911 Board looks into alternative generator maintenance

     Jones County’s 911 Coordinator Gary Schwab spoke to the board of supervisors during their Jan. 26 board meeting regarding ongoing maintenance for the courthouse generator.

     Schwab explained that the 911 Service Board covers the cost for maintenance and service to the generator. Recently, they had to shell out funding for two service calls when different parts of the generator broke down.

     “The generator is vital for emergency power,” noted Schwab.

     He said a recent service call bill came to $812, and the 911 Service Board has paid as much as $1,400.

     Schwab said he’s made multiple complaints to the company because they’re finding issues with the generator that should have been found during a maintenance call. Through his complaints, those service charges have been cut in half.

     “It’s better than nothing, but more than it should have been,” Schwab said of the fees.

     He said sometimes service employees show up without the parts needed to fix the problem and have to make a second trip, which drives up the cost.

     Schwab did some research and found a company called Power Services would charge $900, which is a substantial savings from $1,400. An emergency call is about $400, another savings.

     “In my opinion, this seems like a no-brainer,” commented Schwab of switching companies. “It’s a substantial savings in service charges and in a maintenance contract.”

     While Power Services is based out of Illinois, Schwab told the board that they have a technician in the area twice a week.

     “There is someone close by who’s available to do the service,” he said.

     Sheriff Greg Graver encouraged Schwab to reach out to other county emergency service departments to see which vendors they might recommend for generator maintenance. Graver also asked about Power Services’ response time and whether they could provide a backup generator if the current one failed at any time.

     Schwab said he would do additional research.

     “These are things we need to explore before we commit because we’ve already been burnt out once,” Graver said.

In other county business:

     • The board approved hiring former auditor Janine Sulzner for the month of February to assist County Auditor Whitney Hein with budget preparation. Sulzner’s on-call temporary pay will be $875 a week, or a flat fee of $3,500.

     • The board approved a final voucher with B&J Hauling & Excavation for debris removal across Jones County stemming from the Aug. 10 derecho storm.

     The total project cost was $203,406.74. County Engineer Derek Snead said the final cost is under the original contract amount.

     “We had 400 sites documented around the county,” said Assistant Engineer Todd Postel of areas hit by the derecho.

     • The board approved a 28E agreement with the Iowa County Engineers Association in regards to payment for a BUILD grant application for the Landis Road Bridge project. The grant application is being completed and submitted by HDR Consulting.

     The total cost is $115,000, which will be split by eight Iowa counties submitting grant applications. Snead said Jones County would likely pay around $14,000.

     • The board appointed licensed realtor Christine McNamara to the Compensation Commission for Eminent Domain.