Sheriff's office to get communications equipment upgrade

The Kimball County commissioners agreed to purchase new communication equipment for the sheriff’s office at the May 19 regularly scheduled meeting.

The new logger, at a cost of $14,590, will replace one which is seven years old and is malfunctioning. The logger records phone calls for the county’s 911 system.

“I feel it’s time that we do this. It will coincide with everything else that we’re doing right now,” Sheriff Harry Gillway said.

The logger currently in place records the information on DVDs. Both of the DVD drives currently need repair, said Linda Williams, county communications director. The cost to have them fixed would be over $3,000 in the form of a new service maintenance agreement.

The new logger will record voice lines and data, Williams said. She said the technology is also set up for the future in that it includes the ability to receive texts, although that will not be set up at the present time. The new logger has 500 gigabytes of storage and should be installed within 30 days.

The commissioners tabled a contract between the county ambulance service and Kimball Health Services for the transfer of non-emergency patients from Regional West Medical Center in Scottsbluff to Kimball.

Carla Goranson, county ambulance director, said KHS plans to take “swing bed” patients from Regional West when needed, and the county ambulance service agreed to be the mode of transportation. These “swing bed” patients are non-emergency patients who need additional time for rehabilitation.

She said regulations only allow Regional West to keep patients in certain conditions a certain length of time and be paid for it. Once that time is up, the hospital could not bill for its services and must absorb the cost. Regulations do allow for billing if a patient is transferred.

Insurance, Medicare and Medicaid will not pay for the transfer, so KHS would pay the county ambulance service for the transfer. The county would be paid the Medicare rate for the transfer. Goranson said these patients would not need an IV or medication, they just simply need a mode of transportation.

The commissioners also:

- Agreed to a financing plan for the backhoe for the county highway department that was agreed to be purchased earlier this month. The county will pay $4,000 in a down payment and finance the other $25,000 at an interest rate of about 1.6 percent. It is a three-year note.

- Accepted the resignation of Erika Loy as county shuttle coordinator. Starting in June, Loy will work full-time for the local Nebraska Extension Agency office. The shuttle coordinator job is part-time.

- Heard an update from Rick Willis, community liaison for U.S. Congressman Adrian Smith, regarding a variety of issues.