Near the end of Monday night’s Russell County Fiscal Court meeting, County Judge Executive Randy Marcum told court members options need to be looked at in regard to 911.
Marcum said with both the City of Jamestown and City of Russell Springs reducing their payments to the interlocal agreement by $10,000, funding for 911 is a challenge.
E-911 is funded by the county, but the last several years, an interlocal agreement has been in place where the two cities along with the Russell County Ambulance Service contribute toward its funding. For the previous six years before 2022, each city paid $25,000 per the agreement, but in 2022, that changed to the cities putting in $35,000.
At a meeting in August, the Russell Springs City Council took up the issue, with the council first taking up a motion to provide $35,000 for the interlocal agreement as it had the year prior. The vote came to a tie, with Mayor Eddie Thomas breaking the tie to vote no.
A motion to provide $25,000 for the interlocal agreement was made, and that also came to a tie amongst the council. This time, Thomas broke the tie voting in favor of providing $25,000.
In that vote, council members Cody Wilson, Timmy Hudson and Ricky Barnes voted in favor of the $25,000 while council members Lisa Mann, Sherry Bottom-Daniel, and David Blakey voting against.
At its September meeting, the Jamestown City Council also voted to provide $25,000 for the agreement instead of $35,000.
The Jamestown Council voted unanimously to provide $25,000.
