The Marion County Board Wednesday night adopted regulations, created a fund-raising account, and approved a memorandum of understanding for hazardous waste cleanup assistance for the new emergency management agency.
EMA Subcommittee chair Cody Rose says the EMA policy outlines how the agency that was formerly emergency services and disaster agency will operate.
The new fundraising account has more stringent controls than the former account that was operated without county board oversight or audit. Rose says at certain levels the law enforcement committee and the county board would be notified of large donations.
A Memorandum of Understanding was entered with E-Environmental Solutions LLC of Effingham. Emergency Management Agency Director Andrew Strong says they will be called during haz-mat situations.
“A lot of thoroughfares and things that can happen come back on us, and we’re ultimately responsible for that,” Strong said. “No costs, we’re basically going to be a customer of E-Environmental. If we have any incident that needs mitigated or any hazmat capability that’s in over our head, we make a phone call to them.”
Jason Guerattaz of Farina says several members of the company live in Farina and can respond quickly.
“We can be here within twenty minutes,” Guerattaz said. “We carry enough stuff on our trucks to get the job started. Then we’ll start calling resources. Our resources will come out of Effingham.”
Guerattaz says after the incident is contained, they will then seek permission from the insurance carrier for the responsible company to determine if they should proceed to cleanup or they want to use another company. If the source cannot be determined, E-Environmental would complete the cleanup and try to obtain a grant to cover their expenses. The company would also work to help EMA recover any expenses they incur.
Under the agreement, Marion County can still use any other company if they so desire.
