Replacement sought for county EMS director

With the recent resignation of 32-year veteran county employee and emergency management director Kirt Smith, the Hamilton County Board of Commissioners is gearing up to find Smith’s replacement. At Monday’s commission meeting, the board appointed commissioners Nicole SaBell and Francis McDonald to oversee the process of hiring a new director. Chairman Rich Nelson reported that two applications had already been received for the position. 
Smith’s resignation was accepted by the board at its Sept. 16 meeting. Smith said he has accepted a new position, noting that he had served in the position for 32 years. Smith said he felt it was time to move on, but said he would stay on long enough to help the county through the transition to a new director. 
Nelson confirmed that Smith has accepted a position as the city’s new EMS director.
Other matters of discussion at Monday’s meeting included the following:
* The board appointed Commissioner John Thomas to negotiate a deal to purchase file cabinets for the county attorney Douglas Dexter’s new office on the first floor of the courthouse. The cabinets are needed to store case files the office needs to keep handy and which, if stored at Dexter’s current office across the street north of the courthouse, would cost $70 a month in storage. Dexter had been quoted a price for a set of used cabinets that would work, however, Thomas said he had done price comparisons and found that used cabinets were selling for much less because so many offices are going paperless. 
* During the committee reports agenda item, McDonald reported that he had received three bids for dirt work at the fairgrounds for the proposed new office of the Hamilton County Extension Service. While declining to reveal the amount of the bids, McDonald said all three were under $15,000. The county plans to construct a new building near the lighted sign at the entrance to the fairgrounds and move the Extension Service out of its current first floor courthouse location into the new building. At that point Dexter would move his office to where the Extension is currently located. The board decided to put the matter on next week’s agenda, so that the bid could be awarded. 
* County Business Manager and Budget Authority Pat Shaw reported that the county’s budget for FY 2024-25 had been submitted to the state prior to the Sept. 30 deadline and was accepted.