what the needs are going forward.