More than 1,100 calls for service were logged in 2020 by the Pottawatomie County Fire Department.
Fire Supervisor Jared Barnes presented numbers at Monday’s Pottawatomie County Commission meeting. He says 42 percent of calls were for EMS response with another 15 percent coming on calls for grass or range fires. Barnes also presented information to the board about a need to eventually remodel or replace the Emmett Fire Station, noting leaks in the building’s roof.
“I went in there one day it was raining pretty hard and there was water dripping down into the bay” Barnes stated, “we crawled up in the attic and looked and some of the screws are missing there’s just some deterioration up there and unfortunately it has got into some of the trusses.”
The fire department has budgeted $225,000 over the past two years for a remodel, but a lack of volunteers in the Emmett area prompted commissioners to ponder whether that type of investment would be wise long term.
“I’m not saying no but I’m just I’d like to kind of run some what ifs and and talk with the people around there to understand what would make a difference” said Commissioner Dee McKee. “With the short month is that even if you’re fitting it during that time would not be an unuseful information gathering process.”
Barnes plans to bring back the item for further discussion in a couple weeks.
Yearly case filings in Pottawatomie County took a significant hit in 2020, as a result of the COVID-19 restrictions.
Information provided by the County Attorney’s Office shows just 767 cases were filed all of last year, down about 300 cases from the previous year and the lowest total over the past decade. Victim coordinator Andrea Karnes says despite limited services, the county is seeing success in its Immediate Intervention Program for Juvenile Offenders.
“Today we’ve had a successful 74 discharges, we’ve had two that have been unsuccessful and we had one juvenile that has declined services that’s the first and right now currently we have 24 that are going to the program.” said Karnes.
County Attorney Sherri Schuck says they haven’t had any jury trials to date but are approved for three in March.
“Just not have gone through yet we’re going to see how that still going to work, I know the courthouse put some large monitors out in the halls so our hearings can be public. We have 3 set in March, certainly at least one of them I think will go.”
The case most likely to go to trial is for 48-year-old Clifford Swarthout March 10 through March 12 for property crimes involving vehicle burglary and theft. Swarthout is currently lodged in the Department of Corrections and has numerous pending cases out of other jurisdictions.
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