A significant development affecting emergency response agencies at both ends of the county highlighted the Pacific County Board of County Commissioners meeting on March 11. Another significant development was the acquisition of machines to keep up the canals.

Commissioners Lisa Olsen and Jerry Doyle were present in person, and Commissioner David Tobin attended via Zoom. Pacific County General Administration Chief Administrative Officer Paul Plakinger and Risk Manager Marie Guernsey were also present.

Amphibious machine for canals

The county is considering purchasing an amphibious machine to prevent damage to private properties when maintaining the south county canal system and drainage. Public Works Director Jennifer Oatfield presented a request for the Flood Control Zone District to purchase a Truxor T50 with attachments for $247,763.

 “Something like has sort of been a long time coming for the flood district,” Oatfield stated. “When I came on board, we started having some issues with if we had easements in certain parts of the canals down there.

“Then the other issue became taking large pieces of equipment onto people’s property and then basically — if anyone knows — you are going to tear up someone’s property with tracks, and that would not be a good thing,” Oatfield added.

 The ongoing dilemma was solved after drainage technician Brian Davis did some research into the abilities of amphibious equipment. Davis and mechanic Rudy Ponder were sent to AE Truxor Aquatic Equipment to view the exact machine, which was a perfect fit for their needs.

 

The new equipment will allow workers to leave less of an impact on properties and be even less likely to have to go onto private properties. The machine will be used for maintaining canals, drainages, and even removal of beaver dams.

 

EMS radio frequency issue solved

After years of radio channel issues caused by the north and south county fire agencies operating over the same frequency, a fix has been made official. The board put their signatures on South County having its own frequency.

The situation was dangerous because responders were inadvertently overlapping radio traffic if there were simultaneous calls at each end of the county. Depending on the situation, dispatchers or firefighters would hear garbled communications and have to ask for units to “repeat.”

 “This has been a long time in the making here,” Plakinger said. “Thanks to Cait Ochoa, PacCom director, as well as Dennis Long and Jacob Brundage from Fire District 1 and David Glasson from the City of Long Beach. [It was] a cooperative effort between multiple parties.”

Olsen said it was an issue that should have been handled long ago.

“It is really kind of embarrassing it took us this long to take care of it,” she said. “But bless Cait’s heart for doing it.”

 “It sounds like it’s working well,” Doyle added.

 

Repayments for overpayments

Three employees found themselves having to enter repayment contracts with the county after being overpaid. An employee at the health department was overpaid $53, and a dispatcher was overpaid $1,570, opting to pay it back in one lump sum.

 A deputy at the Pacific County Sheriff’s Office was overpaid $2,680.86 and opted to repay it via leave time and an hourly rate deduction. The repayment contract states that the deputy “was paid for hours not worked during the month of December 2024.”