Health Dept. dishing out vaccinations
By GAYLE WEBER
The Ellis County Commission heard updates on various projects and departments during a short session Monday.
Butch Schlyer, county health administrator, reported the health department is administering many vaccinations as children get ready for the upcoming school year.
He also said the health department had ordered its influenza vaccine for the upcoming flu season.
"We order that typically in February," Schlyer said. "I anticipate there will be more vaccine this year. So far I haven't heard that there's any problems."
The commission, with Perry Henman absent, also heard about problems the information technology department has experienced in the last month.
Both the Vehicle Information Processing System and the Election Voter Information System experienced prolonged problems.
"The VIPS system went offline and we soon noticed that ELVIS was offline as well," IT Director Mike Leiker said. "We wrestled with that for a couple of weeks."
Leiker said passing data from both systems through the county's firewall fixed the problems.
Leiker also said there are problems with three of the department's servers, all of which are at least five years old. He said he is trying to come up with a replacement plan for them.
In other business:
* Commissioners approved a cereal malt beverage license for Halraiser Entertainment for Aug. 30 at the Ellis County Fairgrounds.
* Emergency Management Coordinator Addie Homburg told commissioners the county had been approved to receive a $56,000 grant from the Kansas Department of Transportation to purchase four digital message boards. The boards will be purchased closer to the start of fiscal year 2010.
* Commissioners will begin taking applications for the emergency management coordinator position vacated by Homburg. They recommended the applications to be due by Aug. 18.
* Commissioners directed Public Works Administrator Mike Graf to discuss moving up a bid-letting date for construction on Old U.S. Highway 40 with the county's auditor in order to determine if it is feasible the way the 2008 budget stands.
"We discussed it and I think an agreement was made that we do not care to amend the budget," Chairman Dennis Pfannenstiel said. Instead, Pfannenstiel recommended Graf find a piece of equipment to delay purchase on or use a reserve fund in order to meet the costs associated with moving up the bidding date.
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