Leadership Academy team plans emergency call stations along Riverwalk

A team from the current Leadership Academy is planning to add emergency call towers to the Jasper Riverwalk as their project this year.

Mike Mattingly, Jackie Hilgartner, Josh Gunselman, and Bridgette Jarboe are members of the Leadership Academy team working on the project. Their goal is to raise enough money to add one emergency call tower to the popular walking path as their capstone project for the Leadership Academy.

The Leadership Academy was started in Ferdinand as a HomeTown Competitiveness Initiative in 2011. The goal of the academy is to create teams comprised of members of the community that will then develop a capstone project for the betterment of the county. As the team progresses, they will also receive training on leadership essentials, problem solving, government and public service, communications, and religious and civic leadership.

Jarboe and Gunselman approached the Jasper Board of Public Works and Safety on Tuesday to request permission to hold a Safety Stroll on the Riverwalk on July 20. The event is a kickoff to raise awareness about the project and to begin fundraising to purchase the first tower.

According to Jarboe, the plan is to initially add the towers to the Riverwalk and then expand to other areas of the county.

The service provided by the units would allow a person traveling along the path to alert authorities about a medical or other emergency at the call box and have dispatch personnel send out emergency responders as needed.

“We’re attempting to create an expandable system of these units,” Gunselman explained. “Or at least establishing the funding and foundation for such a system in the county to be utilized on the walking paths throughout the county.”

According to Gunselman, the units are already in use on college and university campuses around the nation.

Mayor Terry Seitz and the members of the Board of Public Works like the idea. Seitz said he could see Economic Development Income Tax funds being used for expenses associated with the purchase and installation of the boxes.

The team is still researching the cost for the towers.

The board approved the request to use the Riverwalk for the upcoming event.

This article was written with the assistance of Jim O’Neal of WITZ.