PEDRO — Although the rain was pouring down Tuesday morning, it didn’t stop the groundbreaking for new Lawrence County EMS Station 6, located on the grounds of the Rock Hill school district.

The station will go up at the corner of County Road 26 and Township Road 218, near the Rock Hill Elementary School, and was made possible by the voters of Lawrence County passing the EMS levy in last November’s election.

“I think it’s important to thank the people of Lawrence County for putting their faith in our EMS, and they’re the reason that we’re here today,” Jeff Gaskin, Lawrence County EMS resource and facilities administrator, said. “The levy passing allows us to build a new station out here, and we’re very excited about that.”

Gaskin added that hopefully the station would be up and operational by next spring, with a full-time, 24-hour staff.

“This new EMS station will improve the EMS service for the whole county,” he said.
With five current EMS stations now in Ironton, South Point, Chesapeake, Proctorville and Willow Wood, Ironton covers incidents that happen out State Route 93 and all of the other stations bump over to cover each other. The new station will allow faster and more efficient coverage and response times.

In other action, the commission:

• Approved nine floodplain permit renewals.

• Received and filed the Dog Warden Report, dated July 14, 2018.

• Approved eight transfer funds.

• Approved the appointment of Lori Morris and Becky Estep to the Lawrence County Planning Commission.

• Approved and signed the amendment for the 2018 FY FAA project for rehabilitation of the runway and lighting for the additional design.

• Approved to pay Donald R. Yeager, P.E., for the independent review of the proposed engineering fees for the Runway Rehabilitation and Lighting project.

• Accepted the lowest bidders for the FY 18 Lawrence County Airpark improvements and awarded the bids to The Shelly Company for “Section A” in the amount of $949,187.75 and for “Section B” to Appalachian Foothills Contracting, Inc. in the amount of $184,197.30.

• Approved and signed the FAA Grant Applications for the FY 2018 Airpark Improvement Program.

• Received the ambulance title back from EMA/Coal Grove, as they no longer need it.