By Trish Svoboda

At the Clay County Commissioners meeting held Monday, December 11th, 2023, Starla Nelson and Joshua K. Douglas spoke with the board about raising their contract pay for indigent attorneys serving in Clay County. There are currently four attorneys under contract and Ms. Nelson pointed out that due to the shortage of attorneys in rural areas, these professionals are taking on additional workloads. The board noted that the contract specifies that the attorneys should receive the same wage increase as the county employees, and proposed tabling the matter to allow for internal discussions with County Attorney Joel Mason.

In other discussions, EMS Director, Alec Trembath, notified the board that the AEMT class being taught is progressing smoothly, with a total of six students participating in the training to become AEMTs.

Pam Kemp also met with the board to report that the wildfire plan has been completed, and it will be reviewed at the beginning of January, and a Table Top Exercise is planned for January 18th. Ms. Kemp also attended training last week on Cybersecurity in Cloud County. She said the county needs to provide training for all employees, as this is a serious issue.