County staff provided multiple operational and capital updates at the Oct. 28 Wythe County Board meeting and won board approval on several staff requests, including a sole-source procurement for an EMS inventory-management system and acceptance of a small training grant.

Capital improvements plan and requests: Staff said the annual five-year capital improvements plan is being updated after budget adoption and asked supervisors to submit requests (including candidate revenue-sharing roads) by Oct. 31 for inclusion in a November draft. Staff also said they are coordinating school facility project requests with Dr. Poole for inclusion.

Operative IQ sole-source procurement: Deputy Administrator Haggins summarized Operative IQ as an EMS-focused inventory and pharmaceutical management platform and noted Fort Worth, Texas, had previously determined Operative IQ was sole source for its needs. He asked the board to authorize purchase through that vendor. Miss Lawson moved the procurement and Mr. Morgan seconded; the board approved the request by roll-call vote.

Grants and small purchases: Staff reported a $1,500 Walmart Spark grant intended to buy EMR/EMT education materials for volunteer fire departments and requested appropriation; the board moved, seconded and approved accepting and appropriating the grant. Staff also reported Municode codification of county ordinances is in final edit and will require a future adoption resolution.

Dispatch CAD and apparatus updates: Staff said the CAD conversion to a new dispatch system faces data-conversion hurdles; the plan is to go live and then convert legacy data retrospectively. The county expects a new ambulance by mid-November and scheduled a pre-construction meeting for a new fire truck in early November.

Website language and parks policy: Staff identified park webpage language that referenced firearms with an exception clause going back to 2010; staff said the board instructed county staff to amend the parks language (consensus) to remove the word "firearms" and limit the page to fireworks/explosives language.

What was not changed: No new standing ordinance or county-wide tax was adopted at the meeting; most items were procedural approvals, project updates and requests for staff follow-up.