Cloud County says grant will fund courthouse generator, officials plan Health Department replacement

Emergency Preparedness Director James Quillen told the Cloud County Board of Commissioners on June 3 that the county’s generator project grant has been approved and will cover roughly 75% of the cost, allowing purchase of a unit that will supply the entire courthouse.

Quillen and Maintenance Manager Jeff Thoman said the courthouse’s current generator powers only the meeting room and the Emergency Operations Center; they discussed repurposing that older unit to replace a manual generator at the County Health Department. Quillen said the change would improve continuity of essential public-health functions during outages.

The board also heard that the county’s tabletop emergency exercise is scheduled for Wednesday with about 80 people registered. Quillen noted that the Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan is due this year and a public meeting to work on the update is scheduled for June 12 at 9:00 a.m. at the county fairgrounds; the Local Emergency Planning Committee will meet June 17.

Tonya Sulanka, Health Department Administrator, and Lacey Huff, Health Department Office Manager, reported a vaccine loss valued at $665.65 after a recent power outage. They asked the board for fans for a staff fan drive and said they are developing policy and procedures related to a pharmacy services contract.

The board took no formal vote on procurement at the meeting; Quillen and Thoman presented the grant status and implementation options for later administrative or procurement action.