Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Asbestos To Be Removed From Old Armory

The city of Prescott agreed Monday night to help the county subsidize the Nevada County Ambulance Service.

The county has been subsidizing the service $6,000 a month for several years, including the years that St. Michael ran it and since that time.

Earlier this year Chad Cornelius bought it with the understanding that the subsidy would continue. However, the county's revenues have dropped drastically and it will have to cut many of its budgets for next year to stay within the boundries of appropriations and estimated revenues.

Due to this County Judge John Barham went to the council meeting Monday night to make an appeal to the city for assistance. Saying the county was in a serious financial condition, he asked the council to fund 50 percent of the annual subsidy of $72,000.

Mayor Howard Taylor said the finance committee had already determined to include it in next year's city budget. To make sure, however, the council passed a motion that it be included.

City attorney Glenn Vasser asked that the contractual agreement between the county and the ambulance service be revised to reflect the city's obligation.

Cornelius said whether it was him or someone else with an ambulance service it would have to be subsidized. He said that as long as the hospital was open it was a profitable business; transfers from and to the hospital were a major portion of the service.

Since the hospital has closed, though, he said the subsidy will always be needed.

Judge Barham said that 53 percent of all ambulance runs were in the city of Prescott, with about half of that pertaining to the nursing homes.

Jayme Barnes, a member of the Quorum Court who was present at the meeting, made a pitch that included Potlatch. She said an industry such as that needed a three- to seven-minute response time. Cornelius' response is within that time frame, everyone agreed.

The motion passed 6-0 with Leo Meeks, Bennie Trevillion, Steve Parks, Dick Bright, Steve Crow and James Roy Cornelius all in presence.

The council also agreed to set a three-year time limit on having all utilities in place for the newly annexed area of Prescott. The area goes from exit 44 to exit 46 and along Highway 19 back to Prescott.

Mayor Taylor said he did not expect the projects to take that long, actually maybe only half that time, but three years would be a reasonable length of time in case weather hampered the improvements.

The city owns its own electrical system and must buy AP&L lines and poles in place in the annexed area. Taylor said this could be done the fastest, and city water is close by as well, and it shouldn't take long for that job. But the sewer project is expected to take much longer than the others. A federal grant will be used for this project.

The council voted 6-0 on the three-year plan.

After listening to an appeal from Sandra Rodgers with the Eighth Judicial Drug Task Force, the city also agreed to fund $2,500 for the project.

Rodgers said that nine percent has be raised locally because state funds have been cut. She said 75 percent of the group's budget comes from a federal grant.

Vasser asked that an agreement between the city and the Drug Task Force be brought to the council for approval.

The funds will be included in next year's budget, as it was this year. The motion to include it passed 6-0.

The same group agreed to help fund the Nevada County Day Service Center for $4,000 next year. This year the funds were $3,500. The motion passed 6-0.

The City Council accepted a contract for $23,239 from Dodco, Inc. of El Dorado to remove the asbestos siding from the old armory the city owns. Dodco is certified to remove asbestos. The highest bid was $49,970.

The armory is to be torn down, but the siding -- on the inside and out -- contains "hard asbestos," according to a spokesman from Esco, Inc., who was at the meeting Monday.

Esco, a consulting firm, will monitor the contractor.

The removed material will have to be hauled to an approved landfill and bury it. The nearest landfill for asbestos is near Texarkana. The landfill will have to be monitored by the Department of Pollution Control and Ecology (DPC&E) for 30 years.

DPC&E will also inspect the work at the armory during the removal of the asbestos.

Hard asbestos will not get in the air as much as the other two types of asbestos, which are usually found in ceilings and as pipe insulation. This building does not contain this form of asbestos. However, the air still has to be monitored.

The project will take place next year, and once started it should take around 10 working days to complete.