The Greene County Health Department could be seeing improvements in the near future after the Greene County Budget and Finance Committee endorsed a fund match for improvements at the building.
Tennessee is offering health departments across the state additional funding if county governments agree to provide a 25% match, according to Greene County Health Department Director Matthew McConaughey.
Greene County would receive $510,000 in funds if the Greene County Commission agrees to match 25% of those funds at the Feb. 22 meeting of the governing body.
The fund match would come out of the county’s American Rescue Plan funding.
The funds would be used for building improvements and service improvements, according to McConaughey.
“One of the first things we would improve would be our phone system. Our phone system is old and only has nine lines, and only seven of those lines work. Of course in the last year we have been receiving a lot more calls, so that is something we need to improve,” McConaughey said.
The money would also fund a remodel of the general clinic area at the Greene County Health Department.
“We would create a nursing hub to make things more efficient and be able to provide better service. We won’t have mothers with strollers having to move through different rooms for care. They will be able to stay in one area,” McConaughey said.
The Health Department would also remodel its home visiting service area.
According to McConaughey, the area has never been remodeled since the building was completed. It currently has wood paneling, a drop ceiling, and poor lighting and is not able to be effectively utilized.
The Health Department would also look at replacing some of its flooring in order to decrease recurring maintenance costs.
The committee also approved a resolution that will allow the Greene County School system to raise pay for some bus drivers.
According to Director of Greene County Schools David McLain, many bus drivers in the system work four hours a day as a custodian and four hours as a bus driver. Currently, the four hours of bus driving pay an average of $2 more per hour than the four hours of custodial work.
The resolution passed by the Budget and Finance Committee would give custodians who drive buses the same pay for all eight hours of work at the higher bus driver rate on days that they drive a bus.
The action is being taken in order to keep more bus drivers in the Greene County School System, and incentivize current custodians to drive a bus.
The measure will be considered for final approval by the Greene County Commission at its February meeting.
A resolution budgeting an $85,000 grant for building improvements to a new park near Chuckey-Doak Middle School and Chucky-Doak High School was also approved by the Budget and Finance Committee, as well as a resolution appropriating about $12,000 in grant funding for the purchase of bulletproof vests for the Greene County Sheriff’s Department.
According to Greene County Sheriff Wesley Holt, the bulletproof vests must be taken out of service after five years and replaced.
Each of the resolutions will go before the Greene County Commission at its February meeting to be considered for final approval.
