Riley County’s emergency radio system upgrade is nearly paid off.
Emergency Management Director Russell Stukey told county commissioners Thursday that 90 percent of the final payment has been issued to the contracted company.
“We held back a little over $80,000 and about 10% in retention until they’ve completed their 173rd contract or obligations,” Stukey added, “We continue to meet with them typically once a week, if not 2 or 3 times a week. And they’re slowly making progress.”
Stukey says there is training required as part of the overall project, which takes place in Virginia. Part of the training will help staff sort through and collect data coming in from the radio system, and as for now, Stukey says whatever they cannot handle will be contracted through K-Comm. County officials will review those costs at the end of the year to determine if they are justified in hiring someone.
Stukey also mentioned changes are being made to the vaccine clinics and testing sites next week to accommodate for the extreme cold weather, and says while he was proud of how the clinics were handled last week, that model will not work next week.
“The public probably won’t notice a big difference. We’re doing less of the initial check in outside at a table sitting in the middle of the street basically, To where we’re just gonna have a trailer sitting there, a person can be actually in the trailer and talk to them out of a window,” he said.
Stukey says they will also move some of the data collectors out of Pottorf Hall and into one of the trailers. This will allow them to move some of the public receiving the vaccine into the building, as the high wind chills and freezing temperatures will just make it harder to fill out paperwork outside.
