Additional meeting room planned for emergency management building

BY BROOKS TAYLOR

Mt. Pleasant News

A former supply/storage room is being transformed into a meeting room at the Henry County Emergency Management Building.

Meeting in regular session Thursday, the Henry County Board of Supervisors approved carpet and furnishings for the room.

Henry County Emergency Management Director Walt Jackson said the room will be used ?four or five times? monthly for meetings. It is anticipated that one of the boards using the room will be the Regional Utility Services System (RUSS) board of directors. Jackson said other service groups also would meet in the new room.

Jackson furnished quotes from several businesses. Your Dream Home Furniture and Floors, of Mt. Pleasant, received the carpet quote at $1,377.43.

Furnishings will be purchased from Bailey Office Supplies, of Ottumwa. Bailey?s cost for a 48x120 table, which will seat 10 and include two power grommets is $1,460. Ten table chairs also will be purchased along with at least one-half dozen folding or stackable chairs.

Jackson said the table would not be transported throughout the building. ?We?re going to put it in the room and it will stay in the room.?

Supervisor Marc Lindeen said the money for the carpet and furnishings should come from the county, not the emergency management, budget. ?The way I look at it is this is not for you (Jackson) but the county, so I think we should take county, not emergency management, funds for it.?

Jackson said several rooms, including the new meeting room, would be painted in the weeks ahead. He said he hopes to have all the work finished by the middle of July.

Supervisor Greg Moeller gave a supervisor sub-committee report on the meeting of the county substance-abuse coalition. He said the group was informed that the new Brazelton apartments would be tobacco and nicotine free.

The group also is planning to reach out to county school administrators to get them more involved in the coalition?s work.

Supervisors meet again in regular session Tuesday, June 21, at 9 a.m., in the Henry County Courthouse.