The Covington County Voluntary Organization Active in Disaster group is working hard to get all the supplies they need for their shelters.

So far, they have trained 15 volunteers to work the shelters and have sent inquiries to every church in the county.

Emergency Management Agency Director Susan Harris told the county commission Tuesday that they are in conversation with three different churches that are willing to use their facilities as shelters.

“We don’t have everything we need,” Harris said. “But it is a very good start.”

The commission has donated 100 cots, the City of Opp donated all of the pillows and beddings and the City of Andalusia is providing an enclosed trailer for all of the equipment.

The CCVOAD decided to work towards a community shelter after a tornado caused havoc in the county.

“We’ve seen in the past how dangerous storms are,” Harris said. “We have to take care of ourselves and keep the people trained who are over the shelters.”

The trainings include teaching about shelter fundamentals such as opening the shelter, feeding and taking care of dormitories and registration.

“We will hold as many training sessions as we need,” Harris said. “Some days it may be a 24 hour period where we will be stuck in the shelter so we need as many people as we can get.”

The commission also:

• Approved a $1,000 sponsorship of the 2018 Andalusia-Opp Airshow.
• Considered adding a separate I.D. marker on inmate phone service, which would cause an increase in cost of one cent per minute.
• Approved the purchase and surplus of six trucks for the engineering department and a truck for the Covington County Area Transit.
• Considered the use of geotechnical investigations to replace seven bridges in Covington County.