Barrow Journal

Barrow County and Winder officials are moving forward with plans not only to relocate a county ambulance inside the city during the day, but also to consolidate emergency 911 operations.

The issues were discussed at a Nov. 22 meeting requested by City Councilman Sonny Morris, who as chairman of the council’s fire and police committees presided over the meeting.

City administrator Don Toms said he and other officials now are trying to locate a place to park the ambulance downtown – initially outside if temperatures don’t dip too low between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. each day, and then in a more permanent location such as a garage, where the vehicle can be safely stationed to keep internal temperatures within a range that would not affect medical supplies.

For the 911 dispatch services, officials including county commission chairman Danny Yearwood and mayor-elect David Maynard also agreed to finalize an agreement for consolidating the city’s and county’s E-911 communication services.

The agreement would have to be approved by both the Barrow County Board of Commissioners and the Winder City Council but the consensus at the meeting was that the county would cover the costs of the computer hardware and software to combine the systems, and the city would cover for a few years the cost of the salaries and benefits of the four city dispatchers who would become county employees and be moved to the 911 center off Pleasant Hill Church Road.

For the full story, see the Nov. 30 issue of the Barrow Journal.

Three Barrow County school principals told the board of education Tuesday about the ways they are seeking to improve student test scores.

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