County plans for next emergency

By Editor | June 12, 2024 |

The Ringgold County Board of Supervisors discussed holding a mock tabletop session for all emergency service agencies, and spotty broadband wireless service at their regular meeting Monday, June 10.
Ringgold County Emergency Management, Melissia Stark was present to discuss the possibility of hosting an emergency tabletop event.
Typically a tabletop event addresses an emergency scenario, thinking through what could happen, and helps everyone plan for what they would you do in this situation.
It allows communities to gather all available resources and figure out how those resources could be utilized in the event of an emergency.
“We had a tabletop scheduled for a hazardous material event the night of the Greenfield tornadoes,” said Melissia Stark, “canceling it ended up being a really good decision.”
“What I’m hearing from a lot of people who have either been on the Greenfield tornadoes and our tornadoes or have concerns going forward is they want to do a tabletop [event like that],” said Stark.
“What I would like to do is more of an overview hot wash tabletop,” explained Stark.
Area agencies could then plan for how they would respond if a tornado were to hit the Mount Ayr elementary and high school, and continue towards the hospital. When those are the entities you rely on, and they sustain damage in that type of event, emergency services need to be prepared for alternative approaches.
“So if the hospital gets taken out, usually you’d shuffle people to the high school and vice versa,” said Stark, “So we just kind of want to look as a whole and just see what would we would do in these situations and how can we be more prepared.”
The board set an emergency tabletop session for Monday, June 24 at the Ringgold County Courthouse assembly room starting at 6:00 p.m.
The board also set a date for their next Q &A event with the County Supervisors for Monday, July 22 at the Kellerton Community Building at 7:00 p.m.
The BEAD Map Challenge program, requesting feedback on broadband connectivity, was also discussed among other board updates.
A challenge window between May 15 and June 13 was provided for the county to submit feedback on the public’s behalf.
Generally, the supervisors felt that broadband does not work in our area because of the geography.
Due to the number of hills and valleys in our county, if you live in a valley, it is typically more difficult to get Internet service.
“It sounded a lot better than it is,” said Holmes.
“It would work if we were flat and didn’t have trees,” stated County Auditor Amanda Waske.
“I bet 50% are getting Internet,” said Holmes.
“We got more options for the ones who already have Internet,” said Steve Knapp, board chairman, but “didn’t help the ones who needed it.”
They have registered an account, and need to submit evidence that the area is not covered by Thursday, June 13.