Minutes 05/07/1998 - Laserfiche WebLink

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THURSDAY, MAY 7, 1998 sites, and asked Ms. Ramsey whether she considered the current asking price of $15,000 per acre to be reasonable. Ms. Ramsey replied in the affirmative, stating that the City' s sites were well served by utilities and transportation networks,- thus making them more desirable and valuable. Mr. Reynolds then stated that a work session to discuss these and other related development issues needed to be scheduled in the near future, ~" perhaps in June, and that Tom Hashed, Assistant to the City Manager for Development, had been in touch with an industrial specialist in North Carolina that he wanted to bring to this session, as well as a staff person from the State Department of Economic Development. Council agreed that this was a good idea, and should. be carried out. 87 Council next took up discussion of the budget of the Martinsville-Henry County Rescue Squad. Ms. Jean Lewis, from that organization, was present to discuss their needs. Ms. Lewis stated that an additional $20,000 had been requested in the Rescue Squad budget for the coming year, to provide for stipends to be paid volunteers for their service, in order to improve volunteer recruitment and retention efforts, stating that there were only 15 regular Squad members at this time. She stated that there would be stipends of $25 per year per volunteer, plus pay of $2.00 per call run by each volunteer. Ms. Lewis then went on to describe the Squad's sources of funds, its new Junior Squad program, and other issues related to their operations and needs. Council Member Teague noted that there was $77,000 in the proposed budget for the Squad, and Mr. Reynolds noted that the anticipated amount from Four for Life Funds was not approved by the General Assembly, so that amount would need to be reduced to half of the $11,300 indicated. He stated that the stipend incentive mentioned was in the budget, however, and that there were funds added to provide for City staff to assist them in training, recruitment and retention efforts as well. Fire Chief Jerry Brock noted that the successful Franklin County incentive program model was used as the basis for the suggested program. Ms Lewis once again emphasized the need for the incentive program, citing issues such as hours of training and communicable disease hazards as other challenges in recruitment efforts. Council then thanked Ms. Lewis and the other members of the Squad for a job well done, and expressed their sincere appreciation for their efforts.