Piedmont City Council approves chest compression system, new hires for fire department

PIEDMONT – In its meeting on Tuesday evening, the Piedmont City Council approved the fire department’s purchase of a chest compression system device, as well as the hiring of two new employees.

Piedmont fire chief Mike Ledbetter said the LUCAS device, with a price tag of $14,993, would be purchased out of fire tax money.

“I’ve trained with this piece of equipment before. I’ve used it in the field a number of times. I would like to have one to go on a fire truck in the event we get a cardiac arrest and an ambulance is delayed or if we beat the ambulance (on the scene),” Ledbetter said. “In just a few seconds, we’ve got it attached to a patient. We can turn it on. It does chest compressions for us and can free us up to do other things.

“In my opinion this is one of the best devices that has been invented for cardiac arrest in the field in my 32 years of doing this. It’s a game changer.”

Ledbetter said the device would come with a one-year warranty, two batteries (which run from two to four hours apiece), two suction cups for chest attachment, and a wall charger.

In other business, the council approved declaring two Head Start trailers, located near the old Southside Elementary School, as surplus property. The intent for one of the trailers is to serve as a replacement for the old athletic booster club building, located behind the high school’s football fieldhouse.

Mayor Bill Baker suggested the second trailer could be sold, with the money made being brought back into the city’s funds.

Speaking of trailers, Jackie Black approached the council about a dispute with the city zoning board concerning his mother’s trailer, located off of Highway 9 North behind the Church of Christ. Black is disputing a clause within the ordinance.

“After talking with the zoning board, we’re moving it 200 feet from where it was located into the city limits right off Highway 9 (to comply with the law),” Black said. “They placed a pretty discriminatory clause in there saying it had to meet 90 percent of $230,000. No mobile home can do that. It’s on agriculture. It allows for a mobile home, but that clause says nobody could ever put a mobile home there.

“You just talked about moving one to the city. I don’t understand the problem. If that’s the case, and we’re not going to be allowed to do it, we want to file for de-annexation from the city. The land adjacent to the left side is not in the city limits. She would like hers taken out of it.”

Baker suggested the city seek the advice of its legal team before making a decision on the matter.

“I would feel better getting clarification on this thing before move forward,” Baker said.

Minutes from the last meeting were also approved, as were bills for payment totaling $273,478.43.

At the very end of Tuesday’s meeting, the council heard from local resident and retired contractor Linda Flowers-Barnwell concerning recent amounts of rain causing problems within the city’s infrastructure.

“I can give you 21 years experience on how to deal with the infrastructure,” she said. “We’ve got to start out with the drainage ditches and the pipes that are on the right of way. The ditches are clogged up. They’re in dire need of cleaning out and the proper structures put in place to protect them.”

Flowers-Barnwell suggested taking prisoners from the Piedmont city jail out twice a month while under supervision to clean out the drains throughout the city.

Another of her suggestions to the city was to install rain gauges to measure rainfall.

“Mayor Baker informed me (Tuesday) afternoon he didn’t know if the town had any rain gauges. That’s important when you have a faulty infrastructure,” Flowers-Barnwell said. “You need to know the amount of rainfall. You need to know the damage it can do.

“You can put this as a proposal if you want to. You pick out four places plus my house to have a wooden post put up so a rain gauge can be put there. One of them could be the public works on Sparks Street. Another one could be put at the water treatment plant. Put one in my yard. I would be willing to foot the cost of those rain gauges, if the city would put up the posts and get them mounted. Every time we have a rain event like we’ve had the last two days and several more times this spring, I’d be willing to go around and read the gauges, write it down and keep a diary and empty them, just to keep up with it.

Baker thanked Flowers-Barnwell for her suggestions.

“I will take you up on your offer,” he said. “You supply the rain gauges and we’ll supply the wood. We’ll get them mounted in the ground and we’ll mount those rain gauges. We’ll put them throughout the town, one in your yard, and we’ll go from there. Make sure you help us with some records and keep us informed. We appreciate what you’re trying to do.”

The next council meeting is scheduled for May 18.

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