RAEFORD – The Hoke County Board of Commissioners met Monday, July 17, with a handful of contractual and grant matters on the agenda.
The board first approved an after-hours clinical coverage contract for triage services with PRN INC, PC.
“The contract is for a triage after-hour service to prevent people from just going to the emergency room,” said Health Director Helene Edwards. “We’ve researched different companies, and PRN INC is a North Carolina-based company that has a staff of RN nurses that can take the calls for us. We would use our monthly premium payments to pay for this service so that we are in compliance with the insurance plans that we are contracted with.”
The agreement will allow the Hoke County Health Department to comply with Medicaid Health Plan and health insurance company standards that require after-hours coverage.
“This will prevent us from being penalized,” Edwards said.
The board also approved the Health Department’s declaration of 64 black waiting room chairs, six green waiting room chairs, four task chairs, and two executive chairs as surplus and to be sold through the proper channels.
The board then approved the acceptance of an Emergency Management Capacity Building Competitive grant.
“Of the 92 eligible counties in the state, 70 submitted applications this past March, and Hoke County was one of 20 recipients in the State of North Carolina,” said Climate Adaptation Change Specialist Charles Douglas. “Our total award was $142,460. That will purchase and procure an all-hazards unified response command vehicle for the county, increasing the capacity of the emergency operations center and emergency management office.”
“The vehicle will be titled and owned entirely and maintained by the County of Hoke,” said Grants Manager Andrew Jacobs.
The board also approved a grant program proposal for a heat-injury prevention pilot program.
“This is a heat injury prevention pilot program aimed at children ages 13 and younger,” Douglas said. “We’re currently executing this program utilizing the parks and rec staff, volunteer coaches, and other members that encompass all of our summer programs. It will also be a keynote speech this September at the North Carolina Public Health Conference in Concord.”
Finally, the board approved Change Order 3 for the new courthouse project.
“Change Order 3, in summary, is just for GMP 1, which is the early site package,” said Metcon Project Executive Ryan Parker. “The steel, the concrete, the site work, and it doesn’t increase the overall project budget. It’s just approval of those early packages. GMP 1 totals $6.4 million and is specifically for those packages.
“Currently, GMP 2, which is the remainder of the building, is ready to go out for a bid period, and overall, we’re tracking very close to the last budget approval that we got in March.”
The Hoke County Board of Commissioners will next meet August 7.
