Sussex County Council Recognizes Super Spellers & Acquires 300 Acres to Preserve as Open Space
The Sussex County Council recognized two super spellers during this week’s meeting. Declan Durand, a 5th grader from Love Creek Elementary School was the winner of a spelling bee sponsored by Sussex County Public Libraries and Zion Miller, an 8th grader was the winner of a spelling bee sponsored by the Seaford District Library. Both will represent Delaware in the Scripps National Spelling Bee at the end of this month in Washington, DC.
The Council was updated by the Sussex County Land Trust on several open space projects. County officials also announced the acquisition of four new tracts, just over 300 acres, that will be protected as open space. These are:
- The Forest of the Broadkill Preserve outside of Milton – a 294-acre tract that will include a publicly accessible trail system. The preserve cost $1.85-million and will be managed by the Sussex County Land Trust.
- The Wright properties – near Seaford along the Nanticoke River. Three wooded parcels totaling 11-acres and will be managed by the Nanticoke Conservancy.
Funding for the acquisitions comes through the County’s portion of the realty transfer tax revenue.
Director of Emergency Service, Robbie Murray, brought two agreements before the Council. One is the FirstWatch Addendum. The Sussex County EOC entered an agreement with FirstWatch Solutions, Inc in 2005, to assist with data collection and ‘real time’ notification of specific events. Murray says because of growth in each department, we are unable to continue to meet our operational needs working solely through their agreement. They hope to incorporate FirstPass Clinical Ql Module in their quality improvement program and have it serve as the first line peer chart review. This will reduce the workload of our staff. The County approved the agreement that will expand the FirstWatch program.
A second agreement is the Healthcare Provider Agreement with the Blood Bank of Delmarva which will bring whole blood to the pre-hospital environment and increase the chance of survival for a patient losing a lot of blood at the scene of an incident. Murray says the Blood Bank of Delmarva will provide the blood product to Sussex County EMS and will also handle all deliveries, saving EMS from traveling to Newark to restock. The County Council also approved this agreement.
The County Council is expected to meet next Tuesday morning at the County Administration building on The Circle in Georgetown.
