Emergency dispatchers have to give up tanning bed

The Hawkins County 911 Board voted Thursday that the tanning bed, which employees bought with their own money, must be removed from the Central Dispatch center. The center handles emergency calls for fire and law enforcement departments.

Board chairman Chili Sanders said he approved putting the tanning bed on county property.

“The employees paid for it, and I told them they could put it in there, but they cannot use it while they’re on the clock,” Sanders told his fellow board members. “Our employees sit for 12 hours, and they get kind of stiff, so they go in there after clocking out. They say it helps — the heat on their back.”

The county is proposing to cut $15,000 from the agency’s appropriation, which board members mentioned in the debate over the tanning bed.

County Commissioner Syble Vaughan-Trent said she was concerned about taxpayer outrage.

“It’s the impression it leaves as much as it is the money involved, but I think taxpayers are going to be highly upset to find out their money is paying utility costs for a tanning bed at 911,” Vaughan-Trent said. “I know mine would be. I know I don’t like it myself.”

Sanders replied, “I didn’t think it would use any more (electricity) than a Coke machine in the courthouse.”

Liability issues also were mentioned by some board members, while 911 board member and County Commissioner Claude Parrott said officials needed to avoid setting a trend.

“The question will probably be asked … can this department have a tanning bed, and this department have a tanning bed, and it will mushroom,” Parrott said. “I don’t have any problem with people having some exercise or recreation, but I think a tanning bed is going too far.”