Athens County may need to increase its number of emergency responders if a new bill, introduced at the statehouse, passes.
House Bill 171 would prevent Emergency Medical Services responders from working a shift lasting longer than 12 hours or from working without at least 10 consecutive hours of rest.
EMS Chief Rick Callebs made the Athens County Commissioners aware of the bill at the meeting Tuesday.
"It's a first degree misdemeanor to violate (the bill)," Callebs said.
Right now, Athens County has 36 full-time equivalent employees, with groups of 12 working every third day for the full 24 hours.
Callebs said some of the employees are "part-time (workers) that figure in to the 24-hour shift."
If the bill passes, Callebs said the cheapest way to change the schedule would be to have 48 full-time equivalent employees, switching off in four crews of 12.
Each crew would either work from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. or the other 12 hours of the day. A crew would also work the same 12 hour shift three to four days in a row, and then take the remainder of the days in the week off as the other two crews take over shifts.
"You're going to either need to hire 12 full-time people or staff (the shifts) with part time (workers)," Callebs told the commissioners.
Callebs added that the schedule could change depending on what happens to the bill in the house.
County Planner Jessie Powers also provided the commissioners an update on the construction of the Athens-Belpre Rail Trail.
"There's one homeowner, whose home is quite close to the trail, (the house) is visible from the trail," Powers said.
The budget for the construction does not include costs of any type of privacy fence.
After a brief discussion, the commissioners agreed to wait until Powers returned with an estimate of the cost before making a decision on if and how the bill for the fence would be split.
After hearing from Robin Webb of Athens County Children Services, the commissioners passed a proclamation acknowledging April as Child Abuse Prevention Month.
"In 2016, Athens County had 1,832 reports of abuse and neglect," Webb said. "While that number is high, we think that (the number of cases) has been high for several years now, not because there are in fact cases of abuse and neglect, but because the community is calling more and taking their time to stand up for kids."
Webb also told the commissioners April 12 would become "wear blue day."
Commissioner Charlie Adkins suggested that county and city employees in the courthouse could show their support for the cause by taking a group photo on the courthouse steps that day with participants wearing blue.
