Votes approve hazard mitigation plan, computer hardware

Just in time for hurricane season, Polk County’s board of commissioners unanimously approved an update to their hazard mitigation plan. Renewing the plan every five years and meeting the requirements means that, should a disaster be declared, Polk would receive money from the government to help mitigate damages.

“It’s pretty much the same as the last five years,” officer Randy Lacy shared. “Some of our hazards are thunderstorms, tornadoes, floodsthose are our three biggest things. We put this plan together in place, so if we do have a tornado, like back in 2011, and they declared a disaster, we will get money from the feds and the state of Georgia.”

“Because we’ve already put money in,” chairperson Jennifer Hulsey added.

The plan involves input from each municipality and usually takes about a year to complete. The final document, after being approved by the county, is sent off and doesn’t need to be renewed for another five years.

The commissioners are aware that extreme weather isn’t the only threat to Polk, though. In an ongoing effort to revitalize and improve the county’s network infrastructure, the group approved the purchasing of new computer hardware and software for the tax commissioners department. The parts are needed to support the network drives that were previously purchased and should arrive within the coming months.

The switches serve as a networking device that connects multiple computers together into one local network, but some in use were manufactured as early as 2005. Faulty switches could cause network shutdowns- leaving much of the county unable to work or communicate online. Already purchased, the tax commissioners new hardware and software are needed to make the most of the switches.

“If one of those (the core switches) fails, it’s like having a cardiac arrest,” Polk County’s IT director David Smith previously said of the switches.

Before continuing their work in a private executive session, the commissioners shared some words about future events and happenings.

“We as a board still have a lot of work to do, and I think if we stay focused we can accomplish great things together,” commissioner Jose Iglesias said. “Tonight, I want to thank commissioner Tillery for all the time and effort he’s put in towards getting all the fees gathered up and talking with the department heads.”