The Starke County EMS base in Grovertown will soon have Internet service again.
The county commissioners this week approved a contract with Mediacom for Internet, telephone and basic cable television service there at a cost of $89.95 per month. County information technology director Joe Short says Mediacom had a better price than CenturyLink, who quoted $105 per month for just Internet and telephone service. The $89.95 price is based on a three-year contract.
Short has enough money in the IT budget to cover the expense through the rest of the year. However, Starke County EMS will need to pick up the expense after that. Council President Dave Pearman says questions may arise during the upcoming budget workshops about the expense.
Interim Starke County EMS Director Keith Eimgh stated in a previous meeting that having Internet service at all three ambulance garages would allow more efficient transmission of reports and other types of communication and would save the EMS director quite a bit of time driving from site to site.
Short says the Grovertown base previously got free Internet service from a local provider, but that option is no longer available.
