Should county government ever get knocked offline for any host of reasons, there’s a plan in place to get things back up and running.

The Warren County Commissioners approved an updated version of the “Continuity of Operations Plan” during Wednesday’s meeting.

Public Safety Director Ken McCorrison said the plan was adopted during the state of emergency brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic.

He said he “brought it up to date” for the current board of commissioners to sign off on.

The plan would aim to get county services back up and running if, for example, severe weather, a prolonged power outage or something like black mold, forced county operations to move elsewhere.

It’s a “pre-planning” effort that provides guidance on questions like “How do we bring (county departments) up in a different location? How do we get the government up and running?” he explained.

Just who will implement it should it be needed wasn’t clear.

McCorrison said that if a scenario arose that required implementation, the Department of Public Safety “would be doing other things.”

The commissioners approved the agreement and will discuss who is best suited to oversee the plan.

Library introduction

Kristy Wallace, director of the Youngsville Library, spoke to the commissioners at the outset of Wednesday’s meeting.

“Your support is vital,” Wallace said, outlining how county financial support helps fund operations but also is part of a formula that determines state funding.

She highlighted the library’s sensory story time program as the only one in the county and a program that has been “incredibly popular” and told the commissioners that over 15,000 people “walk(ed) through our door” in 2023.

“We have the major main library in downtown Warren,” County Commissioner Dan Glotz said. “The communities have smaller libraries. You can tell they are used a lot by the local residents. Thank you for the work that you do.”