Laurens County Commission OKs bid for new EMS station

The Laurens County Commission approved a $575,900 bid last week to build a new Emergency Medical Service substation.

Riley Construction submitted the lowest of five bids to build the new substation near the main EMS office off County Farm Road. The commission approved a contract in June with the Georgia Emergency Management Agency for the new building after state Rep. Matt Hatchett secured $500,000 in state funding for the project. 

“We had budgeted for $500,000. We had hoped to build it for that,” said County Administrator Bryan Rogers.

The commission approved a request from the Dublin Circuit District Attorney’s Office to amend the budget to include funding to retain through June 30 two assistant DA positions that had been funded through grants. Laurens County’s share will be $49,500, with the judicial circuit’s remaining three counties footing the rest of the $75,000 total.

“The district attorney has been working hard. They’ve really been prosecuting a lot of cases, getting people out of jail in an expeditious manner, which has saved us a lot on medical costs,” Rogers told the commissioners.

Commission Chairman Jimmy Rogers opened the meeting asking for prayer for County Attorney Billy Kight, who at the time was in critical condition in a Savannah hospital, and for the family of county employee Randall Warnock.

Kight had brain surgery last Monday but passed away over the weekend.

“Billy has meant a lot to me and to a lot of people in this room.” Bryan Rogers said

Warnock, who was a road supervisor for the county, also recently passed away.

“We lost a good employee, but we also lost a good man who would do so much to help people that he didn’t want any credit for,” said Chairman Rogers.

In other business, the commissioners:

• Approved the purchase of two sets of extrication tools, at $32,000, for Rural Fire to be used at Minter and East Dublin fire stations.

• Approved the 2026 qualifying fees to run for county commissioner ($144.14) and county school board ($108).

• Approved a $3,400 per month contract to Sikes Aviation to continue operating and providing fuel service at the county airport.

• Voted to continue serving as fiscal agent for Family Connection.

• Approved a request from the sheriff’s office to declare a Chevy Tahoe as surplus equipment to be traded in on a new Dodge Durango. The Tahoe was purchased with proceeds from the commissary, as will the Durango, said sheriff’s Maj. Alan Baggett.

• Accepted a bid from Midstate Striping for $99,750 to re-stripe 32 miles of county roads currently being or scheduled to be repaved.

• Appointed Phil Bazemore to the Land Bank Authority.

• Approved a language access plan required for the federal Community Development Block Grant program.